Cornwall Council admits paying school taxi drivers too much

Cornwall Council has admitted over-paying taxi drivers to take children to school.

It was discussed as part of a meeting on Tuesday 5 December looking at the council's finances, which have been hit by a £16 million overspend so far this year.

Transporting pupils from home to school is one of the council's biggest expenditures and led to a £5m overspend during the first half of the year financial year.

Tracie Langley, chief operating officer, told a scrutiny committee that transport for children with special educational needs — which can often mean a child and carer being taken to school by taxi — is "particularly expensive" for the council.

Speaking on money paid to taxi drivers, Cllr Mike McLening (Con, St Stephen) said: "Sometimes I get the feeling that perhaps we're not as harsh as we should be when negotiating prices. Do we let them get away with a bit on pricing?"

Ms Langley responded: "I think you might be absolutely right, councillor, and we will do our best to negotiate the right price and put the right caps on our dynamic purchasing systems."

She said measures were being put in place to ensure taxi drivers were paid a fair price, but one which saved the council money.

Earlier this year, it emerged that taxi drivers from as far away as Essex and Shropshire were driving to Cornwall to carry out school runs for pupils.

A spokesperson for the council stressed it was not paying for the relocation of the drivers or their accommodation.

"A company called 24/7 Taxis, who specialise in school transport and operate across multiple local authorities, have established themselves in Cornwall," said the spokesperson.

"The company is employing new drivers locally and their Cornwall operation is based here.

"The demand for school transport is growing and, until now, we have not had enough taxi companies to cater for this need - about 30 transport routes for around 60 to 70 students."

Credit: Lee Trewhela, Local Democracy Reporting Service.