If your child cannot reasonably be expected to walk to school, the Local Authority may have to arrange free travel and pay for it. That duty does not depend on having an EHC plan.
This guide covers England. It sets out who counts as an “eligible child”, the two myths that stop parents applying, the one condition that decides most refusals, what the Local Authority has to consider, and how the appeal works, including one thing about the appeal that is usually reported wrongly.
The duty, in one sentence
Section 508B of the Education Act 1996 says a Local Authority “must make… such travel arrangements as they consider necessary in order to secure that suitable home to school travel arrangements… are made and provided free of charge” for an eligible child.
Two words in that sentence do a lot of work. “Must” means this is a duty, not a favour. “Free of charge” means free: the same section says arrangements do not count if they “give rise to additional costs and do not include appropriate protection against those costs” (section 508B(6)).
Everything then turns on whether your child is an “eligible child”. That is defined in Schedule 35B to the same Act.
The two myths worth clearing first
The Department for Education’s statutory guidance, “Travel to school for children of compulsory school age”, was updated on 26 May 2026, and it addresses both of these head on.
Myth one: you need an EHC plan. Paragraph 14 of the guidance says that to be eligible on the grounds of special educational needs, disability or mobility problems, a child does not need to have an EHC plan, does not need travel to school specified in their plan if they have one, does not need to attend a special school, and does not need to live beyond the statutory walking distance.
Myth two: an EHC plan gets you transport automatically. Paragraph 15 says the opposite of what most parents assume: “Not every child with an EHC plan or who attends a special school will be eligible for free travel to school.”
So the plan is not the key, and it is not the barrier. It does one thing that matters a great deal. Paragraph 6 of the guidance says that where a child has an EHC plan, the school named in the plan “will normally be considered to be their nearest suitable school”, and the key points at the head of the guidance’s section on children with EHC plans repeat it: subject to the exception in paragraphs 23 to 28, the school named in the plan will be their nearest suitable school for school travel purposes. As the next section explains, that is the limb that defeats most other applications.
Worth knowing too: the SEND Code of Practice, at paragraph 9.215, says transport should be recorded in an EHC plan only in exceptional cases where the child has particular transport needs. So its absence from your plan tells you nothing about your entitlement.
Who is an eligible child
There are three routes that matter most to SEND families, plus the extended rights for low income households.
| Route | Where it comes from | The test |
|---|---|---|
| Special educational needs, disability or mobility problems | Schedule 35B, paragraph 2; guidance paragraph 13 | Your child is of compulsory school age, is a registered pupil at a qualifying school within walking distance, the Local Authority has made no arrangements for a place at a qualifying school nearer your home, and, having regard to their needs, “he cannot reasonably be expected to walk to the school”. The guidance states the same test as attending their nearest suitable school and being unable to walk there “even if they were accompanied by their parent”. |
| The route is not safe | Schedule 35B, paragraph 4; guidance paragraph 29 | Same first limbs, and, having regard to the nature of the routes your child could reasonably be expected to take, they cannot reasonably be expected to walk. Guidance paragraph 29 adds two further limbs: they could not walk it in reasonable safety even if accompanied by a parent, and there is no alternative route within walking distance they could walk in reasonable safety, even if accompanied. |
| The school is beyond walking distance | Schedule 35B, paragraph 6 | Your child is a registered pupil at a qualifying school that is not within walking distance, no boarding accommodation has been arranged at or near it, and the Local Authority has made no arrangements for a place at a qualifying school nearer your home. |
| Extended rights (low income) | Schedule 35B, paragraphs 9, 11 and 12; guidance paragraph 35 | Aged 8 to 10 at their nearest suitable school more than 2 miles away; or aged 11 to 16 at one of their three nearest suitable schools, more than 2 miles but not more than 6; or aged 11 to 16 at a school more than 2 but not more than 15 miles away, chosen on the grounds of the parent’s religion or belief, where there is no suitable school nearer having regard to that belief. All three also require the free school meals or benefits condition in paragraph 14. |
The first route lists three separate grounds: special educational needs, a disability, or mobility problems. They are alternatives, so your child does not have to be disabled within the meaning of the Equality Act 2010 to qualify on the special educational needs ground. Where disability is the ground relied on, Schedule 35B paragraph 15(4) uses the Equality Act 2010 definition.
