Paid home to school travel assistance

If your child does not qualify for free school transport, the Spare Seats Scheme is a paid option.

Travel can only be offered where there are spare seats on school buses operating for students who qualify for statutory transport. There are fewer eligible children requiring local authority contracted transport for the 2024/25 school year. Therefore, we are likely to run fewer vehicles which in turn means we may not be able to offer your child a place under the Spare Seats Scheme.

A seat can only be guaranteed for the term the seat has been sold for. You should have an alternative plan in case Spare Seat transport can no longer be offered. Spare capacity on our contracted vehicles always varies from year to year on each of our contracts. You may be asked to reapply in each new school year and your application may not be successful even where, in previous years, spare seats have routinely been available.

By applying for a spare seat, you agree to the Terms and Conditions of the Scheme (pdf format, 145Kb). Applicants and students agree to adhere to School Transport Code of Conduct (pdf format, 184Kb)

Invoices are issued three times per year; in August (Autumn term), December (Spring term) and March (Summer term)

Apply for the spare seat scheme

2024/25 academic year

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that the council will be able to sell you a seat for September, so you should also plan in case your application is unsuccessful.

The 2024/25 Spare Seat fares are currently under review and as such please do not assume the 2024/2025 fare will be the same as 2023/24.

You can apply for Spare Seats Scheme transport commencing September 2024 from 30 April 2024.

Costs for the 2023/24 academic year

Home to school journey is under 3 miles - £546 a year (£182 per term)
Home to school journey is 3 miles or over - £1,015.92 a year (£338.64 per term)

By applying for a spare seat, applicants and students agree to adhere to School Transport Code of Conduct (pdf format, 184Kb)

Processing applications

The deadline for applications is 30 June 2024. Applications for September 2024 cannot be processed before this date as we need to allocate students who are eligible for free school transport first. For applications received by 30 June 2024, we will aim to let applicants know by 31 July 2024 if we are able to offer a seat for sale or not. Applications received by 30 June 2024 will be considered in priority order of the terms of spare seats scheme (see below).

For applications received after 30 June 2024 we will aim to acknowledge within 10 working days of receipt of the application and process as soon as possible thereafter. Applications received after 30 June 2024 will not be able to be considered within the initial priority order of offer.

Late applications may not be able to be processed in time to enable your child to travel to school on the first day of term. Until a pass has been issued and received, parent/carer must make alternative arrangements.

There is no guarantee that an application received for a spare seat on a route conveying SEND students will be processed as per the dates above. You will be informed as soon as possible if a spare seat is available but because of the individual nature of SEND transport this might not be until after term has started. You should plan in case a place has not been confirmed for the start of the September term.

How we prioritise applications

As spare seats are limited, when there are more spare seat applications received by the deadline for a specific route than there are seats available, they will be allocated in the descending order of priority shown in the table below. Once the applications received by the deadline have been processed, students who are on the waiting list and new applications will be ordered as per the priority listings below.

Priority for spare seats

Priority category:

Those with an Education, Health and Care Plan naming the school
Looked After Children
Years 12 and 13 (if there is no available service bus route)
Children in receipt of Free School Meals or whose parent /parents are in receipt of the maximum Working Tax Credit
Those who travelled on the route the previous term
By year group, in ascending order of priority from Reception to Year 11 (or to Year 13 if there is an available service bus route)

Where there are more applicants than places in any of the above categories priority will be given to those living closest to the destination school (measured using the shortest designated route on Oxfordshire County Council’s Geographic Information System)

Pay an invoice

You will need to enter your student ID (this is shown on the invoice as student reference).

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