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The Education Secretary has criticized Reform UK, accusing the party of proposing measures that would “take children back to the Victorian era.” This rebuke follows a plan proposed by a Reform-led council that could require pupils as young as eight to walk up to five miles to school.
George Finch, Reform’s representative who gained attention earlier this year upon becoming the leader of Warwickshire County Council at the age of 18, has formally requested permission from Bridget Phillipson to revise the existing regulations governing pupils’ eligibility for free home-to-school transportation.
In his correspondence, Finch argued that granting councils the autonomy to determine their own rules regarding statutory walking distances would result in significant cost savings for local authorities.
In response, Phillipson asserted that the proposal demonstrates Reform’s potential to endanger children. Mr. Finch has been contacted for comment on the matter.
Statutory walking distances are government-defined rules that establish the minimum distance a child must reside from their school to qualify for complimentary home-to-school transport services.
Under current guidelines, children under the age of eight are entitled to free transportation to their nearest suitable school if it is located more than two miles from their residence. For children aged eight and above, this eligibility extends to those residing more than three miles from their school.
While Finch’s council currently adheres to these distance thresholds for determining eligibility, he is seeking authorization to establish these parameters at the local level. In the case of Warwickshire, this could entail extending the distances by two miles for each age category.
Critics contend that if affected families are unable to secure alternative transportation options under such a revised policy, walking significantly longer distances could become their sole recourse.
In a statement issued to the BBC, the Education Secretary remarked: “A Reform-run council is seriously considering a proposal to compel children in a deprived area to walk five miles to school in order to balance their budget.”
Equating the proposal to “taking our children back to the Victorian era,” she added: “If you seek an example of the potential peril that Reform poses to our children should they ever attain governmental power, this is it.”
On Tuesday, government estimates revealed that nearly half a million individuals under the age of 16 in England utilize taxis, buses, and other forms of transportation funded by local authorities to commute to school.
In his letter to the Education Secretary, Finch stated that analyses conducted by council officials suggest that increasing the statutory distance by one mile could reduce Warwickshire’s “eligible cohort” for free home-to-school transport by 8%. Increasing the distance by two miles, he wrote, would reduce the cohort by approximately 16%.
“Costs have surged from £17.9m in 2018 to £50m,” he noted. “We must ensure sustainability while also supporting families.”
These figures are generally consistent with those found in separate council documents, which indicate a sum of £17.2m in 2018/19 and a projected budget of £46.65m for the provision in 2025/26.
“The county currently transports over 10,000 pupils to their school settings,” the letter added.
He told Phillipson: “As you are aware, home to school transport is an important function delivered by local authorities, but one that is seeing ever increasing and unsustainable costs for many authorities, including my own.”
He wrote: “I would therefore like to formally request that local authorities are given the power to have delegated authority to change this statutory eligible walking distance where it makes sense to do so in a local area.
“This would provide local authorities with another vital tool to tackle the challenges faced by rising costs of provision, based on local circumstances.”
Sarah Feeney, an opposition councillor in Warwickshire, voiced her concern that the council leader was “asking to make life harder for working families.”
The Labour member stated: “I’ve seen cases across the county where parents are already struggling to get their children to school because they fall just short of the three miles. Some of them have very small children and getting them to school is incredibly hard with long walks in the cold.”
She added: “I don’t believe people voted for Reform in May to have vital services cut from them.”
Phillipson, in her statement, said: “It’s typical of Reform’s approach: make big promises about finding waste and then discover you can’t deliver without hitting working families with cuts to services or tax rises.
“It’s happening over and over again in Reform-led councils and it’s what they’d do for the country too.”
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