Notice that the first two routes apply even when you live close to the school. That is the point of them. A child who lives half a mile from their nearest suitable school, and could not reasonably be expected to walk there because of their needs even if a parent went with them, is an eligible child. What defeats most applications is not the distance. It is which school the child attends.
The condition that decides most refusals
Every route above carries a limb about the school. In the statute it reads as “no suitable arrangements have been made by the local authority for enabling him to become a registered pupil at a qualifying school nearer to his home” (Schedule 35B, paragraphs 2(c), 4(b) and 6(c)). The guidance states the same thing more directly: a child is eligible if they attend their nearest suitable school. If your child attends a school further away than a suitable nearer one that could have taken them, the Local Authority can refuse on that ground alone.
Four points make that limb less frightening than it sounds.
- “Suitable” is a low bar, and that cuts both ways. Paragraph 4 says a suitable school is a qualifying school suitable for your child’s age, ability, aptitude and any special educational needs, and suitable for their sex. Paragraph 5 then says: “‘Suitable school’ does not mean the most suitable school for a child.”
- A school that could not take you is not your nearest suitable school. Paragraph 41 says that where the nearest school is oversubscribed and unable to offer a place, “the nearest school with places available is their nearest suitable school”, and it may be in a neighbouring Local Authority area.
- An EHC plan usually settles it. Where the plan names a school, that school will normally be treated as the nearest suitable school for travel purposes (paragraph 6, and the key points before paragraph 20).
- Admissions and travel are linked, and this catches families out. Paragraph 43 says it is reasonable for a Local Authority to expect parents to list their nearest school on their application form if they intend to apply for free travel. Paragraph 44 says that expectation should be clearly available to parents at the time they choose schools, and paragraph 45 says listing it first should not normally be necessary. If a place at a nearer school later comes up after your child has settled, paragraph 47 says travel should not be withdrawn.
The conditional naming trap. This is the most common way a SEND family ends up paying for transport. Where you ask for a school further from home than a nearer school that could meet your child’s needs, the Local Authority should consider whether arranging travel to your preferred school would be incompatible with the efficient use of resources (guidance paragraphs 22 and 23). If it decides that it would be, paragraph 24 allows it to name a different appropriate school, or to “name the parent’s preferred school on the condition that the parent arranges the travel or provides some or all of the cost of the travel”, or both. Paragraph 26 says it may set that condition out in Section I of the plan. The SEND Code of Practice says the same at paragraph 9.214.
So read Section I before you agree to it. Paragraphs 27 and 28 add that if your circumstances later change and you can no longer arrange or pay for the travel, the Local Authority may review the plan and name a different school instead.
The walking distances, and how they are measured
Section 444(5) of the Education Act 1996 sets them: for a child under 8, two miles; for a child aged 8 or over, three miles. Measured “by the nearest available route”.
The measurement rule catches people out, and it can work in your favour. Paragraph 12 of the guidance says the route measured “must be the shortest route along which a child, accompanied as necessary, may walk in reasonable safety”. That is not necessarily the shortest route by road, and it may include footpaths, bridleways, other pathways and alternative entrances to the school. If the Local Authority has measured down a road with no pavement, that is worth questioning.
For extended rights, paragraph 38 says the 2 mile measurement follows the same rule, but the 6 mile and 15 mile upper limits are measured by road routes only.
What the Local Authority has to actually consider
On the needs and disability route, paragraph 16 asks for a case by case assessment that takes account of your child’s physical ability to walk to school and any health and safety issues related to their needs. It may also take account of whether they would be able to walk to school if accompanied.
That last point is the one that decides most cases, so answer it head on. Paragraph 50 says a child “will not normally be eligible” on the needs or unsafe route “if they would be able to walk to school if they were accompanied”, and where the Local Authority decides they could, “the general expectation is that the parent will accompany them or make other suitable arrangements”.
Two things soften that.
- Paragraph 51 says a Local Authority must not have a blanket policy of never arranging travel for a child who could walk if accompanied, and must consider cases where a parent gives good reasons why they cannot accompany their child or make other arrangements. Paragraph 52 expressly lists a parent’s own disability or mobility problem as a circumstance to take into account.
