If your child is assessed as eligible for transport assistance they may receive either Council-organised transport (COT) or a Personal Transport Budget (PTB).
Eligibility and key dates | Apply | After your application
Each age group has a different criteria, so make sure to read this information:
You’ll need to apply for transport assistance if your child is:
We will still consider your child for transport assistance if you live less than 2 miles from the nursery and their sensory, physical, medical or behavioural difficulties stop them from getting to school even with help from a parent or carer.
|
Key dates |
Key steps |
|---|---|
| Nursery age: apply for transport assistance by 18 May | 1. You have to apply each academic year. |
| Transport assistance eligibility decision by 30 June* | 2. We will:
|
| Risk assessment outcome by 31 July* | 3. If your child is eligible, we will complete a transport risk assessment to determine suitable transport arrangements. You'll receive details of the outcome by email. |
| Transport assistance offer by 18 August | 4. You'll receive your transport arrangement details by email and your transport will begin at the start of term.** |
*or the closest next working day, if this falls on a non-working day.
Your child will qualify for free SEND school transport if they:
We will still consider your child for free school transport if you live less than 2 / 3 miles from the allocated school and they don’t have an EHCP, but their sensory, physical, medical or behavioural difficulties stop them from getting to school, even with help from a parent or carer.
5 - 16 year olds school transport: do not apply for school transport assistance until you have a finalised EHCP.
|
Key dates |
Key steps |
|---|---|
| 5 - 15 year olds: apply for transport assistance by 18 May | 1. Do not need to apply every year, except when one of the following applies, you/your:
|
| Transport assistance eligibility decision by 30 June* |
2. First time / change in circumstances applicants, we will:
|
| Risk assessment outcome by 31 July* | 3. If your child is eligible, we will complete a transport risk assessment to determine suitable transport arrangements. You'll receive details of the outcome by email. |
| Transport assistance offer by 18 August | 4. You'll receive your transport arrangement details by email and your transport will begin at the start of term.** |
*or the closest next working day, if this falls on a non-working day.
Your child will qualify for transport assistance, if they:
Your child will qualify for transport assistance, if they:
and either: the college they are going to is the nearest college to offer the course, or they have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and are attending the school allocated by the local authority, identified in their most current EHCP as meeting their needs, or a nearer qualifying school.
Post 16: do not apply for school transport assistance until you have a finalised EHCP.
|
Key dates |
Key steps |
|---|---|
| Post 16: apply for transport assistance by 18 May | 1. You have to apply each academic year. |
| Transport assistance eligibility decision by 30 June for on-time applications. | 2. Your eligibility outcome will determine if you're awarded a Personal Transport Budget (PTB) or council-organised transport (COT). We will:
|
| COT: Risk assessment outcome (depends on appeal) | 3. If your child is awarded COT, we will complete a transport risk assessment to determine suitable transport arrangements. You will receive details of the outcome by email. |
| Transport assistance offer for on-time applications by 18 August | 4. You'll receive your transport assistance offer by email, either to begin at the start of term (COT) or start of September (PTB).** |
**If you applied on time (see key dates within each option above) and your application is complete and your school place has been confirmed, we aim to have your arrangements in place for start of term and a letter will be emailed to you by 18 August.
**If you applied late, we will process this as soon as possible but there's no guarantee arrangements will be in place for the start of term. Parents are advised to make their own arrangements until they hear from us.
If your child's circumstances change please tell us as soon as possible.
Council-organised transport may be a fleet minibus or taxi or a bus pass for use on public transport. The transport provided will depend on the child’s needs and may include picking up and dropping off at the home address and/or an escort to travel with them.
A Personal Transport Budget (PTB) is an alternative to being allocated school transport by us. It gives you the freedom to make your own transport arrangements and to receive a personal payment, with the value based on the distance being travelled.
A PTB is an option for all pupils who are eligible for transport assistance. For 16 to 18 year olds, it is the standard offer of transport assistance, COT is granted by exception only.
There is a £660 charge for transport assistance per academic year for each non-statutory school aged child (under 5 and 16-19) attending a nursery, sixth form or college.
If you are on a low income and meet the criteria explained below the charge will be reduced by 50% to £330.
The annual charge per child is reduced proportionally if the start date for transport assistance is part-way through the academic year.
For Personal Transport Budgets (PTB) instead of an upfront charge your PTB payments will be reduced pro rata by the charge throughout the year. Please see Personal Transport Budgets for more details.
In the application form, on the Charges and reductions section, choose ‘yes’ for the question ‘Are you claiming reduction to the charge’. Then choose, one of:
You may be requested to provide proof of your Working Tax Credit or Universal Credit, but someone will contact you about this if needed.
Find out if you actually need to apply for transport assistance – see Key dates and eligibility.
You can now apply for the 2025/26 school year. If you’ve missed the application cut off date, you can still apply but there is no guarantee transport arrangements will be in place for the start of term.
For transport assistance required in the current academic year, you can apply at any time during the year, once your school placement is confirmed.
Please have a clear, readable photo, screenshot or electronic document of the following items (if applicable) ready to upload with your application:
Apply online for school transport assistance
Each time your application moves to the next stage, we will send an email to your 'Self account' to let you know. Please check your self account for updates regularly.
Tell us as soon as possible about any of the following changes, if:
Depending on the change it may be necessary for your child’s eligibility to be re-assessed. We will complete this as soon as possible, but please be aware that at peak times there could be a delay in your application being re-assessed.
School Transport contact form to notify us of change of details
How to appeal a decision regarding transport.
The SEND Home to school/college transport policy and guidance includes detailed information on all aspects of the service, please also refer to this when applying.
