The case study will highlight a parent’s school transport challenge regarding the statutory walking distance & accompaniment.

Names have been changed to protect the identity of child and parent

Kevyn is a child of compulsory school age, who has an EHCP.

The parental choice of secondary school was named in the EHCP unconditionally in Section I of the plan. Kevyn lived under 3 miles from his school and the family had applied for Home to School Transport. Due to difficulties, Kevyn’s mum could not accompany him to school and had asked Kat (the grandmother) to assist her with dealing with applications and appeals and getting Kevyn to school. However, Kat was a full-time employee and her job required her to be at the office and within the community, which meant often she was not available to accompany Kevyn to school.

Home to school Transport declined to offer transport and Kat made a stage 1 appeal, which was also rejected.

The family sought assistance from SENDIASS for the stage 2 appeal.

SENDIASS assisted Kat with the appeal.



The reason that the Transport team had declined the transport request was that their policy stated:

Travel support to access education will be agreed for children and young people with a
Statement of SEN, or EHC plan where a parent/carer is not getting the higher rate of Mobility and Disability Living Allowance and:

• The child/young person lives further than the statutory walking distance between home

and school, which is over two miles for children under eight years of age or over three
miles for children aged eight years old and over and the child has a Statement of SEN
or an EHC plan.

The transport team went on to state that they were satisfied that:

“The shortest walking distance from the home address to school was 2.2 miles and

this was under the distance of 3 miles, meaning that Kevyn was not eligible for travel.

assistance.”

They understood that Kat was Kevyn’s part-time carer so available, but that Kat did not drive. They went onto state that there was a direct bus route that is a 3-minute walk from Kevyn’s home and that it stopped outside the school.

The first three things to check were:

Area

1.   Age

Question

Was Kevyn of compulsory school age?

Answer

Yes

Area

2.   Eligibility

Question

Did Kevyn meet the criteria of Children who are ‘eligible’ as defined in Schedule 35B Education Act 1996 and they fall into 4 categories:

1. Children with SEND, a disability, or a mobility issue, who cannot reasonably be expected to walk and live within statutory walking distance.
2. Children whose route to school is unsafe and who live within statutory walking distance.
3. Children who live beyond the statutory walking distanceChildren from low-income families

Answer

Yes – he met with criteria 1 which was that:

• He had a special educational need and could not reasonably be expected to walk.
• He lived within the statutory walking distance (in this case three miles)

Area

3.   School

Question

He attended a “qualifying school“

Answer

Kevyn attended an academy special school.

To flesh out the appeal we needed to understand why Kevyn could not be reasonably be expected to walk to school.

Through speaking to Kat, it became apparent that Kevyn:

• He was unable to travel on public transport independently.

• He was unable to identify numbers to know which bus to get on and he would not know where to get off.

• He lacked orientation skills and without direct supervision, he was likely to quickly become lost, which would put him in direct danger.

• He did not understand road safety and had in the past walked out into the road without checking for cars.

• He always needed someone with him to point out to him that the roads are dangerous.

• He had little or no understanding of stranger danger. He was very vulnerable and trusting and if anyone told him a story for him to go with the stranger, potentially he would without a second thought.

• Finally due to dyspraxia he struggles to mobilise. This also causes him to have anxiety attacks.
  
  

The next thing to check was whether anyone could reasonably be expected to accompany Kevyn to school.

The home to school transport statutory guidance (2014) states

When considering whether a child's parent can reasonably be expected to accompany the child on the journey to school a range of factors may need to be considered, such as the age of the child and whether one would ordinarily expect a child of that age to be accompanied.

Speaking to Kat, it was clear that she was unable to accompany Kevyn due to work commitments. Kevyn’s mother also had difficulties (omitted for anonymity) that meant it was not reasonable for her to be expected to accompany Kevyn.

SENDIASS assisted Kat to prepare her appeal, which clearly demonstrated that Kevyn was an eligible child attending a qualifying school and could not be reasonably expected to walk to school and there was no-one that could reasonably accompany him.

The appeal also underlined a critical point – the transport team had refused on the grounds that Kevyn lived within statutory walking distance (in this case three miles) and because he was within statutory walking distance, he was not eligible. Kat argued however, that he could not be expected to walk to school because of his special educational needs and therefore Schedule 35B Education Act 1996 required for Kevyn to be within statutory walking distance. Kat’s appeal was upheld, and transport was arranged.

Transport being arranged was a relief to the family as Kat has had to use annual leave to try and get Kevyn to school and back incurring considerable expense in paying for taxis.

The Transport appeals process is both lengthy and stressful for parents.

Parents often must find solutions with ways of trying to transport their child to and from school, whilst the appeal is underway thus incurring costs. The law and guidance surrounding home to School Transport could be difficult for a lot of parents to access. Home to School transport queries on the SENDIASS helpline are very frequent with the “within statutory walking distance “reason for a decline common.

Listen to our SENDIASS Podcasts:

You may wish to read the following:

Fact sheet 22 - Home to school transport

Complete our website contact form: