A proposal to stop paying travel expenses for 16-19 year-olds who travel out of Powys to study is set to be dropped.

Powys County Council spends about £10 million a year on school transport, but had hoped to save £75,000 thanks to the change to its Home To School Transport Policy.

But after a public consultation, the authority is now set to reverse its decision.

The consultation results will be looked at on Monday, September 7, by the authority's learning and skills scrutiny committee.

In the impact assessment of the consultation responses, senior manager for corporate fleet & transport, John Forsey, said: “It is advised that the proposal to remove the practice of reimbursing 16-19 aged learners who travel out of county to study is not taken forward at this time.

“Responses to the consultation indicated that there would be negative impact on learners if this was implemented due to the perception that the current provision of post-16 provision in Powys is sub-standard.”

The consultation took place between June 15 and July 27.

An online questionnaire, it received 333 responses, with 10 more written responses submitted.

The proposal to stop the payment for post-GCSE age students, 61.8 per cent of respondents disagreed with the plans.

Only 30.6 per cent agreed to stopping the payment.

Comments left by people included: “Choices about education are extremely limited within the county.”

Another said: “If you wish 16-19 year olds to study in Powys you should provide a full range of subjects for them, without them having to spend half a day on the road travelling between sixth form facilities.”

In recent years Powys has seen an estimated 500 students aged 16 to 19 leaving Powys to continue their education outside the county, with many travelling to colleges in Shrewsbury or Hereford in England.

This has seen the authority lose £1.4 million in Welsh Government funding for sixth formers.

Funding from 2013/2014 was over £6.5 million and this has dropped to £4.4 million in 2018/19.

To combat this a re-jig of sixth forms in Powys is expected to take place by 2030.

If the draft policy is approved by the Independent/Conservative Cabinet later this month, it will come into force at the start of the next school year in September 2021.