School transport consultants given £500k contract to cut £300k from service

Consultants have been given a two-year contract worth almost £500,000 to save about £300,000 from the home to school transport service for Brighton and Hove’s most vulnerable children.

The revelation has drawn criticism from Conservative leader Steve Bell who said: “Money is effectively being taken from those schools and those children to line the pocket of consultants.”

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Councillor Bell has also been unhappy at the way that the consultants’ approach has been linked to safety concerns for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

Children have been seen banging their heads against the windows of their vehicles as they sit in queues of traffic outside special schools at the start of the school day.

Others have missed school altogether because of what one parent said was the worst chaos that he had seen in his 11 years as a governor.

Councillor Bell spoke out after it was revealed that Brighton and Hove City Council had agreed to pay up to £499,000 to Edge Public Solutions, from Macclesfield, Cheshire.

The council said: “The council has not paid £499,000 to Edge.

“The sum referred to in the register of tenders is the maximum contract value over two years.

“The actual payments are dependent on performance under the contract, including delivering savings.

“Edge was contracted, working alongside the council, to manage and deliver the transformation of the service, this includes a small team of staff, creating a dynamic purchasing system (to modernise the route allocation process) and project managing the service.”

Edge describes itself as a “local government transportation consultant and management experts”, offering “innovative demand management solutions”, with an “innovative “risk/reward” delivery model” which it said was “100 per cent self-funding”.

But the Tory leader said: “Children and their families are suffering as a result of the council’s approach to this crucial service.

“The Labour administration say their chaotic changes will save £290,000 from the council’s budget over two years.”

The council said: “The net saving for the council in the first two years is in the region of £300,000.

“However, this is an ongoing programme that will deliver more savings over a longer timescale than the two-year involvement of Edge.

“The aim of the change is for the service to cost less to run in year three and onwards when the service transformation has been embedded.”

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Councillor Bell criticised changes under the new contracts which prevented driver and escorts from being able to take children into school as they did previously.

Instead teachers and teaching assistants are having to carry out this role – one of the factors leading to dangerous queues of traffic at the two special schools and one which is costing valuable lesson time.

He said: “The two special schools worst hit by these changes estimate the new arrangements will cost them about £840,000 – money better spent on teaching and caring for hundreds of our most vulnerable children.

“What has upset many parents – beyond the unsettling chaos – is that money is effectively being taken from those schools and those children to line the pocket of consultants.”