Home to school travel assistance for secondary school children

This page gives you information about home to school travel assistance for children attending secondary school.

Check if your child qualifies

Applications based on distance

Your child will be able to get home to school travel assistance if they meet the following criteria:

they attend their nearest suitable school
that school is over three miles away

If your school or academy operates on two sites, the distance will be based on the nearest site to you.

How we work out distances

To work out the distance from your home to your school, we use a Geographic Information System (GIS). This tells us what the shortest route is, using only the nationally recognised Ordnance Survey Integrated Transport Network (ITN) and Urban Paths Network (UPN). We will not include any other routes or use any other method of measurement.

Applications based on income

You may be able to get home to school travel assistance based on the amount you earn.

If your child is eligible for free school meals, we will provide home to school travel assistance to one of the following:

one of the three nearest, suitable, qualifying schools, if that school is more than two but less than six miles from your child's home, or
the nearest suitable secondary school preferred because of religion or belief* for children whose parent(s) adhere to that particular faith, where that school is more than two but less than fifteen miles from the child's home

* For this purpose, parental adherence to the Roman Catholic faith has been defined as where at least one parent and the child are baptised Roman Catholic; and to the Anglican faith where at least one parent is a confirmed Anglican and the child is a baptised Anglican.

The six-mile upper limit to a choice of schools and the fifteen mile upper limit to a school preferred on the grounds of religion or belief are not walking routes therefore these routes will be measured along road routes.

What we offer

If your application is successful, we will provide your child with one of the following:

a bus pass
transport from your home, or a collection point close by, with other children in a coach or minibus, or in some cases, in a taxi
money to help you pay towards transport that you arrange for your child

The type of transport you get is chosen by us and our decisions is based on your child's needs and the most cost-effective form of transport available.

How and when to apply

If your child is moving up to secondary school and you qualify based on distance from school, you will be contacted by us by the end of April asking if you need travel assistance.

If you have been offered a school place and you meet the other criteria set out above, you should apply for travel assistance by Monday 30 June 2025.

If you apply after this date, we cannot guarantee your travel assistance will be in place for the start of the 2025/26 academic year.

Apply

Apply for free home to school travel

What happens next

This is how long it takes for us to process different types of applications:

In-year: If you need travel assistance quickly for the current academic year, it usually takes about two weeks from when you submit your application.
Next academic year: If you're applying for travel assistance for the start of the next academic year, it can take up to eight weeks for us to process your application, but often it's done sooner.

What happens if you do not qualify

If there are any spare seats on a school bus, these can be sold to children who are not entitled to home to school travel assistance. This is called concessionary travel. Full details of the concessionary travel scheme, including bus routes available, how to apply, how seats are allocated and how to pay are available on the apply for a spare seat on school transport page.

How to appeal

If we do not award free home to school transport to your child, you can request a review of our decision in writing within 20 days of the receipt of the decision letter. You will need to send any additional supporting evidence with the request. Each case will be considered individually.

See our Ask for a Transport Case Review page.

Behaviour on home to school transport

We expect good behaviour from children when using the school transport we provide. When you apply for home to school transport for your child, you are required to sign a declaration stating that you agree to uphold good behaviour. Parents have a key role to play and you are responsible for the conduct of your children. See the information leaflets on our Behaviour on home to school/college transport page.

How we use your personal information

Find out how we use your personal information and what happens if you give false information on your application form.

We comply with all relevant statutory obligations with regard to personal information processed by us and this will be handled in accordance with our privacy statement which can be accessed on our Privacy notices and data protection page.

We may use the information you have provided on your application form (S20) for the prevention and detection of fraud. When completing the application we request that you sign the declaration to say that you agree and understand that we may check the details you have provided on your child's application against other council records to confirm that you and your child are resident at the property, and agree to us sharing your data with other agencies, where it is necessary to do so (where the law allows) and that you:

have read and agree to abide by the conditions as set out in the home to school transport policy
are the parent/carer who has parental responsibility for the child and all those with parental responsibility agree to the application
will inform us immediately of any change of address by email to schooltransportteam@durham.gov.uk
understand that if you have provided information that is incorrect or incomplete, we will withdraw your child's travel assistance immediately, all costs will need to be repaid, that you may be investigated and we may take action against you (this may include court action) as the council is under a duty to protect the public funds it administers.