Home to school transport policy and guidance

Extenuating circumstances

Recognising that the Council’s discretionary powers should not be unreasonably fettered by its general policy, the Council will consider and may agree requests for home to school travel assistance where there are considered to be extenuating circumstances that prevent a child accessing their school unless travel assistance is put in place. If the parent believes extenuating circumstances exist and assistance with travel is necessary, then information and evidence must be provide when applying for assistance in order for this to be considered.

The overriding expectation is that parents should undertake their legal responsibility to get their child(ren) to and from school and as such the Council will need to be satisfied that the parent has demonstrated why they, for social, medical, financial or personal reasons cannot undertake this duty.

The determination will be based on evidence received to support the case whether travel assistance is necessary in order for the child to receive an education. Consideration will be given as to whether the circumstances could have reasonably been foreseen by the parent/carer. For example, moving to temporary accommodation owing to flood damage cannot be foreseen, whereas choosing a school other than a child’s nearest school and realising following this decision that assistance with travel is not available could be foreseen.

Where it is decided that a child does not qualify for assistance with travel based on the presented needs/circumstances then it remains the parent/ carer’s responsibility to ensure school attendance or consider transferring the child to a more local school.

In all cases the decision whether to exercise discretion will be taken on a case by case basis.

Special consideration and appeals

Parents/carers of children who live in Slough and who wish to appeal a decision about one of the following, may apply for their case to be considered at a travel assistance case review:

• the travel arrangements offered
• their child’s eligibility
• the distance measurement in relation to statutory walking distances
• the safety of the route

During an appeal about an application for travel assistance, travel arrangements will not be provided to the child/young person. Where the appeal concerns a change to existing travel arrangements, then the previously agreed travel arrangements will continue until the review is complete.

The Council operates a two-stage appeal process as detailed below:

Stage one: Review by a senior officer

• A parent has 20 working days from receipt of the local authority’s home to school travel assistance decision to make a written request asking for a review of the decision.
• The written request should detail why the parent believes the decision should be reviewed and give details of any personal and/or family circumstances the parent believes should be considered when the decision is reviewed.
• Where this is possible, within 20 working days of receipt of the parent’s written request a senior officer reviews the original decision and sends the parent a detailed written notification of the outcome of their review

Stage two: Review by an independent appeal panel

• A parent has 20 working days from receipt of the local authority’s stage one written decision notification to make a written request to escalate the matter to stage two.
• Within 40 working days of receipt of the parents request an independent appeal panel considers written and verbal representations from both the parent and officers involved in the case and gives a detailed written notification of the outcome (within 5 working days).