Home-to-school transport problems

Timing

What this page covers

Travel decisions sit outside the EHC plan process and each council publishes its own policy, so this page points you at both.

Evidence to gather

• The transport decision letterIt gives the reasons and starts the local appeal window.
• Your council’s travel policyThe decision must be consistent with the policy it was made under.
• Evidence about needs and the journeyMedical, mobility or SEN evidence about why the usual arrangement does not work.

The steps

1. 1

   Find your council’s published travel policy

   Councils must publish a travel policy for children of compulsory school age. It sets out who is eligible, how to apply and how to challenge a decision. Decisions have to follow the law as well as the policy.

2. 2

   Ask for the decision and its reasons in writing

   A written decision tells you which part of the policy was applied, which is what an appeal has to answer.

3. 3

   Use the council’s transport appeal process

   The nationally recommended process has two stages, the second heard by a panel, but each council sets its own. The deadlines for each stage are in the policy.

4. 4

   Say so if a disabled child is disadvantaged

   Councils and schools have duties under the Equality Act 2010. If travel arrangements put a disabled child at a substantial disadvantage, put that in writing as part of the appeal.

5. 5

   Keep every date

   Application, decision, appeal stages. Transport appeal windows are short and set locally.