Education Authority: school transport payments delayed

As reported by the BBC, payments from the Education Authority (EA) due to 73 families to transport their children to school have been delayed for three days

If a pupil is eligible for school transport but the EA cannot provide a place in a bus or taxi, parents can receive money to make alternative arrangements. The payments are monthly and were due on Friday 30 September but the EA said the payments would not be made until Monday 3 October.

It said the delay was ‘due to technical and staffing difficulties’.

‘We appreciate the frustration this delay may cause and offer our sincere apologies to the 73 impacted families,’ the EA said.

About 84,000 pupils in Northern Ireland are eligible for home-to-school transport on a bus, a train or a taxi if they live more than two miles from their primary school or three miles from their post-primary school, but the EA makes payments to the parents of some eligible pupils who have special educational needs (SEN) or do not live close to a transport route.

The school has to confirm the child’s attendance in class for the money to be paid.