A council has apologised for incorrectly charging sixth formers for school travel.

Rutland County Council received complaints from pupils and parents after it brought in a policy in May that cut off a travel subsidy to help teenagers travel to college.

Year 13 pupils, who were in their second year of sixth form, were supposed to be exempt from the new policy, but it has emerged that the authority had charged 51 families in error.

It issued a statement last week saying Year 13s would no longer be required to pay and families would be contacted, but after questions from the Local Democracy Reporting Service, the authority looked into the matter further.

It has now said: "Before introducing Rutland's new school and post-16 travel assistance policy in May, it was determined that changes to travel subsidies would not apply to post-16 pupils who had started courses before September 2025. 

"An administrative error meant this exemption was not put in place as it should have been. As a result, some pupils were incorrectly asked for payment when they submitted their applications in July.

"This error was compounded by incorrect wording in a subsequent letter to these families. The letter confirmed that a payment of £1,000 would not be required but wrongly suggested this was a reversal of a decision to charge pupils moving from Year 12 to Year 13.

"We will be thoroughly reviewing our processes in response to these errors and apologise for any confusion or concern this has caused.

"For the avoidance of doubt, post-16 pupils who began their course before September 2025 are exempt from the changes to Rutland's travel assistance policy this year. These pupils are not required to pay towards the cost of their travel because they were eligible for free transport under the previous post-16 travel policy.

"The requirement to pay for post-16 travel as part of Rutland's new travel assistance policy applies to new pupils who start courses from September 2025 onwards."

The authority will save an annual sum of around £118,000 by not subsidising the travel of post 16 pupils. A number of parents have complained the authority is not assisting the younger members of the community in a rural community where there are not many sixth form colleges or available modes of transport.