About home to school transport

We provide help with transport for children who meet these conditions:

  • are aged up to eight years and live further than two miles from their nearest school by the shortest walking route
  • are aged eight and above and live further than three miles from their nearest school by the shortest walking route
  • need to use a route that has been classed as dangerous
  • have certain medical conditions, disabilities, or a statement of complex needs.

Please note, home to school transport is only available if your child attends the nearest school in their catchment area.

If you choose to place your child outside this area, you will be liable to organise and pay for your own transport. 

2024-25 application open dates

Please note the following application types are currently closed. They are due to open in early April 2024. 

  • Mainstream 
  • SEN 
  • Post 16 SEN 

Other application dates to open later in 2024 include

  • 31 July 2024 – Vacant seat payment scheme and Post 16 mainstream 

If your child is starting primary or secondary school, we will be in touch regarding your eligibility and next steps.   

After you've applied

New applications

Once you have submitted your application, you will receive an outcome of entitlement within 20 working days.

All transport allocations will then be reviewed between June and August.

If your application has been received within the published deadlines, you will be contacted before the start of term (by 19 August). You will be given

  • details of your route
  • your operator
  • pick up/drop off points

For those applying between academic years, applications can take up to 20 working days to process.                        

Returning passengers

The School Transport team will verify your statutory entitlement during the summer holidays.

You will be contacted before the start of term with the specifics of your route.

If you are not eligible

If you are not eligible for home to school transport, other support may be available. 

You can apply for concessionary transport through our Vacant Seat Payment Scheme.

You can apply using the same form you would use to apply for home to school transport. 

Please note there is no guarantee that we will have vacant seats available. 

Seats allocated under the scheme may be needed by pupils with a statutory entitlement. If this happens, we will give you at least two weeks’ notice of the seat being withdrawn.

Appeals

You can appeal to the transport appeal panel if:

  • your application has been refused or; 
  • you are unhappy with your transport offer

All appeals should be send in writing to us via email. 

Stage 1

Please submit a written request to the appeals officer within 20 days of receipt of your offer or refusal. The officer will then review your transport decision.

Your request needs to include:

  • details why we should review the decision
  • any supporting information

A senior officer will have 20 working days to review the decision in line with policy and respond.

Stage 2

If you are not satisfied with the outcome of the stage 1 appeal, you can escalate this to stage 2. This next stage is a further impartial re-consideration of the case.

If you wish to escalate to stage 2, you will need to submit a written notification of your decision. This will need to be within 20 working days of receiving the outcome of the stage one appeal.

An independent panel will review the case within 40 working days.

More information can be found in our policy documents above. 

Complaints

We aim to provide all our customers a good service, but sometimes we make mistakes.

If you're unhappy with something we've done, you are welcome to log a complaint with us.