There is no legal duty requiring a local authority (LA) to provide free school or college transport to a young person.

However, where a young person is of ‘sixth form age’ and attends school or college, the law does require LAs to have a ‘Transport Policy Statement’. You should be able to find your LA’s Transport Policy Statement on its website and/or in its Local Offer.

You are of sixth form age if you:

• are over compulsory school age (which ends on the last Friday in June in the academic year in which you turn or turned 16) but under 19, or
• began the course you are studying at school or college before your 19^th birthday. You will remain of sixth form age until you complete that course, even if you finish this course after your 19^th birthday.

This statement should say what transport arrangements the LA considers it necessary to make, to help you to attend school or college so that you can receive education or training. It is unlikely these arrangements will be free.

This statement will also set out home to school or college transport arrangements for particular groups of young people (section 509AA of the Education Act 1996). Post 16 transport and travel statutory guidance says LAs should prioritise young people with special educational needs (SEN) when deciding which groups to prioritise for transport arrangements under its statements. LAs must have regard to this guidance and cannot simply ignore it.

The statutory guidance is also clear that when developing their transport policy, LAs must consider their responsibilities to secure suitable education and training to meet the reasonable needs of young people of sixth form age and those aged 19 or over and for whom an EHC plan is maintained. “Transport arrangements will need to support commissioning arrangements to ensure that young people have access to the education and training provision that has been commissioned.” (paragraph 29).

When deciding what transport arrangements or financial assistance may be required, LAs should also consider the needs of the most vulnerable or socially excluded learners. The needs of learners with learning difficulties and/or disabilities should be specifically considered as explained above and the arrangements in place for each group must be set out in the Transport Policy Statement.

As already mentioned, these arrangements are unlikely to be free and LAs may ask learners and their parents for a contribution to transport costs. In deciding this LAs should:

• make sure that any contribution is affordable for learners and their parents
• make sure that there are arrangements in place to support those families on low income, and
• take into account the likely duration of learning and make sure that transport policies do not adversely impact particular groups, such as those with SEN who are more likely to remain in education or training longer than their peers. Any contribution sought from these families would need to allow for the fact they may have to contribute for longer.

LAs can take receipt of 16-19 bursary funding into account in assessing an individual’s need for financial help with transport (paragraph 29 of the Guidance).

When carrying out their responsibilities for this sixth form age group, LAs should keep in mind the adult transport duty. Paragraph 37 of the statutory guidance explains that it would be good practice not to charge a contribution for transport for a young person assessed under the sixth form age duty “if it likely that they will be eligible for free transport under the adult transport duty”.

As we can see, the legislation gives LAs the discretion to decide what transport and financial support are necessary to help young people attend school or college. This means your LA can decide what level of support it may offer to you, in order to help you get to school or college. 

Having said that, your LA must act reasonably when making these decisions. It must take into account all relevant matters, so do tell your LA if there are particular circumstances affecting your situation and what SEN you have, if relevant. Your LA must also consider what the statutory guidance says.

If your LA fails to do what it says it will do in a transport policy statement, or fails to make sure the arrangements it says it will make are actually made, then this might mean the LA has not complied with its legal duties and you may need to take action.   

 

If you can’t find the answer to your question in this section, you can book an appointment to speak with us.