Eligibility criteria for travel assistance for children with special educational needs

Not all children and young people with special educational needs are entitled to help with home-to-school travel.  

To be eligible, a child or young person must:

• be aged 5–16 or have an EHC Plan and attend an educational placement named within that plan

• go to their nearest suitable educational placement (as determined by us)

• live further than the statutory walking distance from their school.

The statutory walking distance is:

• up to two miles for a child aged 7 or under

• up to three miles for a child aged 8–16.

However, in some cases walking distance is not relevant, and the needs of each individual child or young person will be considered. In these cases, we may need to complete an observational assessment to judge a child or young person’s ability to travel.

Factors not considered when assessing travel assistance

We will not consider the following factors when we are assessing travel needs:

• a parent’s or carer’s work obligations – wherever possible, we expect parents/carers of children with SEND to make arrangements for their child to attend school in the same way as for parents/carers of children without SEND

• the travel arrangements of any other child or young person, except in exceptional circumstances (for example, to ensure another eligible child or young person can attend school)

• any after-school arrangements (other than activities that are part of the national curriculum)