CUMBERLAND Council has saved more than £500,000 from its school transport budget by reviewing the routes it has been revealed.

Members of the authority's health and wellbeing board were given an update on children's services at a meeting at Cumbria House in Carlisle on Friday (June 28).

Martin Birch, the council's director of children and family wellbeing, took members through his presentation and councillor Elaine Lynch (Wigton, Labour),  the portfolio holder for lifelong learning and development, highlighted the review of home to school transport.

Cllr Lynch said that other aspects of the service would be reviewed in the coming months and added: "We've reviewed the routes and made it more efficient. They are still getting the same service and they are still going from home to school."

According to Mr Birch's report the home to school transport budget for the current financial year, 2024/25, is around £11.8 million and the home school transport project group has identified £505,000 in savings to date.

During the previous financial year, 2023/24, the expenditure was around £12.9 million, to be confirmed at the year end, and the previous forecast was £14.6 million.

The report states: " Some savings identified through analysis of high-cost routes, reducing number of vehicles in use, combining routes, and retendering others. There are possibly other savings in the pipeline and we will review every route."

Councillor Mark Fryer (St Johns and Great Clifton, Labour), the leader of the council, said there were issues after having to take over from the previous authorities following local government reorganisation.

Last year Cumberland Council was formed to replace the former Carlisle City, Allerdale, Copeland and Cumbria County councils.

Cllr Fryer said: "Picking up that mantle requires improvement. I was absolutely laser focussed that this organisation was in a better place than when I picked it up."

He also highlighted the fact that the number of cared for children had been reduced was also an improvement – according to the report the figure stood at 473 at the time of writing compared with a previous total of 529 – and he said he was "unbelievably grateful" for what staff had achieved.

Mr Birch said it had since risen to 478. He said: "We are slightly higher than when I wrote this."

He said that the number mattered was they needed to ensure children in the Cumberland area should live in the best environment – whether that was with their extended family, in the care of the council or through adoption.

Mr Birch used the term "languishing in our care" guardedly and predicted the number could be further reduced to around 440. He added: "We will never not have cared for children."

Cllr Fryer said that the original target figure was 450 and added: "440 or 450 I think is a realistic figure. There is a huge amount of work that goes into getting these children back with their parents."

Members noted the contents of the report.