Home to school transport policy and guidance

The Council will review the travel needs of all eligible children and decide the most appropriate form of assistance that will be provided. In accordance with the Council’s strategic aims, the form of travel offered will reflect the most appropriate use of public funds to ensure cost effective provision is in place, will seek to promote independence and to be environmentally sustainable, whilst also meeting the needs of the child.

In accordance with national guidance, a journey to school for eligible children should be suitable, safe and reasonably stress free to enable the children to arrive at school ready for a day of study. To this end it is considered reasonable that journey times each way for children are as follows

• 45 minutes for primary aged pupils
• 75 minutes for secondary aged pupils

However, it is recognised that adhering to journey times may not always be possible particularly in rural areas. It may be deemed acceptable for a trip to exceed these journey times if it is considered that the additional time does not place undue stress, strain or difficulty on the pupil, which would prevent them from benefitting from the education.

Where children with special educational needs, disability or mobility problems are present, then journey’s may sometimes need to be longer and more complex, although the Council will ensure that it does not extend routes for such children unnecessarily with appropriate measures in place to address any implications for doing so.

Subject to meeting the eligibility criteria of this policy, the following assistance will be considered (in the following order):

1. provision of a travel pass for the pupil;
2. provision of independent travel training;
3. provision of a travel bursary;
4. payment of car mileage/travel reimbursement for the pupil’s parent(s) (with parental consent);
5. Provision of a cycling allowance (with parental consent)
6. Provision of a suitable escort to enable a pupil to walk a short distance (with parental consent)
7. provision of a travel pass for pupil and parent;
8. provision of a shared vehicle without escort (using collection point if appropriate);
9. provision of a shared vehicle with escort (using collection point if appropriate);
10. provision of an individual vehicle without escort;
11. provision of an individual vehicle with escort.

The provision of an individual vehicle with or without escort should be exceptional and only where it has been demonstrated that other modes of assistance are not suitable.

Other bespoke travel options may be considered and offered where individual needs enable travel, and the development of travel skills and independence, e.g. Travel Buddy.

All travel assistance will be reviewed as part of the annual review of needs and if appropriate as part of an early review. Travel assistance may be withdrawn or amended if circumstances have changed, or the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) Panel considers the withdrawal appropriate as an encouragement to independence or the offer is no longer the most economical mode of travel.

Provision of Passenger Assistants

A passenger assistant will only be provided following the outcome of an assessment of the child’s Special Educational Needs and/or medical needs in order to meet the needs of the children travelling to and from school. This determination will be made by the Travel Assistance Team taking into account:

• A child’s medical needs, particularly where rescue medication is required.
• Where an individual child’s needs create a clear danger or health and safety risk to themselves and other passengers on the vehicle.
• Where an assessment of the children on the vehicle and the journey to be undertaken highlight a clear danger or health and safety risk to all passengers on the vehicle.

The consideration for passenger assistants will be made based on evidence received from all relevant parties and will be reviewed regularly, where appropriate and whenever a contract is re- tendered.

Travel training

Local authorities have a duty to encourage, enable and assist the participation of young people with learning difficulties or disabilities up to the age of 25 in education and training. Independent travel training aims to achieve this.

Independent travel is a valuable skill for preparing for adulthood, an essential employability skill, and provides greater opportunities for young people, not least increasing confidence in their abilities and reducing their sense of reliance on family members.

In line with the Council’s aims and objectives to support independence and prepare young people for adulthood, and where appropriate employment.

The Council will work in partnership with education establishments and other individuals to identify young people who could benefit from ITT and contact their families to invite them to take part in ITT.

The Council will also contact young people and their families who will be transitioning from statutory education into post-16 and above to invite them to take part in ITT.

An ITT assessment will be carried out in the home, with the support of the family, to confirm the suitability of the young person for the ITT programme, taking into account the following criteria:

• existing level of independent travel skills
• the likelihood of the pupil being eligible for SEN travel assistance under the 16 to 19 & 19- 25 policy
• the age of the pupil
• the distance between home and school
• the SEND of the pupil
• the route which the young person would need to undertake
• journey times using public transport and the complexity of the journey
• the frequency of the journeys required

This assessment would take place before the pupil undertakes the ITT programme, which would last for approximately four to six weeks. During the programme, the pupil will travel to and from their education or training provision each day with their dedicated one to one ITT trainer.

During the period when a pupil is taking part in the ITT, this will be their travel assistance offer. At the end of the ITT programme, the Council will review the pupil’s progress with the family to decide if it is appropriate for the pupil to continue to travel independently. If it is not appropriate for the pupil to travel independently, their previous travel assistance offer will be reinstated. Although it is expected that the majority of young people would benefit from ITT, it is acknowledged that for some young people, due to the nature of their SEND, ITT will not be appropriate.

Travel Bursary

This is an allowance that can be provided by Slough Council to parents of children who are eligible for travel assistance

A parent may choose to consent to the acceptance of a travel bursary in lieu of arranged travel assistance by the Council. This enables families to make their own arrangements to facilitate travel and access to education. A travel allowance will only be offered where it is less expensive than any alternative form of travel assistance.

