Local authorities (LAs) are required to arrange free, suitable, home to school transport for children of compulsory school age who are ‘eligible’, to their nearest suitable qualifying school (section 508B of the Education Act (EA) 1996).

Eligible children fall within four groups, set out in Schedule 35 EA 1996:

Children with SEN, a disability or a mobility difficulty

Children whose route to school is unsafe

Children who live beyond the statutory walking distance

Children from low income families

Follow the links above to find out more information about each category.

If your child meets the criteria for any one of these categories, they should be entitled to free home to school transport. For example:

• If your child can’t be expected to walk because of their SEND or mobility problems, it does not matter whether they live within statutory walking distance of their school – they will still be eligible for transport.
• If your child is eligible under one of the four categories then getting disability living allowance or having access to a Motability vehicle is not going to stop them being eligible for  free, home to school transport (but it might be helpful  as evidence of their disability or what transport might be suitable for them).
• If your child is eligible for free home to school transport due to their SEND, there is no requirement for them to have an education, health and care (EHC) plan or attend a special school.

A qualifying school is a:

• maintained (publicly funded) school or nursery
• non-maintained special school
• pupil referral unit
• city technology college
• an alternative provision Academy, or
• an Academy

If your child has an EHC plan and goes to an independent school, their independent school can also be a qualifying school if it is the only school, or the nearest school, named in Section I of their EHC plan (Paragraph 15(3) Schedule 35B EA 1996). 

What if your child doesn’t go to a qualifying school?

They may be eligible for free, home-to-school transport:

If	then
they are receiving their education somewhere else, because the LA is providing alternative education under section 19(1) of the EA 1996, and they are eligible under one of the four categories above.	the LA must provide free home-to-school transport to the place at which they are receiving education,
they are suspended (temporarily excluded) from a school but remain a registered pupil of that school, and they: attend an educational establishment that is not a qualifying school, and is not within the statutory walking distance of their home	the establishment they are attending must be treated as though it is a qualifying school.

Schools should also work with the LA when arranging educational provision for a child during a suspension where the pupil might be eligible for free travel to the place where they will be receiving education. 

What are travel arrangements?

"Travel arrangements" are defined in section 508B(4) EA 1996 and paragraphs 61 – 69 and part 3 of the government’s statutory guidance: Travel to school for children of compulsory school age, May 2026 (the May 2026 Guidance).  

’Home to school travel arrangements’, for an eligible child, are travel arrangements in both directions between your child’s home and the relevant educational establishment.

They include arrangements for the provision of transport, and any of the following arrangements – but only if they are made with your parental consent:

• provision of one or more escorts (whether alone or together with other children) when travelling to or from the relevant educational establishment
• payment of the whole or any part of a person’s reasonable travelling expenses
• payment of allowances for the use of particular modes of travel, and
• voluntary arrangements made by you.

Travel arrangements for an eligible child must not result in additional costs and must include appropriate protection against those costs.

The May 2026 Guidance makes clear (at paragraphs 82-86) that the travel arrangements should take account of the needs of the child concerned. For example, it would not be appropriate to provide a pass for free travel on a bus to your child if their special educational needs mean they would be unable to travel on a bus.

In particular: 

• The arrangements should allow your child to travel without undue stress, strain or difficulty, so that wherever possible they arrive at school ready to learn.
• They must allow your child to travel in reasonable safety and comfort. This does not necessarily mean a door-to-door service, but your child’s needs may mean they need to be collected from their home so your LA should not have a policy that it never provides door-to-door transport. It should make decisions on a case-by-case basis.
• Your child’s needs may need to be reassessed from time to time, for example if their level of need changes or if they move to a new school. Some children with special educational needs can find change distressing, so your LA should provide you with as much notice as possible of any changes to your child’s travel arrangements.

The May 2026 Guidance suggests maximum reasonable journey times of 45 minutes for primary school children, and 75 minutes for secondary school children. These maximum journey times include any time taken to walk to a pick-up point. However, it also says that for children with SEN and/or disabilities, journeys may be more complex and a shorter journey time, although desirable, may not always be possible. Your child’s age and disability should be taken into account when the LA is thinking about what is suitable. Where long journeys cannot be avoided, LAs should think about whether there are things they can do to reduce any problems this makes for your child.

Safeguarding and training

LAs should make sure that:

• an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, with a check of the children’s barred list, has been carried out for drivers and passenger assistants involved in providing dedicated school transport. Dedicated school transport is transport that only takes children to and from their place of education and that members of the public cannot get on
• drivers and passenger assistants have received the training the LA thinks they need to perform their role in relation to safeguarding
• drivers and passenger assistants know how to report any concerns they have about the children in their care, and
• LAs share any concerns they have about the driver of a taxi or private hire vehicle with the authority that licenses them, and consider whether concerns they have about a driver should be referred to the DBS.

LAs also need to make sure that drivers and passenger assistants working on dedicated school transport have undertaken appropriate training and that this is kept up to date. The training that a driver or passenger assistant requires will depend on the needs of the children who are travelling.

School staff receive training to allow them to manage a child’s medical needs in school and, wherever possible, the transport staff that will be working with the child are expected to be able to join in with this training. As a minimum, training should include:

• safeguarding
• the handling of emergency situations, for example what to do in a medical emergency or if there is a road accident
• equality, for example recognising, supporting and communicating with children with disabilities
• any training required to meet the specific needs of the children travelling – for example, dealing with medical emergencies or managing their behaviour.

The May 2026 Guidance is clear that your LA should not withdraw your child’s transport arrangements due to behavioural challenges except as a last resort. If your LA does withdraw arrangements for this reason, it will still need to meet its transport duties but in another way (paragraph 114).

If you haven’t been able to find the answer to your question on this page, see the pages on the different categories of ‘eligible children’ linked above, or take a look at our FAQs. You may also find it helpful to look at our information on appealing decisions about transport.