- Paragraph 54 is the strongest line in the guidance: where the Local Authority decides a child could not reasonably be expected to walk even if accompanied, they are eligible “regardless of whether their parent would be able to accompany them or make other arrangements”.
Be careful with the reasons you give. Paragraph 53 says a parent’s working pattern, or having children at more than one school, “on their own, will not normally be considered good reasons” for being unable to accompany a child. Paragraph 55 does ask Local Authorities to be sensitive to the particular challenges faced by parents of children with special educational needs or disabilities.
On evidence, a diagnosis letter on its own proves little, because the question is the journey rather than the label. Paragraph 17 lists what a Local Authority may take into account: information from the parent, information from any professionals involved in the child’s care such as an educational psychologist or hospital consultant, information from the school, and anything relevant in the EHC plan or an individual healthcare plan. So write a factual description of the journey, and back it with those where you have them.
What that description should cover: how far your child can walk before they cannot continue, what a road crossing does to them, what state they arrive in, and what happens on the days it goes wrong. Then answer the accompaniment question directly, because the Local Authority will.
If your child is not attending a school
Two groups are often missed, and both include a lot of children with SEND.
Where a child is receiving education at a place other than a school under arrangements made in pursuance of section 19(1) of the Education Act 1996, Schedule 35B paragraphs 3, 5, 7, 10 and 13 mirror the school routes for that place. Guidance paragraph 48 confirms it.
Where a child has been suspended or excluded from a school but remains a registered pupil there, Schedule 35B paragraph 8 treats the place where their alternative full time education is provided as if it were a qualifying school for these purposes.
The appeal, and the thing that is usually reported wrongly
Most articles about school transport appeals present a tidy set of deadlines as though they were law. They are not, and it matters that you know it.
Paragraph 133 of the guidance says: “It is for local authorities to determine how their appeals process will operate. We recommend they adopt the two-stage process set out below… The timings are recommended, not mandatory.”
So the DfE recommends this shape. Check your own Local Authority’s published appeals policy, because that is the document it has committed to.
| Stage | What happens | Recommended timing |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | Written appeal, reviewed by a senior officer | You have 20 working days from receiving the decision. Outcome in writing within 20 working days. |
| Stage 2 | Independent appeal panel, which you can attend in person or virtually | You have 20 working days to escalate. The review should happen within 40 working days. Outcome in writing within 5 working days. |
Two honest caveats. Paragraph 139 says panel members “should be independent of the original decision-making process but need not be independent of the local authority”, so that independence is recommended rather than required. And because the timings are recommendations, a Local Authority that blows through them is not breaking the law in the way a missed EHC deadline breaks the law. What a long delay is, is good evidence for the next step.
After stage 2 the routes are a complaint to the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman, or judicial review if the panel’s decision is flawed as a matter of public law. Judicial review runs to a hard timetable: Civil Procedure Rule 54.5(1) says the claim form must be filed “promptly” and “in any event not later than 3 months after the grounds to make the claim first arose”, and rule 54.5(2) says that limit cannot be extended by agreement between the parties.
On the appeal and complaint split, paragraph 131 leaves it to each Local Authority to decide which matters it handles as appeals and which as complaints. It then says that “typically”, eligibility and whether the travel arranged is suitable for the child’s needs are handled as appeals, while the punctuality of a school bus or a delay in replying to a parent is handled as a complaint. Check how your area draws that line before you write.
One last route if your child is not eligible. Section 508C of the Education Act 1996 gives a Local Authority a discretionary power to make travel arrangements, or to pay travelling expenses, for a child who is not an eligible child under section 508B. It is a power, not a duty, so it is a request rather than a right, but it is worth asking about.
A change coming in September 2026
This one needs care, and we would rather flag it than let a family be surprised by it.
Free school meals are expanding. The DfE’s travel guidance, in the 26 May 2026 update, describes two categories from the beginning of the 2026/27 academic year at paragraph 33: “Targeted FSM”, for pupils in households receiving Universal Credit with annual household earnings of no more than £7,400, and “Expanded FSM”, for pupils who do not qualify for Targeted FSM but are in households receiving Universal Credit.
