Personal travel budgets

Your child may be eligible if they currently travel in a taxi by themselves or if they may need extra support to get to school due to their special educational need or disability. You may also wish to consider it if you live in a remote or very rural area where public transport is more difficult.

With a personal travel budget we will pay your family money to set up your own arrangements, rather than us making arrangements for you. You can make whatever travel arrangements you like as long as they are safe and reliable, and your child arrives at school or college on time.

Personal travel budgets offer a range of benefits including a simple to use system and greater flexibility for families.

How personal travel budgets work

You must sign an agreement to say you will make the transport arrangements and you will ensure your child has a reasonable and appropriate level of attendance.

We pay you an agreed amount of money for transport between home and school.

Monthly payments are made to in advance, directly into your bank account, keeping things as quick and simple as possible.

How much we pay you

There are two payment rates:

• standard rate - 45p per mile - children who can travel in a vehicle without the need for extra support or assistance
• enhanced rate - 75p per mile - children who will need extra support or assistance to travel in a vehicle due to their needs 

The payment is for getting your child to and from school or college each day in a safe and legal way and should not be used for any other purpose.

A personal travel budget is a payment made to cover the costs of getting your child to school or college, so this should not affect your tax situation. If you have concerns that it may impact on your tax situation, you may want to seek your own advice from a tax expert in relation to your personal circumstances.

A personal travel budget payment will not be considered in a Universal Credit assessment. Personal travel budget payments should be referenced in your journal to ensure this is not considered as part of your assessment.

The benefits of personal travel budgets

The system has been set up to be as user-friendly as possible for you and your family, including:

• payments are made in advance, so you are not out of pocket 
• payments are made directly into your bank account to avoid the need for handling cash or paying in cheques 
• paperwork and admin are reduced to a minimum, so once your payments are approved there is no need to re-apply
• you have more choice and more independence over your travel arrangements 
• if your child would benefit from a consistent routine, you can choose to make arrangements that suit their needs more closely
• by choosing to drive your own children or asking a friend or family member to do so, relationships with school and teachers can improve as you get to chat at drop off and pick up times - messages can be passed on or quick chats held, that are not possible when a taxi is used 

How to apply

If your child currently gets travel assistance from us and they might be eligible for a personal travel budget, we will be contacting you with further details about how you can apply to be considered for a personal travel budget.

If your child does not currently get travel assistance from us, you will need to complete the online form Apply for free home to school travel. We will then check to see if you are eligible for assistance and then a personal travel budget.

Before applying, please make sure you read the relevant policy for your school stage:

• Home to school travel assistance for primary school children
• Home to school travel assistance for secondary school children
• School travel assistance for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

If you are eligible for travel assistance once you have filled in the online application form, we will contact you to tell you if can get a personal travel budget, including what amount we can offer you. If you are happy with the offer, we will then send an agreement for you to sign and return, we will then confirm a start date for your agreement.

Other options

We understand that a personal travel budget may not be right for you and your family. That is why the new scheme is not mandatory.

We would encourage you to explore this option and sign up for a personal travel budget, but if you do and you find it isn't right for you and your family, you can return to a more traditional home to school transport option instead.

We hope you will find this flexible approach reassuring and that it will encourage you to explore how a personal travel budget can work for you.

Need help with your application

We have a team of people ready to guide you through the application process, simply Contact School and College Transport.