Special Educational Needs Service – Home to School Travel Assistance

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Important notice: Please send all referral forms/application forms to [email protected]

 

Please note: The deadline to submit applications for travel assistance for September 2024 is 12.04.2024. Applications received after this date may not be processed in time for September.


What is Home to School Travel Assistance?

Home to school travel assistance exists to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and/or disabilities who may find it difficult to travel to school or college without the help of assistance from the local authority.

All local authorities have a statutory duty to provide travel assistance for children aged between 5-16 years that have been assessed through an application process as eligible for the service.

Travel Training Animation (Subtitled) from Westco Creative on Vimeo.

 

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility for home to school travel assistance is based upon the local authority's published Home to School Travel Assistance Policy which can be downloaded by clicking here.

To request a paper copy of the application form, please contact the SEND Travel Eligibility Team via email at [email protected] or via phone on 020 7361 3311.

Sixth formers and college students should apply directly to their sixth form or college for travel via the 16-19 bursary. Further information on this bursary can be found by clicking here.

 

How to Apply

To apply for travel assistance parents/carers must complete a copy of the travel assistance application form and send via email to [email protected] or via post to the address listed on the form. In year applications can take 6-8 weeks for transport to be scheduled. Phase transfer applications for September 2024 must be submitted by 12th April 2024 to be processed in time for September.

You can apply online by signing up for a Local Offer account, or the application form can be downloaded here

Once an application form is submitted, it will be reviewed by the SEND Travel Eligibility Team who are responsible for processing applications and determining eligibility based upon our published home to school travel assistance policy. 

What happens next?

If a child or young person is assessed as eligible for travel assistance, the parent or carer will be notified of the decision and asked to choose which method of travel assistance (Independent Travel Training, a Personal Transport Budget or scheduled transport) that they feel is most suitable for their child and family circumstances. If scheduled transport is the preferred option then a Travel Care Plan (TCP) will be drafted, using information from the child’s application form, supporting documentation and their Education, Health and Care Plan if they have one.

Parents will then be sent a copy of this draft plan and asked to review and provide any additional information where needed. Once the TCP is finalised with parent consent, it will then be passed onto to the Travel Care and Support Team who are responsible for the scheduling process and the day to day management of scheduled school transport. The Travel Care Plan is used by the Travel Care and Support Team as a risk assessment document and allows them to safely schedule transport and to ensure that any information that is vital to the child’s ability to travel safely on transport is recorded and passed onto the child or young person's transport staff, where applicable.

The scheduling process usually takes at least 20 working days from when the Travel Care Team receive the completed TCP, but this can take up to 8 weeks or longer, if there are special requirements such as a specialist staff training or a specific type of vehicle is required, which may take longer to schedule. Once suitable arrangements have been made, parents will be contacted directly by the Travel Care and Support Team. If you need to contact the Travel Care and Support Team for an update please contact them via email [email protected] or via phone on 0207 361 3623.

 Change of Circumstances

If your child or young person currently receives scheduled transport but you will be moving to a new address, or they will be changing to a different school or college, you will need to complete a change of circumstances application form, so that eligibility can be re-assessed. Please be aware that applications can take up to 2 weeks to be assessed and it will take a minimum of 20 working days for transport to be re-scheduled to a new address, school or college. Please submit your form to [email protected].

Independent Travel Training

 

Our Independent Travel Training program has been specially designed to help children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities to learn how to travel to school or college using public transport. Independent Travel Training can make a significant difference to the lives of young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities as it teaches a life long skill that may lead to greater social inclusion and employment prospects in the future. Some of the other benefits of travel training include an increase in confidence and self-esteem as well as gained independence for young people that have completed the training. Travel Training is a valuable way of empowering young people who have learning difficulties and/or or disabilities to reach their full potential. The training scheme aims to remove the barriers that young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities may face and allows for greater access to jobs, services, their communities and social networks. Each training program is designed using a person-centered approach, built around the young person and tailored to their individual needs and abilities. This allows our travel training team to ensure that the training is accessible to everyone eligible for the service. If you are a young person or a parent of a young person with special educational needs and/or disabilities and would like to apply for Independent Travel Training, you can do so by contacting the Travel Training team via email on [email protected].

