Rutland County Council has announced students who are at the same school or college and continuing the same course will no longer be required to pay the £1,000 transport contribution now imposed as a result of the Council’s cuts to subsidies for post-16 transport.
However, all new Year 12 students will be held to the new post-16 policy.
Alicia Kearns, Member of Parliament for Rutland and Stamford, said:
"While this is not the full reversal our Conservative Councillors have repeatedly called for, especially Cllr Lucy Stephenson, I am relieved the Council has partially u-turned on their decision to remove post-16 transport subsidies for local families.
"These cuts were hitting hundreds of families on low incomes the hardest, particularly in a rural community where social mobility, transport and educational opportunities are limited. I'm relieved for the very many parents who had contacted me so very concerned.
"The Council may be clapping themselves on the back for reducing the Council’s debt, they’ve done this by cutting services. When we ran RCC, it was repeatedly suggested we cut these subsidies for school transport and we refused because giving our young people educational and economic opportunities is so very important. This is also why we secured the new bus services running across our communities.
"I will continue to call for a full reversal of the cuts, to support colleges who didn’t have any warning, and also to support the families who have been impacted by the Liberal Democrat Council’s decision."
(Photo: RCC)
