Home to school transport policy 2026 to 2027

Introduction

This guidance sets out Lancashire County Council's arrangements for providing home to school transport, ensuring children and young people are safe and able to achieve their full potential in education, learning and future employment.

When considering whether to provide home to school transport assistance, Local Authorities are under a statutory duty to have regard to The Education & Inspections Act 2006 (Section 508B).

Free transport is only available where your child fulfils strict criteria so it is important that you understand whether your child will be eligible before taking the time to complete a travel pass application.

The guidance has been written to explain how entitlement to transport assistance is assessed for all pupils, including those with an Education, Health, and Care Plan [EHCP].

The policy provides more detailed advice if you have a child with an EHCP. This can be found in Appendix B.

Transport eligibility

When considering whether to provide home to school transport assistance, Local Authorities are under a statutory duty to have regard to The Education & Inspections Act 2006 (Section 508B).

The guidance has been written to explain how entitlement to transport assistance is assessed for all pupils, including those with an Education, Health, and Care Plan [EHCP].

The policy provides more detailed advice if you have a child with an EHCP. This can be found in Appendix B.

Walking distances

By law, the local authority must provide free transport to and from school if your child is of compulsory school age and is:

under eight years old and has to walk more than 2 miles (3.21 kilometres) to the nearest qualifying school or
aged eight or over and has to walk more than 3 miles (4.82 kilometres) to the nearest qualifying school.

Your child will be eligible if they attend their nearest suitable school and:

they live more than the statutory walking distance (see above) from that school, or
they could not reasonably be expected to walk to that school because of their special educational needs, disability, or mobility problem, even when accompanied by an adult, or
they would not be able to walk to that school in reasonable safety, even if they were accompanied by an adult.

Nearest suitable school

While parents are free to name any school they wish during the admissions process, their child will only be eligible for free transport where the school selected is their nearest suitable school for transport purposes. Whilst Lancashire County Council recognises that parents have a right to exercise parental preference in their selection of schools, this does not mean, however, that transport will automatically be awarded.

The nearest suitable school for transport purposes is the nearest school that is suitable for your child’s age, ability, aptitude, and any special educational needs they may have. 'Suitable school' does not mean the most suitable for your child. All schools are able to meet a wide range of needs and abilities. Suitable schools include all academies, free schools and faith schools and those located in a neighbouring local authority or district.

When deciding which is the nearest appropriate school for transport purposes, Lancashire does not consider parents' preference for a faith, single-sex, mixed, specialist or grammar school. This means that your child will not automatically receive transport assistance to any school where a place is offered. If you apply for a school that is not the closest to your home, in most cases, it will be your responsibility to ensure that your child can travel there safely.

Free transport will not be provided if your child attends a fee-paying, independent school unless the independent school is the only school named in their Education Health & Care plan.

LCC assesses each child's eligibility for transport assistance when they transfer to secondary school. This is because preference selection on your secondary school application plays an important part when Lancashire considers if your child is attending their nearest suitable school. The transport eligibility assessment considers whether a place could have been offered at a nearer school if it had been included as a preference. Transport eligibility remains where there is no school that could have been named as a higher preference, closer to the family home, than the school they have been offered.

Distance from home to school

When considering your transport application, we will determine whether the school to which your child is travelling is the nearest school with a place available. When considering applications for children who are starting in Reception or Year 7, we will determine the nearest school where a place could have been offered when the school places are allocated.

To determine the shortest distance to a school we will use a suitable walking route if the distance is below 3 miles, otherwise the distance will be measured by a road route, using the Council's measuring system.

It should be noted that a route will be considered suitable for your child to walk, if it can be undertaken in reasonable safety, accompanied by a parent or adult, as necessary. Route assessments may take into account well maintained public footpaths, bridleways, other footpaths as well as recognised roads where they are available.

All distances between pupils' homes and schools are measured using Lancashire County Council’s own mapping software and not any other internet measuring application. In this way, all children are assessed consistently. Distances will be calculated to the school point defined in this software, which is not necessarily the nearest point between your home and the school’s perimeter.

Extended rights/low-income criteria

Extended rights are designed to support low-income families when expressing their preferences for schools. There is additional help with free transport when parents are in receipt of one of the qualifying benefits for free school meals or the maximum amount of Working Tax Credit.

Your child will be eligible for free travel to school if they are eligible for free school meals or you receive maximum Working Tax Credit, and they are:

aged 8 or over but under 11, attend their nearest suitable school and it is more than 2 miles from their home; or
aged 11 to 16 years, and attend one of their three nearest suitable schools provided it is more than 2 miles but not more than 6 miles from their home; or
aged 11 to 16 years, attend a school that is more than 2 but not more than 15 miles from their home that their parents have chosen on the grounds of their religion or belief if, having regard to that religion or belief, there is no suitable school nearer to their home.

Definition of home

If your child lives in two different homes, (there is a shared parenting arrangement in place between mother and father or other approved carers), transport will only be provided from one of the addresses.

To work out whether your child is entitled to transport to and from school, we will use the address which we consider is your child’s main residence.

To decide which is your child’s main home, we will consider:

the address which you specifically chose to use when applying for a school place.
the address at which your child spends most school days and
the address used your child’s doctor, dentist etc.

If your child spends an equal amount of the school week at each address, we will usually consider the main address to be the one used on your admission application. This is normally where your child wakes up on the most school days, during the school term (Monday to Friday).

You should be aware that entitlement to assistance with home to school transport is assessed separately after the admission process (after school places have been offered). You cannot use an address to apply for a school place and another to have transport entitlement assessed.

