Travel assistance for school children under 16 with SEND

Weather disruption

Winter weather is causing disruption to services in some parts of the county. Find out what services may be affected in your area.

Your travel arrangements may change depending on service need. We will try to notify you of any changes to transport as soon as we can.

Eligibility criteria

The table shows which students are eligible:
Year group	School type	Distance from school	Additional criteria
Reception to year 4	School catchment area or nearest	2 or more miles (shortest walking distance)	No
Year 5 to year 11	School catchment area or nearest	3 or more miles (shortest walking distance)	No
Year 5 to year 6	School catchment area or nearest	2 or more miles (shortest walking distance)	Yes
Year 7 to year 11	3 nearest schools	Between 2 miles (shortest walking) and 6 miles (shortest driven)	Yes
Year 7 to year 11	Nearest religious/faith school	Between 2 miles (shortest walking) and 15 miles (shortest driven)	Yes
Post-16 young people with SEND (EHCP)	Nearest college, sixth form or special school	Over 3 miles from school or college to home	Yes, SEND

Some students who live closer than 2 miles to the school could get travel assistance if their walking route from home is considered unsafe to walk when accompanied by an adult.

Additional criteria

Some year groups must meet additional criteria to be eligible for travel assistance.

This can include:

claiming the highest level of working tax credit
claiming free school meals due to low income
applying on religious or faith reasons. You will need to give evidence of this

You can find full details in the Home to School Transport Policy 2023 to 2024.

Other grounds for assistance

We may give consideration if your child is unable to walk or cycle to school (physically or safely) due to a:

significant disability
and/or a mobility need

Speak to your SEN Provision Lead if you feel this is the case.

How to apply

Please contact your child's SEND Provision Lead.

If you do not know your child's provision lead, please contact the locality teams on the numbers below.

Your SEND provision lead will access your child's eligibility for SEND travel assistance. If eligible you will be contacted by a member of the SEN Travel team.