There have been several publications in the media relating to decisions taken by the Council in relation to post-16 transport and accommodation to access education/training and the cultural centre and museum project, which have contained factual inaccuracies or have not been put into an accurate context. The Council wishes to correct these.
Post-16 transport and accommodation to access education/training
There has been no determination by the High Court that the Council acted unlawfully. Despite the Council offering alternative dispute resolution at the earliest opportunity, Judicial Review proceedings, in part funded by legal aid, were issued against the Council.
The Council regrets that such action was taken, particularly in light of the fact it had already agreed to review and implement a post-16 transport policy statement by 31 March 2025, as the costs of the legal proceedings will have a negative impact on its budgetary position for service provision.
As agreed between the Council and the Claimant, the Judicial Review proceedings were withdrawn by consent on Monday 24 March 2025 on the basis that:
- The Council has a legal duty to publish a transport policy on an annual basis pursuant to the Education Act 1996. The Council acknowledges that it has not done so in accordance with the current statutory provisions for the 2024/25 academic year.
- The Council will publish a transport policy statement for those of sixth form age, which complies with the Education Act 1996, on or before 31 March 2025.
- The Council agrees that the safeguarding concerns raised in Ground 3 of the Claimant’s claim are a relevant consideration in determining the level of grant funding; and it will reconsider the decision taken by Full Council on 17 September 2024 taking account of those concerns. The Council commits not to reduce the grant funding from £8,000 per student for academic year 2025/26.
The Council made the following decisions relating to post-16 transport and accommodation on Monday 24 March 2025:
- The Council commits to continue to make representations to Central Government, Specifically the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) - an executive agency of the Department for Education (DfE) - in respect of increasing the ESFA grant paid to the Council in respect of a contribution towards boarding, accommodation, and travel costs to support eligible post-16 students in full time education and training on the mainland of England.
- The Council will write to the nearest state boarding schools, copying in the DfE, to ask for a discount in respect of boarding for the islands’ children in light of their unique circumstances.
- The Council reconsidered its decision of 17 September 2024 in respect of the Council’s contribution towards the ESFA grant of £6,365.00 provided to eligible students to access post-16 education/training for 24/25, taking into consideration the report and appendices presented, specifically the additional safeguarding concerns provided to the Council since the decision was taken and decided to retain the Council’s contribution of £1,635.00, making the total grant contribution for each eligible student £8,000.
- The Council approved its Post-16 Transport Policy Statement to come into effect immediately and approved an increased total grant of £9,635.00 for each eligible student to access post-16 education/training for 2025/26.
The Council has therefore met its agreed obligations in respect of the Judicial Review proceedings.
The report and appendices relevant to this decision can be found on the committee pages of our website
Cultural centre and museum project
Links have been made between expenditure approved for post-16 transport and accommodation and for the cultural centre and museum project. One of the decisions taken by Full Council on 24 March 2025 in respect of this project was to “underwrite the current estimated deficit of £337,781 and this is funded from capital receipts”.
Capital receipts could never be used to fund transport and accommodation for eligible students to access post-16 education/training, which is a revenue expenditure. Local government funding and accounting rules wouldn’t permit the capital funds to which the March decision related to lawfully be spent on revenue funded transport and accommodation. In fact, none of the funding streams used to fund the cultural centre and museum project could have been spent on transport and accommodation for eligible students to access post-16 education/training.
The cultural centre and museum project will have many benefits for the islands. The Town Hall has been closed since 2019 and when it reopens it will be a modern, flexible community centre with considerably more space. The build will also free up the old museum site for much needed housing.
The Council wishes to continue to work with and for its community to take these important matters forwards.