Nottinghamshire Council proposes cutting free travel for faith pupils to save money
Nottinghamshire Council could look to withdraw free school transport for some pupils attending faith schools in a bid to save nearly £1m.
The Reform-led authority announced its plans earlier in November of how it was going to try to save at least £45m over the next three years.
November cabinet papers note how the authority intends to find £45.3m in “mitigations” as it faces a £15.9m budget shortfall by 2028/29.
Back in June 2025, the freshly elected Reform council embarked on its months-long efficiency review to see where it could save cash within areas such as adult social care and children’s services – this is still ongoing.
While the authority has large, million-pound ambitions in savings across care and children’s services, a notably smaller, potential saving of £900,000 has been identified in free transport for some pupils in faith schools.
It involves withdrawing free transport for pupils across 12 faith schools where the service is ‘discretionary’ – meaning pupils who attend their nearest faith school out of choice on the grounds of religion or belief. It would not include children who have a ‘statutory’ free travel need, such as those from low income families.
A council document from June 2025 states, currently, pupils aged between five and 16 who attend a faith school are eligible for free transport if the school is between two and 20 miles from their home.
Before such a policy could actually come to fruition, an extensive consultation would have to be carried out with parents and other stakeholders beforehand to gather views on the matter.
The authority says it would look at bringing in this policy from September 2027, meaning a consultation would have to start in September 2026. There would also be a time lag of two years to September 2027 to allow current year 10 and 11 students to finish school.
Speaking to the local democracy reporting service, council leader, Coun Mick Barton (Ref), said: “Historically, it’s something council’s aren’t brave enough to look into or make more efficient.
“It doesn’t mean cutting services – we’re not trying to cut services – it means we’re making things more efficient.”
The budget for faith school travel has risen in recent years. In the 2023/24 financial year, the council spent £1.34m rising to £1.46m in 2024- and the 2025-26 budget stands at £1.54m.
According to the council, around 60 per cent of faith school pupils who have free travel have so on a ‘discretionary’ basis – 40 per cent of pupils have statutory need for the free travel.
This policy move has been looked at by other authorities in the past.
In 2018, Wrexham’s council proposed it but the review was later dropped after backlash from parents and stakeholders.