Apply for under 16 travel assistance to school

Your child may be eligible for travel assistance if they are attending their nearest available school and meet the relevant statutory walking distance criteria:

• more than 2 miles from home for children aged under 8, or
• more than 3 miles from home for children aged 8 and over

To determine if your child is attending their nearest available school, the distance is measured using the shortest road route (from your home to the nearest applicable school gate).

This distance will be measured using an internal Geographical Information System (GIS) that calculates all schools in order from nearest to furthest from the child's home address. If a nearer school could have offered a place to your child on National Offer Day or at the time of a house/school move, your child may not be entitled to travel assistance.

If you believe the walking route is unsafe, please see our Frequently Asked Questions relating to unsafe walking routes.

Your child may be eligible for free travel assistance if they are entitled to free school meals or you get the maximum level of Working Tax Credit or Universal Credit.

Children aged between 8 and 11 living more than 2 miles from their nearest suitable school may be eligible for free travel assistance. The 2 mile limit will be measured via the nearest available safe walking distance or road route.

Children in Year 7 to Year 11 (compulsory secondary school age) who are eligible will get free transport either to:

• 1 of the 3 nearest schools within 6 miles of the child's home. This is where the child lives between 2 and 6 miles from that school, or
• the nearest school preference based on the family's religion or belief. The school must be the nearest school to the home address having regard to the relevant religion or belief, and be within 2 and 15 miles of the home address.

We recognise that in some cases, you or your child may have circumstances that prevent you from travelling to school safely. Exceptional circumstances are assessed on a case-by-case basis and require supporting evidence from you in order to reach a decision.

Exceptional circumstances may include (but are not limited to):

• You or your child having a medical condition or disability, which prevents safe travel to school.
• Unforeseen accidents/medical procedures that may prevent you from transporting your child as usual.
• Where the walking route to school is deemed unsafe for a child to use.

Your child will not usually be eligible unless one of the following applies:

• Your nearest school is full and would not offer you a place. The same may not apply to younger siblings when they attend, if places are available.
• The school is out of county and your child attends their nearest Surrey school.
• Your child is eligible for support on low income grounds.
• Your child has an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), and the nearest school does not meet their needs.

Travel assistance to start in September

If you are applying for travel assistance to start in September, you should submit your application as soon as possible.

Our busiest period is between March and September where we are assessing a high number of applications and we will make every effort to ensure you are notified of the outcome as quickly as possible.

Please note that if you submit your application later in the calendar year, travel arrangements may not be in place for the start of September. We will contact you to discuss what other support can be provided and if there difficult with accessing the school placement remote learning can be offered. If there are delays to the processing of your application, we will notify you as soon as possible. Guidance regarding in-year applications also applies to children with an EHCP.

Is your child attending the nearest suitable school to meet their needs?

If your child's EHCP has a transport caveat in Section I of the most recent final EHCP, this means that the Local Authority (LA) found that a nearer appropriate/suitable school could have met your child's needs. The caveat should look similar to this:

'From September 2023: Details of parental preference school

The LA confirms the closest suitable school is XXXXX school/college. The parents have expressed a preference for XXXXX School/college. XXXX can attend XXXXX on the condition the parents pay the cost of transport.'

The LA must name both the parental choice school and the school they deem to be nearer appropriate within this caveat.

For the caveat to be applied correctly the Dudley Test must be followed, this means that before applying the transport caveat to Section I of your child's final EHCP the LA will have:

1. Established whether both schools are in fact suitable, and whether arrangements could be made for the child to attend the LA's choice of school (i.e. a place is available).
2. If both schools are suitable, the cost of providing transport to both should be established and taken into account when considering whether the parent's choice is incompatible with the efficient use of resources
3. Only if the total cost of the parent's choice of school compared to the LA's choice of school plus transport is so significant as to represent an inefficient use of resources, then the LA can name two schools, with the condition the parents provide transport to their choice of school

The term 'Looked After Child' (LAC) refers to a child who is in the care of the local authority.

In line with national guidance and standard eligibility criteria, we will consider travel assistance applications for children who are looked after, along with any exceptional circumstances that accompany an application.

An exceptional circumstance means situations where due to health, medical, financial, or specific personal reasons, a parent or carer is unable to accompany their child to their education setting.

We aim to prioritise any request for a Looked After Child. A parent/carer must ensure that they indicate that the child is 'LAC' on the application form. This will signal that it is a priority request to be considered by the Surrey School Travel and Assessment Team.