Lack of free school transport in Wales is fuelling the school absence crisis and is at odds with the Welsh Government’s child poverty strategy, the Children’s Commissioner has warned. Rocio Cifuentes said some children were leaving for school on foot at 6.30am and walking three miles before the start of the school day.
A disabled mother, unable to get her children to school by other means, told the commissioner she was “heartbroken” that her children’s free school transport would end when they moved to secondary school, leaving them facing a daily walk of more than five miles. The walk takes them through a common with wild horses, and residential areas she worries are unsafe for children to navigate alone.
The commissioner said she was aware of financial challenges facing local councils but accused the Welsh Government of “failing” to give children stronger legal entitlements to “meet their needs and their basic human rights”. Primary age children are legally entitled to free transport if their walk to school is four or more miles, there and back in total, increasing to six or more miles for secondary age children. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter
Ms Cifuentes said adults were not expected to make the same efforts getting to work: “Three miles is a long way, isn’t it? Think of the last time you walked three miles – and of course, three miles back. My bet is you had walking boots, a flask of coffee, maybe a dog for company, and a leisurely day ahead. Have you ever walked three miles to work and back - did you carry your laptop, your work shoes, your papers and was it only when the sun was out, or when the heavens opened too?.
“The fact is that under the current law, the prospect of walking up to six miles a day to school and back has been the expectation for teenagers for some time. For primary-aged children, it’s up to four miles.”
Caerphilly Council is one of the only remaining councils to make a more generous free transport offer and is on the verge of ditching that to make savings of £1.5m a year. The council has run a consultation on the plans and is due to make a decision before the end of the year.
All mainstream English, Welsh and faith primary and secondary schools would be affected by the proposed changes. For pupils in primary school, the minimum distance to qualify for council transport in Caerphilly would rise from its more generous 1.5 miles (or three miles there and back) to the statutory two miles (four there and back) and for secondary and post-16 students the minimum distance would rise from two miles (four there and back) to three miles (six there and back).
The Children’s Commissioner acknowledged that some families had enough money to pay for transport or were able to give their children lifts, but warned “many won’t”. The least well off would be hardest hit, she warned. “Estyn’s recent interim annual report raised attendance as an ongoing significant issue in Wales’ schools. Last month, the Welsh Government’s child poverty strategy was at the forefront of minds again as they published a new monitoring framework.
“But how do inadequate school transport entitlements support any of these hugely important issues for children? Does a teenager struggling at school still go if they need to walk up to three miles to get there, particularly if they don’t have suitable footwear or all-weather clothing?
“Does a parent choose between a bus fare and breakfast just to get their child to their education? This inability to act on school transport is a failure in those other areas, too.” She said the Welsh Language Commissioner had also raised concerns about how the current situation harmed young people’s access to Welsh language education; the Future Generations Commissioner has called for free public transport for children, and ColegauCymru is concerned too about learner travel costs for older teenagers.
The commissioner added that, “the Welsh Government’s own data shows that 41% of 16 to 24-year-olds identified transport as being the number one barrier to getting a new course, training or a job," the Children's Commissioner added.
She dubbed the long-awaited review of the Learner Travel measure earlier this year as “wholly inadequate” saying It had failed to address issues with school transport. "Without clear action from Welsh Government, I worry that more and more young people will be arriving at their school cold, wet and tired, and some won’t arrive at all,” she warned.
Asked whether free home to school transport was something it would consider and whether it was a concern that the expense of travel was affecting attendance and ran counter to the child poverty strategy, a Welsh Government spokesperson said: "Local authorities are responsible for delivering learner transport provision in Wales. This includes providing free home to school transport for learners of compulsory school age children attending primary school who live two miles or further from their nearest suitable school and from three miles or further for those in secondary school.
“Although there is no statutory duty for local authorities to provide free transport to post-16 learners in mainstream further education or training, there are a range of schemes offering discounted and free travel for children and young people on public transport in Wales. We keep these under regular review."
