Travel assistance to sixth form and college

Check if you qualify

We will only provide transport to college or sixth form if you are unable to travel independently because of special educational needs (SEN), a disability or mobility difficulty or you live in an area where there is no public transport available. If this is the case, we would take you to the nearest viable bus route for your onward journey to college or sixth form.

You do not have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

If you do not have an EHCP, you qualify if you meet one of the following:

• you are aged 16-19 in further education and have learning difficulties and/or disabilities
• you are continuing your education having previously started a programme of learning before the age of 19
• you are aged 16-19 and you live in an area where there is no public transport available to get you to the nearest college or sixth form

You have an Education Health and Care Plan (EHCP)

If you have an EHCP, you qualify if you meet one of the following:

• you are aged 16-25 with learning difficulties and/or disabilities 

Other criteria that all applicants must meet

All applicants must meet all of the following criteria:

• live in County Durham
• be on a full-time learning or study programme or a full-timework placement (i.e. at least 540 plus guided learning (planned and funded) hours per year)
• live more than three miles from the school/college (education provider), as measured by the council, (the three miles limit is not applicable to students unable to walk the distance to school/college because of SEN, a disability or mobility difficulty)
• attend the nearest establishment that provides the full-time programme of learning or work placement that you wish to follow, whilst having had reasonable opportunities to choose between different establishments at which education and training is provided. Assistance with travel may be provided in exceptional circumstances to an establishment that is not the nearest but is within a reasonable distance of the nearest establishment.

How we work out distances

To work out the distance from your home to your college or sixth form, we use a Geographic Information System (GIS). This tells us what the shortest route is, using only the nationally recognised Ordnance Survey Integrated Transport Network (ITN) and Urban Paths Network (UPN). We will not include any other routes or use any other method of measurement.

How to apply

If your application is successful, we will write to you and ask you to provide us with a timetable of your lessons so that we can set your transport up. Timetables should be sent to IPTContractsTeam@durham.gov.uk.

Further information

If you are a student starting your post-16 study in September, there's more information about the travel assistance available to you in our Post-16 Transport Policy Statement (TPS) available on our School transport policies and strategies page.

Higher education courses and independent fee-paying establishments

If you get an allowance for attending a higher education course or attending independent fee-paying establishments, you are not entitled to travel assistance.

Request a review of our decision not to award transport

If we do not award home to college transport to you, you can request a review of our decision in writing within 20 days of the receipt of the decision letter. You will need to send additional supporting evidence with the request. Each case will be considered individually.

See our Ask for a Transport Case Review page for more information.

Concessionary seats

Where spare seats are available on a school bus, these can be sold to children who are not entitled to travel assistance. This is called concessionary travel. Full details of the concessionary travel scheme, including bus routes available, how to apply, how seats are allocated and how to pay are available on our apply for a spare seat on school transport page.

Some colleges operate schemes to help students with transport and some public service operators offer special tickets for students. There's more information about help for post 16 travel in our Post-16 Transport Policy Statement (TPS) available on our School transport policies and strategies page.

Behaviour on home to college transport

We expect good behaviour from young people when using the school transport we provide. When you apply for home to college transport, you are required to sign a declaration stating that you agree to abide by the conditions as set out in the home to college transport policy. See our Behaviour on School Transport Policy (PDF, 121 KB) for more information.