For a new address to be accepted, there must be very exceptional reasons for the change, for example the sale of a property, house fire at one address, bereavement, or relocation of the parents/carers to a single property. Parents must provide the necessary evidence for the Council to consider. A change in a child's living arrangements, for example spending more time at the new address, will not generally be considered to equate to exceptional circumstances.

Address changes

If you move into Lancashire, or change address within Lancashire, we will identify the schools with available places at the time of your relocation. If your child is attending the nearest school where a place could be offered, then transport assistance will be provided.

If you have a low income and move to a new address that is over the statutory walking distance, there may be free transport available if your child is in their last year at primary school (Year 6) or if they are at secondary school and they have started their GCSE courses (Years 10 and 11). When considering whether to give transport assistance consideration will be given to.

the cost of the transport
how easy it is to move your child to another school.
the journey to school
whether your child was at the nearest suitable school to your previous address and
whether you chose to move or whether you have been forced to move

We will also need proof (such as a solicitor's letter or a rental agreement) confirming the date you moved.

Primary school transport

If your child qualifies for free transport as you live over 2 miles from your nearest appropriate primary school this help will continue until the end of the academic year in which your child turns eight years old.

Free travel will also be provided if your child is starting in Reception and is not yet of compulsory school age. By law, free travel only must be provided from the term after your child's 5^th birthday. Lancashire provides extra help to younger pupils but not those attending a nursery or pre-school class.

Siblings

If you have one child with free transport to a school, it does not mean a younger sibling will automatically qualify. Each child is assessed based on their individual circumstances with consideration to their nearest suitable school at the time of application. Similarly, a child may not be eligible for free school transport just because a child in a neighbouring home qualifies.

Home to school travel

If your child is entitled to free transport from home to school, their travel pass will not cover any extra journeys during the school day. The council is not able to make arrangements to accommodate:

parents' work or other commitments.
attendance by siblings at other schools.
a journey from one educational establishment to another.
ad hoc visits to other schools, colleges, or other establishments.
out of hours clubs (breakfast club, after school activities)

Mapping

Due to the ever-changing nature of the road and public footpath network that results from the ongoing housing developments across Lancashire, our mapping data accuracy improves over time, highlighting pre-existing routes that were not historically available for use during the assessment process. LCC receives regular software updates to ensure that assessments are made using the most up-to-date mapping software available.

How will your child travel to school?

There are several different ways that your child might undertake the journey to school, which may not be door to door transport. These include:

a bus pass for use on public transport
travel training to enable an older child to walk or take public transport on their own
a place on a dedicated school bus
a shared taxi or minibus
an individual taxi.

If your child is travelling on a dedicated school bus or a shared taxi or minibus, there will be group pick up points from a location reasonably near to your home and your child's school.

Dependant on individual circumstances, you might also be eligible for a mileage allowance or personal transport budget (Travel Assistant Grant.) See Appendix B for more details.

Travel times

Home to school transport will be arranged to make the journey as straightforward as possible for all children. Every effort will be made to try to make sure that your child does not have to travel for more than:

45 minutes if they attend primary school: or
75 minutes if they attend secondary school.

These are one-way journey times.

In some circumstances it may be necessary to exceed these time scales where special schools are concerned, particularly where children attend a school some distance from their home.

Keeping children safe

Home to school transport should be a safe environment for everyone involved. If your child regularly acts in a manner that creates risks for other users of the vehicle there may be a review of the transport arrangements. Reasonable adjustments will be made if your child's presenting behaviours result from their disability or medical condition.

Your child's transport may be suspended if an incident occurs that presents a serious risk to others. In this situation, a review will take place and the suspension will continue until safe and suitable provision is found. If following a review and reasonable adjustments the misbehaviour or risk remains, in extreme cases, a removal from transport may be permanently made. Any such decisions will be made with full consideration of the Department for Educations statutory guidance and the Equality Act 2010.

Route reviews

Over time the children travelling to a school change, some children will leave and new children will join. Sometimes the needs of children travelling also change.

The County Council's Integrated Transport Service regularly reviews transport operators and individual travel routes to make sure they meet the needs of the children travelling as much as possible, as well as delivering best value for public money. Where routes are fulfilled by external contracts such as taxi or bus operators, routes are planned and retendered in accordance with procurement regulations.

It is unlikely that you will be consulted as part of a route review as these have to be carried out in a timely and efficient manner. Your child's needs will be a primary consideration with any such review and there may be occasions where a consultation is required with you or the school particularly if your child very sensitive to change.

You may receive notification at any time that the type of transport for your child is to be changed because of a review. Notifications may include:

changes to the contractor / operator used
changes to passenger assistant provision
changes to the timings of pick ups and drop offs.

Where possible you will be given advanced notice of any changes but some may need to be made at very short notice, for example because of the termination of a contract with a vehicle operator or sickness.

Appeal details

If the Council refuses your application for free transport, it is because you are not eligible under this policy or in law.

If you feel that the Council has applied the law incorrectly or if you consider that you have exceptional circumstances which you have not previously advised us of, you may submit an appeal.

Your appeal must precisely specify the nature of the error and all exceptional circumstances must be corroborated by appropriate documentation or evidence. If you fail to provide evidence, your appeal cannot be considered. Your eligibility will initially be reconsidered by an officer of the Council, who was not involved in the original decision not to award transport for your child. The officer will review the original decision and any personal and/or family circumstances you believe should be considered.

If transport is not awarded your appeal and evidence will then be considered by the Independent Transport Appeals Panel whose decision is final. A further appeal will not be considered unless there have been some significant/exceptional changes in your circumstances since the last appeal was heard. You can get appeal forms from your local area education office, or they are downloadable from the County Council's website. If the Independent Transport Appeals Panel decides that your child is entitled to help with travel costs, we will refund their travel costs from the date we receive your appeal form with the full evidence to support your appeal.