A MAJOR shake up of home to school transport across North Yorkshire is being considered by council bosses.

The county council is responsible for transporting 20,000 pupils a day to schools. As part of moves to cut costs the authority says it is looking at proposals which will make the system fair, consistent and more efficient.

North Yorkshire is the largest rural county in England and spends a quarter of its £88m education budget on transport.

The proposals include changing pick up points to main roads and bus stops rather than at homes and only to one address. They would also charge the same for pre 16 and post 16 transport. Free transport would be given for children in reception years who are under five, who are not currently eligible.

Cllr Patrick Mulligan, North Yorkshire’s Executive Member for Education said: "As an authority, a lot of the home to school transport services we offer are above the statutory minimum.

"For instance, there’s no duty to provide transport for post 16 education, but we are proposing to continue discretionary transport to students in this age bracket, as we’re a rural county and don’t have the public transport links some other areas do. We recognise the difficulties this presents for youngsters in North Yorkshire.

“But we need to address some of the anomalies in the system over what we can and can’t provide and to make sure what we offer is consistent and fair to everyone."

Consultation is being considered on the new schemes which are due to be considered later this month and would be published in July and brought in for the September 2019 term. They will not come into force for pupils until they change schools, turn eight or need reassessment.