Personal travel budget for school travel

Instead of using council-arranged transport, you receive a personal travel budget (PTB) payment to organise your child’s journey to school yourself. This gives you flexibility to make travel arrangements that work best for your child and your family. This is instead of council-arranged transport.

What you can use it for

You can use the budget in different ways. For example:

• arrange your own taxi
• pay for fuel or running costs if you use your family vehicle
• lease a vehicle if your family needs one for the journey
• arrange shared travel with another family, where this is suitable
• pay someone to help with travel arrangements
• buy a travel pass for another child in the family, if this helps you take your child with SEND to school
• pay childcare costs for another child, if this allows you to take your child to school
• work with your school or other families to coordinate travel, such as car sharing

Who is eligible 

You may be offered this if your child is eligible for free home-to-school travel. Eligibility is assessed in line with our Home to School Travel and Transport Policy or the Post 16 Transport Policy Statement.

Your child must remain eligible for free school travel to continue receiving the payment. This may change if:

• you move home
• your child changes school
• travel support given on exceptional grounds is reviewed and not extended
• the relevant transport policy changes

You must tell us as soon as possible if your circumstances change.

What you cannot use it for

The money must only be used to support your child’s travel to school or their education setting. You cannot use it:

• to buy transport arranged by us
• for anything that is not related to getting your child to school
• for anything unsafe, unlawful or unsuitable
• in a way that could damage our reputation

If a budget is misused, we may stop it and recover the funds.

How much money will you get?

We will agree on a monthly amount at the beginning of each month based on your child’s needs and journey. The amount will depend on:

• your child’s special educational needs and disabilities
• the distance to school or their education setting
• how your child is able to travel
• how long the journey takes
• how many journeys are needed during the school year
• whether your child needs to be accompanied
• your child’s age
• any specialist equipment needed for the journey

This is not a full list. We will base the amount on what is right for your child.

Your responsibilities

You will be responsible for arranging your child’s travel. You must make sure your child is safe throughout the journey and arrives on time. They must be ready to learn upon arrival.

If we ask, you must be able to show how you used the budget. This may include receipts, invoices or other records. 

If you do not use all of the money, you must tell us and return the unused amount by the agreed date.

Paying someone to help

If you employ someone, such as a childminder or other helper, you are responsible for meeting any legal duties. These legal duties may include:

• tax and National Insurance
• employment law
• insurance
• health and safety
• Disclosure and Barring Service checks, where needed

If you enter into an agreement with a company or another person, you are responsible for managing that arrangement and for following any terms and conditions.

Our responsibilities

We will:

• pay the agreed amount into your nominated bank account in monthly instalments at the beginning of each month
• tell you about changes that affect your payments
• work with you if you have problems with your travel arrangements

You must inform us if your bank details change so that payments can continue without disruption.

If we have concerns about the travel arrangements being unsafe or unsuitable, we will review them with you and discuss what needs to happen next.

Monitoring travel arrangements

We do not usually ask for details of every item you spend. However, we may ask for information to verify that the budget is being used properly.

We will work with your child’s school to monitor:

• attendance
• punctuality
• readiness to learn

If there are any concerns, we will talk to you and work with you to put things right.

It is expected that your child’s attendance and punctuality are in line with those of other pupils. If concerns are identified, you may be asked to show how the budget is being used.

Cancellation

We will usually give you at least 8 weeks’ written notice if we need to end it. This may happen if:

• your child’s attendance or punctuality drops
• your child often arrives late
• your child often arrives unfit to learn because of the journey
• it is no longer suitable or cost-effective
• the law or our policy changes

We may stop or suspend it straight away in some cases. For example, if:

• your child is no longer eligible for travel support
• the terms of the agreement are not met and the issues are not resolved

If you want to cancel

You can end your PTB at any time by giving us written notice. If you want to return to travel arranged by us, this will usually start at the beginning of the next half term, provided you give at least 8 weeks’ notice. Use our contact form if you want to cancel.

This gives us time to arrange suitable travel.

Fraud checks

If we believe a personal travel budget has been used improperly, we will investigate. This may lead to recovery of funds or legal action. We are required to protect public funds and may share information with other organisations to prevent and detect fraud.