The Department for Education published guidance on Friday 30 October 2026 for local authorities in England. The document, Delivering effective travel assistance to schools and colleges, is non-statutory. It is aimed at senior leaders in children's services and transport, special educational needs and disabilities caseworkers, and officers who arrange the journeys. Duties on travel to school for children of compulsory school age, and on post-16 travel, remain in the existing statutory guidance. Delivering effective travel assistance
The local authority still chooses the assistance. The journey has to suit the child or young person's needs, support their wellbeing, and get them to school or college safely, on time and ready to learn. It must not create a barrier to attendance. Where it can, the arrangement should also build independence, and promote sustainable and active travel.
Sharing the vehicle
Most children and young people will be able to share a vehicle. Where public transport is available, using it is a way to develop independence. Buses and coaches are likely to bring economies of scale where enough children travel a similar route. Many children will be able to walk to a safe pick-up point within a reasonable distance of home.
A single-occupancy vehicle will only be necessary if the child or young person's needs mean they cannot travel with others, if no other child or young person travels a similar route, or if sharing would make the journey unreasonably long.
Example wording for a travel policy tells parents that a child will share a school bus, minibus or taxi unless sharing would not suit their needs, or no other children are travelling a similar route.
"If your child's needs mean they currently need to travel on their own, we will develop a plan to support them to travel on shared transport in future.
"They might need to walk to a bus stop or pick-up point."
That passage is suggested wording for a council policy.
From the taxi to the bus
Independent travel training requires parental consent for an eligible child of compulsory school age. The authority may encourage parents to take it up where it considers the training suitable. It cannot insist.
A child who has travelled in a taxi may be able to use the bus after the training. Some authorities report that withdrawing the taxi and providing a bus pass can lead to conflict with the parent, and to the child being absent from school. Those authorities would not withdraw the taxi immediately. One approach is a gradual change: the bus to school in the morning, and the taxi home, while the child and parent get used to the journey.
Naming the school
Caseworkers and the travel team are expected to consider the journey when they decide which school or college to name in an education, health and care plan.
In one example, a parent prefers a school 15 miles from home for a child of compulsory school age. Another school, 1 mile away, could also meet the child's needs, and the cost of the education is the same. Naming the further school unconditionally, without consulting the nearer one or considering the journey, leaves the child eligible for travel assistance because the school is beyond statutory walking distance. No other child travels a similar route, so the child travels alone in a taxi.
In the paired example, the authority consults the nearer school, discusses both journeys with the parent, and names the school 1 mile away. The child is eligible because they would be unable to walk there, owing to special educational needs, disability or a mobility problem. A minibus already serving that school can take them.
Where the parent still wants the school 15 miles away, the extra cost of travel is set against the efficient use of resources, including whether any educational benefit outweighs that cost.
A later finish
Schools and colleges set the length of their day. They should speak to the authority before a change that may affect travel arrangements, and work with it to avoid extra cost where they can.
An example moves a secondary school's finish from 2:55pm to 3:20pm. Five school buses and several taxis arrive by 2:50pm and then collect pupils from another secondary school. Shortly before the autumn term, the school tells the authority that the pupils will not need the transport until 3:15pm. The authority has to rearrange the routes to both schools and renegotiate its contracts with operators. More vehicles are needed, at significant additional expense. Children whose parents cannot collect them miss several days at the start of term.
A budget instead of a contracted vehicle
The example policy offers a personal travel budget, a sum of money so the parent can make their own arrangements. A parent does not have to take it up if it genuinely does not work for them. Budgets can increase single-occupancy travel, because children may go in family cars rather than on shared transport.