Any arrangements made by the parent using the travel allowance are the responsibility of the parent.

The travel busary is calculated on shortest driving route distance between the home and the school. The value of the bursary awarded based on the banding listed below:

Where there are two or more children living at the same address and attending the same school and the travel bursary has been agreed for one child, additional bursary payments will not be provided for the other children as all children would be expected to travel together.

If the parent transports siblings to different schools the bursary due would be based on the shortest walking route between home, school A and school B, and return.

The travel bursary is paid over 10 months (October to July) if the child is entitled from the start of the school year. Parents will need to nominate a bank account before any payments are made.

Parents/carers are able to request an enhanced Travel Bursary if the standard values (above) are not sufficient to provide suitable travel arrangements. Each request will be considered on a case by case basis after review of the evidence provided. If the Council agrees then an enhanced Travel Bursary may be awarded, subject to the award being financially viable for the Council.

The travel bursary is based on the child’s attendance being over 80% for the full year. Attendance records will be requested from the school at the end of each term. If the child shows poor attendance in the Autumn or Spring terms then the parent may be transferred to the standard travel reimbursement option. Alternatively, if the child’s attendance is below 80% then the final month’s payment will be reduced.

If a parent is in receipt of the travel bursary but is temporarily unable to transport their child to school due to a short-term illness or medical condition, temporary assistance may be provided. However, this may take up to 6 weeks to put in place.

Car Mileage / Travel Reimbursement

Where a child is entitled to travel assistance, the Council can provide a fuel allowance for parents to take their children to and from school, where it is more cost effective than providing contracted or arranged transport.

The Council would pay parents (where their child attends/travels daily) two return journeys at 45p per mile.

For example, where a family reside 5 miles from the school, each return journey is 10 miles: 2 return journeys = 20 miles x 45p = £9 per day.

A typical term would be 65 school days = £585 per term.

Where a Car Mileage/Travel Reimbursement is provided, parents are required to submit claims for payment on a monthly basis, confirming journeys made and attendance.

Upon receipt of the completed claim, the Council will then review and check the details. If details are correct, then payment will be made.

Car Mileage/Travel Reimbursement, based on the above, are paid where the parent agrees to receive such an allowance. Where the amount paid is at 45p per mile, this is considered to cover the full cost to the parent of transporting their child in their own vehicle.

Collection points

Collection points are like bus stops, where the Council identifies designated pick-up and drop- off locations for the pupil to meet the bus or taxi rather than offering a door-to-door service. This reduces the time needed for the route to pick up the pupils and supports children and young people to become more independent and better prepares them for adulthood.

Using a collection point will not be possible for some children and young people with the most complex SEND needs, and in some cases parents’ own mobility or disability may impact on them being able to accompany their child to a collection point. A Needs assessments will be conducted to determine if the use of a collection point is a reasonable expectation, including the identification of the maximum walking distance (where this is shorter than one-mile).

The ambition for the service is to improve the range of options available for families to take responsibility for their own children’s transport where this is desired and appropriate. In such circumstances, the Council will carefully consider and assess the individual child’s needs/circumstances as well as the mobility and or disability of their parents.

Where a collection point is allocated, it is the parent’s or carer’s responsibility to make sure that their child travels to and from the collection point and transfers to and from the vehicle safely.

For parents who are temporarily unable to take their child to a collection point, no temporary assistance will be provided in those circumstances. This is because the child’s special educational need or disability has not changed and the transport service from the collection point is still available.

All collection points will be within a one-mile walking distance of the home and will reflect the specific needs of the individual, each collection point will be assessed in advanced for their suitability.

• wherever a bus stop can be legally used as a collection point, it will be
• minibuses can stop to collect and drop off on yellow and double yellow lines; vehicles cannot stop on red routes, white zig zags (near a zebra crossing) or school keep-clear hatchings
• the driver always plans not to cause obstructions to other road users while making a drop off or collection and will try to stop in parking areas or bays
• collections or drop-off are always made kerb side
• each collection point is physically assessed before being used in service; a driver will go out and access to see if the location is safe (for example, a well-lit public location, not too close to a junction or on the brow of a hill)
• the drivers complete dynamic risk assessments at the time of collections or / drop offs in the eventuality of any changes (new road layouts, another road user in the stopping space) and will slightly adjust the collection point if it is unsafe to stop

Weekly / Fortnightly boarding placements

Transport will be provided to take children to school on a Sunday evening, or Monday morning, as directed by the school and to collect children to take them home at the end of the designated school week, or earlier as directed by the school for planned or unplanned early closures.

Termly residential placements

12 single journeys from home to school and school to home will be provided each academic year. This will consist of trips required at the start and end of each term, and at other school closure times, i.e. half term breaks.

Permanent (52 week) residential placements

12 single journeys from home to school and school to home will be provided each academic year. These are at the discretion of the parents, school and child and need to be booked at least 10 days in advance through our Travel Assistance Team.

Any additional trips will be the responsibility of the parent. Where there is a risk of a placement breakdown the Travel Assistance Team may consider providing reimbursement of fuel or public transport costs in order to support additional trips on a short term basis so that the child can be supported back into full time boarding.