Cheshire East Council believes it will have slashed its school transport costs by more than £3m by the end of the financial year, writes Belinda Ryan.
But they have hired Edge Consultants at a cost of £733,000 to help it bring down the cost of transporting children and young people to school.
A paper to the children and families committee stated: “The overall cost of engaging Edge as consultants for the transformation programme will be £733k with financial improvements forecast to achieve around £3.1 million by the end of 2024/25, a return on investment of £2.37million (323%).”
In November 2022, the consultants revealed that Cheshire East was paying £3,000 more per pupil than most equivalent councils to transport some children to school each year.
Since then, the council has been working with Edge to reduce its costs for school transport.
Claire Williamson, director of education, said travel support would always be in demand and the cost would always be subject to external factors such as local provision and fuel prices.
“Overall, a review of the programme shows the transformation of travel support has been successful,” she said.
“Most of our key indicators in relation to the cost of transport are showing a positive trajectory.”
Committee chair Carol Bulman (Middlewich, Lab) said: “We were all very worried about transport costs a year ago, two years ago, but it seems that Edge’s recommendations do seem to have worked.
“This £733,000 we’ve paid them, but the savings definitely justify that outlay don’t they? It feels all the trends are in the right direction.”
Gill Betton said it had been a team effort between the consultants and council staff.
Cllr Brian Puddicombe (Macclesfield, Lab) added: “I do frequently have misgivings about the cost of consultants, but Edge have clearly done a good job in this respect and always pleased to hear it’s been great in-house working as well.”
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