School transport campaign

School transport is an integral part of a child’s education. If a child can’t get to school or has a stressful experience getting to school, they are not able to learn and take part in the school day like other children.

But unsuitable transport – or losing school transport altogether – is leading to disabled teenagers unable to start or complete their education, or parents having to give up work.

Thanks to funding from the Motability Foundation, Contact is campaigning to improve transport to school or college. We are:

• Reviewing local transport policies and see how they comply with the law.
• Conducting research on the issues faced by families, disabled children and young people.
• Together with families, identifying what can be done to influence change for the better.

What are the issues?

Disabled children are more likely to travel further to nursery, school or college, and unlike their non-disabled peers, many can’t travel independently. Many also need to be in education or training for longer.

So school transport is fundamental to enable them to access education. In spite of this, school transport is one of the top issues our helpline gets calls about. Unsuitable transport – or losing school transport altogether – is leading to parents having to give up work, or disabled teenagers unable to start or complete their education.

Watch a Channel 4 News film about school transport featuring families we support and our CEO Anna Bird.

“As the parent of a disabled 19-year-old who uses school transport to get to college, I am in this project heart and soul.

I know first-hand that a lack of specialist provision and college courses for disabled young people means they often have to travel much further. And travelling independently is not possible for many.

School transport is an integral part of the school day for disabled children and young people, building confidence and independence and we will be making that case very loudly through our new project.”

Rachel Dixon, policy lead on school transport at Contact

The school transport loophole

One major issue is that children are expected to be, and generally want to be, in education or training up to the age of 18. But government guidance leaves transport to education settings for 16-18 year olds at the “discretion” of local authorities. We describe this as the “loophole” in the law.

This “loophole”, combined with a crisis in council funding, is resulting in cuts to transport for 16-18 year olds. This often leaves parents needing to drive for hours to get their child to college or with (sometimes unaffordably) high costs for council-provided services or private taxis.

There is also no legal obligation to provide free transport for under fives, though a blanket refusal could be discriminatory, for example if a four-year-old attends a special nursery school some distance from home and could not access education without transport.

The impact of losing school transport

Contact’s 2024 research showed that where councils provide transport it really works and is beneficial to the whole family:

• 81% of families with council transport are satisfied/extremely satisfied with it.
• 58% say it helps promote their child’s independence.
• 40% of parent carers say it helps them to work.

But once a child turns 16, transport is less reliable. Of those who previously received transport at five-15 years and turned 16:

• Almost 60% faced changes to transport (e.g. asked to pay or receive a personal transport budget), including 15% whose transport stopped altogether.
• 20% are now charged for transport at 16. 
• 40% had to reduce hours or give up work to transport their child themselves.
• 44% find covering the cost of transport has put them in financial difficulty.
• 64% suffer from increased stress.

The government says there is a bursary to help teenagers with the cost of school transport. But our research found that the 16-19 bursary and discretionary funds are neither accessible nor sufficient to cover travel costs. Only 10% of families had applied, with 70% saying they thought they were not eligible or had not heard of it.

What are we doing?

• We have launched a parent-led “close the loophole” campaign for fairer transport for disabled students. We’re asking for a systems where decisions are based on need, not age.
• We are running a three-year project to look at families’ experiences of transport to education. This is thanks to funding from the Motability Foundation.
• Raising awareness in the media, such as working with Channel 4 News on this film
• Working with other charities including Cerebra, IPSEA, SOS!SEN to raise concerns about unsuitable school transport
• Calling on the Scottish Government, Welsh Assembly and Northern Ireland Executive to strengthen the law, making it clear that education authorities ‘must’ provide school transport for children because of their special or learning needs, disability, or mobility problems.
• Running a information campaign for parents, including factsheets and template letters on how to challenge decisions. See our webpages and myth buster on school transport.

How you can get involved

• Join the campaign for fairer transport for disabled students by adding your name to a letter to the minister.
• Please like our page on Facebook.
• Share your experiences with [email protected] 

If you have been refused school transport or want to find out about your rights to school transport, please call our helpline for advice on 0808 808 3555 or read our school transport webpage.

Our school and college transport project is co-produced with parent carers, so your experience and views are important to us. If there is something you would like to say about school or college transport, please email [email protected]

Our 2027 School Transport Inquiry

Contact’s instrumental School Transport Inquiry found that statutory guidance for local authorities is unclear, leading to children missing out on the transport they need.

As a result of our inquiry and campaign, the Department for Education agreed to review the statutory home to school transport guidance for school age children. This was published in June 2023.

However, some concerns remained, including the section on accompaniment leaving parents largely responsible for accompanying their teenage disabled children to and from school.