If your child has been offered a place at a secondary school you may be entitled to home to school transport assistance.
A mainstream school is one which is a foundation, community or voluntary controlled school, or an academy.
Policy
Essex County Council will provide free home to school transport for children to the designated or nearest school for their home address if they meet the qualifying distance criteria:
- Three miles or more for children attending secondary schools (school years 7 - 11).
The qualifying distance will be measured by the nearest available route. That is a route between the home address and the designated school that can be walked by a pupil, accompanied as necessary by an adult, in reasonable safety.
The route and its availability will be determined by Essex County Council.
Essex County Council will also provide free transport for pupils who attend a school closer than the designated school for their home address, as measured by the nearest road route. The qualifying distance will, however, still need to be met.
This policy only applies to pupils who are resident in the area administered by Essex County Council. Free transport may take the form of a seat on a contract bus, a ticket for a public bus or train or, in some circumstances, the reimbursement of fuel costs for the use of a car.
Children of secondary school age who are entitled to transport will be provided with a travel pass. Failure to produce a valid pass will mean your child is unable to travel.
Low income families
Essex County Council provides free home to school transport to children aged 11-16 (school years 7 - 11) from low income families where they are admitted to one of their three nearest qualifying schools and where that school is more than 2 miles but less than 6 miles from their home address (to be a qualifying school, the school must have a space available).
Low income families are defined as those who are entitled to
free school meals (whether the family is claiming these or not), or those who are in receipt of their maximum level of Working Tax Credit (i.e. no reduction due to income).
Essex County Council is able to offer parents/carers a payment in advance in order for them to take their children to school, when the cost of the payment is less than the cost of Essex County Council providing transport.
The mileage rate is paid at 45p to cover fuel costs for return journeys at the start and end of the standard school day. Please tick the box on the application form if you would like to be considered for advance fuel reimbursement.
How to apply
You must complete an application form in order to apply for transport. An application form must be completed for each child. There are several ways to submit an application.
If you do not need to submit evidence with your application, you can
apply online. The online application form must be completed and submitted at the same time, as details cannot be saved. If applying online, once you have submitted a completed form you will receive an email confirming receipt of the application.
If you do not receive this email in your inbox, check your email filter settings to ensure it has not been incorrectly identified as 'spam'. If you still have not received it then the application has not been received and you will need to complete and submit the form again.
If you are required to send in additional documentation in support of your application, such as income evidence, you cannot apply online. You will be able to obtain an application form by contacting the Education Transport and Awards team or by downloading a copy of the form. You will then need to post the form to the address on the back of the form, along with the corresponding evidence.
Please ensure that your application is fully completed. If you would like it to be assessed under the low income policy, please provide us with current evidence of your income and benefits. If you receive Tax Credits, submit a full copy of your Tax Credit award letter for the current tax year to support your application.
Please call Contact Essex on 0845 603 2200 to request an application form, or ask to speak to the Education Transport and Awards Team for further information.