A council's decision to scrap bus subsidies for post 16 students is not going down well with some parents, with accusations the authority has 'let down' children. 

In May, the Liberal Democrat cabinet at Rutland County Council signed off the new policy which removed the subsidy for pupils using public transport to get to their schools and colleges, in a bid to reduce its transport bill. 

By law, local councils do not have to help fund the cost, and many have already removed any assistance for teenagers once they leave Year 11. 

The change means that some will see bus fares rise from around £650 per year to more than £1,000 and the stopping of the R29 bus contract, which used to take students from across the county to the specialist agricultural college Brooksby College near Melton Mowbray, has also caused upset.  

Many students start their new colleges next week and so have had to scramble for transport. Year 12 students will continue to have their subsidies. 

One Ryhall parent, whose son signed up to start Brooksby College in January, only discovered the R29 bus was due to stop when the bus firm announced it in July. After looking at various options she will now have to drive her son to Stamford to catch a train to Melton Mowbray and he will then need to take a bus to the college. 

She said: "It is very frustrating and I feel quite sad about it.  I feel that all post 16 students are being let down by this council. It is a statutory obligation for children to stay in school until they are 18, yet it is not a statutory obligation to support them in that. 

"By cutting the R29 I feel the east of the county has been forgotten once again. We are a rural county and transport is needed. There are also not many options for post 16 provision in the county. For many there is no alternative and I feel there are going to be lots of under 18s trying to get across the county and missing their connections."  

The authority had consulted on the proposal at the start of the year, but there was not a big response, with just 69 replies. The majority were not in favour of cutting the financial support to post 16s. Last year the council spent £118,000 on subsiding travel for post 16s. 

This year, the council introduced an on-demand bus service Call Connect, which is pre-bookable, and covers the whole county. It is free to use currently. 

The mother said: "It is a great service for social visits but is not reliable for getting to work or college. You don't know from one day to the next where it is going, so a journey may take 30 minutes or more than an hour. 

"The college has been extremely helpful. They were trying to cobble something together, but it transpires that, this year, they cannot do it." 

Many have aired their concerns on social media. 

Angela Smith said: "In summary, there is no support from RCC, you need to make your own arrangements. 

"If there are no bus services from your village then your child can walk to the nearest town. 

"You do have the option of paying RCC for a pass which is more expensive than paying the bus company directly and offers no other option than the cheaper public buses." 

Olivia Revett described the situation as 'shambolic'. 

"Rutland County Council have left parents to work out our own provision through no assistance, financial support or consideration of affordability. We live remotely, many have to travel- this is not a choice but a necessity. Shame the students of the future are less of a priority than the older generation in Rutland, but we already knew that," she said. 

Natasha Emmeline said: "I despair of our made-up county and its idiotic approach to anyone under 60 who dares to live here." 

Conservative group leader Lucy Stephenson says scrapping the scheme was proposed when her party was in power, but they never took the option. She said the removal of the subsidy would hit families on low incomes hardest and it should not be the case that the cost of travel dictates where a child will study after GCSEs. 

She said she will be looking into whether the authority has carried out an equality impact assessment. 

The LDRS asked the council a number of questions, including how many students received subsidy in the most recent academic year; when it told Centrebus the R29 service would end and how many complaints have been received about the Post 16 funding. 

The authority has said the matter would be answered under a Freedom of Information request and did not comment further.