 

Personal Transport Budgets

 

A personal transport budget is a sum of money that is paid to parents or carers of a child or young person that has been assessed as eligible for home to school travel assistance. The personal transport budget scheme allows families the freedom to arrange their own travel arrangements with funds loaded onto a pre-paid card provided by the local authority. Personal transport budgets can be used to cover the cost of transport or travel services that are required to get the child or young person from their home address to their allocated school or college. Some examples of what a personal transport budget can be used for are below:

 

• Daily, weekly or monthly bus/train pass

• Fuel costs for parents who would prefer to drive their child or young person to school

• Taxi fares

• Arranging shared travel arrangements with other parents, such as shared driving responsibilities, buses or joint taxi bookings.

• Overcoming barriers that may prevent you accompanying your child or young person to school, e.g. childcare.

• Personal transport budgets cannot be used to purchase anything that is not related to the child or young person’s home to school travel.

 

If you would like to apply for a personal transport budget for your child or young person you should complete a home to school travel assistance application form and indicate on the form that you are interested in receiving a budget. If your child or young person already receives home to school travel assistance from the local authority and you are interested in applying for a personal transport budget please email [email protected] for an offer pack with more information and to receive a quote for the personal transport budget amount that you may be entitled to. This process can take at least 10 - 14 working days to process the application.

Travel Care and Support Team

The Travel Care and Support Service is a team within the Council that is responsible for running a smooth and effective transport service to the highest possible standards. After your child’s transport application has been approved we are your first point of contact for anything related to your child’s transport.

We will make sure that you and your child receives:

  • A clean, safe, and secure vehicle
  • A reliable service which arrives on time
  • Well trained, polite, and consistent staff
  • Journey updates from us

The Travel Care and Support Team will contact you with detailed information regarding your child’s route and the names of staff who will be ensuring your children travel safely to and from their destinations. Further information on what to expect from the service can be found by downloading our handbook for parents and carers.

It’s essential that Travel Care Assistants and Drivers understand and respond to your child’s individual needs. Therefore, we have introduced Pen Portraits, a Pen Portrait is a PECs friendly document that aims to help Drivers and Travel Care Assistants better understand your child’s needs and make their journey more comfortable.

It is up to you if you’d like to complete a Pen Portrait, but we believe they are important to help transport staff better understand your child’s individual needs. Pen Portraits are kept securely and will not replace your child’s Travel Care Plan.

If you would like a copy of a Pen Portrait, please contact us.

We only provide home to school or college transport in the mornings and the afternoons. The Travel Care and Support Service cannot provide transport for personal medical appointments or any extra-curricular activities.

How you can contact us:

We also use a text messaging service to provide parents with important transport updates in real time. For example, if there is a delay to the journey or change in staff and we need to let a group of parents know quickly, we would use the texting service. To ensure that you get these text updates, please make sure we have your preferred mobile number so that we can add it to our texting service. It’s also important that you let us know if your mobile number changes.

 

Accessible Transport

For children and young people who do not meet the crtieria for specialist travel care support, there are still many options accessible options for home to school travel. 

Click here to see the full range of accessible travel options available locally. 

Please be aware that mid- year applications may take up to 14 working days to be processed and that you will be notified in writing of the outcome. Phase transfer applications must be submitted by 01.06.2023 to be processed in time for September. Applications received after this date will be processed as normal, however it will not be possible for transport to start until after the October half term.

Related Advice

  1. Accessible transport options

Downloads

  1. Travel Care & Support Services: Handbook for Parents and Carers
  2. RBKC Travel Assistance Change of Circumstances Form 2022
  3. Post-16 Travel Assistance Policy 2023-24
  4. Bi-Borough Travel Assistance Policy 2023-24
  5. RBKC Travel Assistance Application Form 2023-24
  6. Home to School Travel Assistance Booklet

Page last reviewed: 21/03/2024

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