Catholic families lose bus subsidy

Catholic families who send their children to faith schools will have free transport axed by Staffordshire County Council to save more than £1 million.

The county council claims the move will get rid of an unfair and unjustifiable allowance which is only paid to Catholic families sending children to schools outside their catchment area.

Other families of a different or no faith have to pay.

The move is likely to affect around 1,500 school pupils whose parents could see their bills to send children to school start at £400 a year, rising to more than £700 a year over time.

Bosses at the county council say the reason for the allowance has been "lost in the midst of time" but say it can no longer be supported. The council has now launched a consultation to get views on the proposal which will come into effect for new pupils from September 2011 and for existing students from September 2012.

Currently, the council gives free transport to 29 Catholic schools, 20 in Staffordshire and a further nine outside the county including one Church of England school, St Peter's Collegiate School in Wolverhampton. Over 1,800 students receive transport to these 30 schools, at a net cost of just over £1.3m. Around 100 families on low incomes will not be asked to pay for transporting their child to a faith school.

Ian Parry, Staffordshire County Council deputy leader and Cabinet member for children and young people said: "Although this free transport has been around many years, there is a general acceptance that it is fundamentally unfair. Whilst we continue to recognise and support faith school as providers of good quality education, we also believe in equity and fairness. This transport policy is neither fair nor equitable."