Paragraph 34 then says that extended rights to free travel “continue to apply to children eligible for Targeted FSM”.
Read plainly, that means becoming eligible for free school meals under the expansion does not by itself bring free travel with it.
There is transitional cover, and it is worded as an expectation rather than a right. Paragraph 36 says that where a child qualified for, and was receiving, extended rights travel on 31 March 2025 and continues to meet the criteria in paragraph 35, the Department for Education expects Local Authorities to keep providing free travel “until the end of their current phase of education or until they leave their current school, whichever is sooner”. Separately, paragraph 37 says that where a child ceases to be eligible during an academic year, the Local Authority should continue free travel for the remainder of that year.
We are reporting the guidance here rather than stating settled law, because the underlying legislation has not been rewritten to match: Schedule 35B paragraph 14(2) still ties the benefits condition to section 512ZB(4) of the Education Act 1996. If free travel through the extended rights route matters to your family, ask your Local Authority directly how they are applying it for 2026/27, in writing.
If your child is 16 or over
The post-16 position is genuinely different, and it is often described incorrectly.
For sixth form age, section 509AA of the Education Act 1996 does not create an individual entitlement to free travel. It requires the Local Authority to prepare a transport policy statement for each academic year and publish it on or before 31 May, setting out the arrangements it considers necessary. There is no equivalent of the Schedule 35B eligibility list.
That gives Local Authorities real discretion, but it also gives you two things. First, section 509AA(7)(b) requires the authority to “make, and secure that effect is given to, any arrangements specified” in the statement, so what it has published is not merely aspirational. Second, section 509AE creates a “sixth form transport complaint”, which is a complaint about the authority’s exercise of, or failure to exercise, its functions under sections 509AA to 509AD, made by a young person of sixth form age or their parent. Where such a complaint leads the Secretary of State to direct it, the authority must revise its statement and publish the revision.
Note also that “sixth form age” is not simply under 19. Section 509AC(1) says a person is of sixth form age if they are over compulsory school age and either under 19, or began a particular course before turning 19 and continue to attend it.
Section 508F is a separate duty covering adult learners, and “adult” there means a person who is neither a child nor of sixth form age (section 508F(9)). It requires the Local Authority to make the transport arrangements it considers necessary to facilitate attendance at further and higher education institutions. It extends to a “relevant young adult”, meaning an adult for whom an EHC plan is maintained, at an institution outside both the further education sector and the wider higher education sector, but only where the Local Authority has secured both the education or training at that institution and boarding accommodation under section 514A. Any transport provided under section 508F(1) must be provided free of charge.
Your week one plan
- Today: find your Local Authority’s home to school transport policy and its application form. Check the closing date on the form.
- Check which school counts as your nearest suitable school, and whether your Local Authority expects families who intend to apply for free travel to list it on their school application form.
- This week: write the journey down. Distance, route, crossings, what your child can and cannot manage, and what happens on the days it goes wrong. Then answer the accompaniment question directly. That description is your application.
- Check the measurement. If the Local Authority’s distance relies on a route you would not send a child down, say so and ask which route was measured.
- If a school further from home is named in the EHC plan, read Section I and check whether it carries a condition that you arrange or pay for the travel.
- If you are refused: diarise the appeal date, appeal in writing, and keep every dated letter. If the process then drags for months, that record is what the Ombudsman will want.
- For a young person over 16: download this year’s post-16 transport policy statement and read what your area has committed to.
Where to get free help
Your local SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) is free, impartial, and exists in every area by law. Contact and IPSEA both publish free guidance on school transport. Everything we make at SCOPE, our free course, stays free too.
Sources: Education Act 1996 sections 444, 508B, 508C, 508F, 509AA, 509AC and 509AE, and Schedule 35B (legislation.gov.uk); Department for Education, “Travel to school for children of compulsory school age”, statutory guidance, last updated 26 May 2026; “Special educational needs and disability code of practice: 0 to 25 years”, January 2015, paragraphs 9.214 to 9.217; Civil Procedure Rules, Part 54, rule 54.5.