Travel assistance

All children between the ages of 5 and 16 may qualify for free school travel assistance if they go to their nearest suitable school and live at least:

• 2 miles from the school, if they are under the age of 8 years old
• 3 miles from the school, if they are 8 years old or older

If you get the maximum Working Tax Credit or your children are entitled to free school meals, they may get free travel assistance.

Post 16

Students living in Luton throughout the duration of their course from low income families and learners in local authority care or those that have recently left local authority care.

Low income is defined as students whose family meet the criteria used for assessing eligibility for free school meals. Please visit our free school meals page. Criteria includes:

• enrolled on and attending a full time course engaged with learning or training at a further education institution, a school or academy, an authority maintained or assisted institution providing higher or further education
• an establishment funded directly by the Education Funding Agency or a learning provider that is funded by the local authority to deliver n establishment funded directly by the Education Funding Agency or a learning provider that is funded by the local authority to deliver foundation learning or other accredited programmes of learning
• students must be over the statutory school age but not aged 19 or over, on 31 August in the year in which their course of study began students must be over the statutory school age but not aged 19 or over, on 31 August in the year in which their course of study began
• students must live further than three miles (walking route) from the nearest institution to offer their chosen course students must live further than three miles (walking route) from the nearest institution to offer their chosen course
• where a student opts to attend an institution other than their nearest college the chosen course must differ by at least 50% to that offered by nearer institutions
• payments will be made directly into the student’s bank account on a half termly basis
• each subsequent half term payment will be dependent upon 95% attendance in the previous half term
• qualifying students will be paid half the weekly ticket price of the bus travel up to a maximum of £7.50 per week

SEND travel assistance

Children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) may be entitled to travel assistance if they cannot walk to school / college / education provision because of their SEND or mobility problem.

Attendance at a special school or a learning resource base does not automatically entitle your child to travel assistance.

How to apply

Use this form to apply for travel assistance for children and students with either:

• SEN
• an education, health and care plan (EHCP)
• a disability

This application form applies to those pupils of statutory school age 5 to 16 (and may also include pupils in the Reception Year ) with an educational health care plan (EHCP) and will be assessed in line with our home to school transport policy. Being in receipt of an EHCP does not guarantee eligibility for travel assistance.

Parents and carers have a legal duty to ensure that their statutory school-aged children (age 5 to 16) attend school regularly and to make any necessary arrangements to ensure that they attend school.

A child becomes of compulsory school age at the start of term after their fifth birthday and ceases to be compulsory school age on the last day of the academic year in which they are in year 11. This applies to both children with and without an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP).

There are four core categories of eligible children set out in law:

• children living beyond the statutory walking distance from school
• hildren who cannot reasonably be expected to walk to school due to unsafe walking routes
• children who cannot reasonably be expected to walk to school due to special educational needs, disability, and mobility problems
• children from low-income families who have extended rights to travel assistance

Ordinarily, and in accordance with the Council’s statutory duty, children under the age of 5 will not be entitled to travel assistance between their home and school. Where circumstances exist where the Council determines that travel assistance is necessary it may exceptionally apply its discretionary powers on a case-by-case basis.

For pupils in year 12 and above (post-16-year-olds), there is no statutory requirement on the Council to provide free transport to their school or college in any case. The Council must decide and set out in a policy statement the arrangements that the Council considers necessary to facilitate attendance. It is expected that young people in Post 16 education will use existing travel schemes to support access to their education placement. More information about existing schemes and discretionary support provided by the Council can be found in Luton’s post-16 policy statement which is updated each year.

For pupils over 16 please see separate application and Post 16 policy statement.

Please complete all relevant sections of this application. Any missing or incorrect information may delay the processing and/or qualification for travel assistance.

Travel assistance comes in many forms such as:

• provision of a bus or train pass
• raining to travel independently (walking and using public transport)
• training to cycle independently (reimbursement of bicycle and safety equipment) subject to the agreement of parent or carer
• reimbursing of mileage costs for parents or carers
• provision of a private bus, coach or minibus

• provision of taxis or licensed private car hire (in extenuating circumstances)

The travel assessment officer will determine the most suitable form of assistance based upon information provided.

By completing this application form you’re giving us permission to discuss the child it applies to with:

• the school
• Special Educational Needs Assessment Team
• any other relevant department that may hold information required in the assessment of this application

Please complete the online application form below and upload with supporting evidence. Your application can not be submitted until evidence has been provided.

• Apply for SEN travel assistance

If you experience any difficulty completing the form online, you can download the SEN application for travel assistance document below. Save the completed form and email to [email protected].

Alternatively, you can post it (with supporting documentation) to:

SEND Travel Assistance team
Planning and Admissions,
Luton Council,
Town Hall,
Luton,
LU1 2BQ

Telephone: 01582 548098

Our travel assistance policies:

• home to school policy - covering ages 5 to 16 years old
• post 16 policy 2022-23 - covering ages 16 years and older

Mainstream travel assistance

How to apply

To apply for non-SEND, (pre) and post 16 applications, please complete the online application form and upload your supporting evidence. Your application can not be submitted until evidence has been provided.

• Apply for mainstream travel assistance to school

If you experience any difficulty completing the form online, you can download the mainstream and post-16 application for travel assistance to in the documents section below. Save the completed document and send to [email protected] or post (with supporting documentation) to:

Mainstream Travel Assistance team
Luton Council
Planning and Admissions
Town Hall
Luton, LU1 2BQ

Telephone: 01582 548227

Please write 'private and confidential' on your envelopes for the Travel Assistance team, as the contents are personal and sensitive.