Travel support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

We offer home to school travel support for children and young people who have SEND, disabilities or medical conditions.

If you already receive travel support

Contact the passenger transport team if you have travel support in place and need help with:

  • your child's transport being late
  • how to cancel travel on the day
  • personal travel allowance payments
  • mileage allowance payments

Find out how to get in touch with passenger transport.

Types of travel support

The support available will depend on your child's needs and your family circumstances.

We may also offer travel support to parents or guardians of primary school aged children who have a recognised disability.

A bus pass

Your child may be eligible for a bus pass to travel to school. We may also offer parents or carers a monthly bus pass to travel with them.                                  

A bus pass can help prepare children and young people for independence and adulthood.                                   

Independent Travel Training

Have a dedicated travel buddy to join your child on public transport to and from school.            

Find more information on independent travel training.            

Mileage allowance

You may be able to get a mileage allowance for 2 daily return journeys to and from school.          

For every mile travelled, 50p will be reimbursed along the shortest driving route. A mileage allowance gives you the freedom to take your child to and from school using your own car.                                    

Personal travel allowance

A personal travel allowance lets you organise your child's transport where we cover the cost up front.                                  

For example, this could cover the cost of journeys with your preferred taxi company or a journey needing both a taxi and bus travel. You could also make arrangements with family members or other parents to take your child to school.                                   

We may sometimes contact you if your child is eligible for help with travel and ask you to consider a personal allowance. We only offer this if it is best for the child, the family and us.                                   

A taxi or shared minibus

Your child may be able to use a taxi or minibus with or without a passenger assistant. This would depend on your child's needs.                                  

Reception to Year 11

Check to see if your child meets the eligibility criteria in the Children’s Services Transport Policy.

If a child has an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP) it does not mean that they can automatically receive transport help.

Young people aged over 16

We offer eligible young people in post 16 learning a free bus pass where possible. If they need further support, we offer daily travel support to help young people travel to college.

Check to see if your child meets the criteria in the Children’s Services Transport Policy.

We also offer independent travel training where young people are given a free bus pass and a dedicated travel buddy.

How to apply

If you think that your child is eligible after reading the transport policy, you should request an application form.

For children of school age between reception and Year 11, you will need the travel application form.

Young people aged over 16 will need to complete a support with home to college travel application form.

You can request an application form by email or leave a message on our voicemail.

Email: send.transportapplications@leeds.gov.uk

Phone: 0113 535 1990

We can post or email this out to you. You will need to complete the form and return it to us.

Return your form

Return your completed application form by email to:

You can also return your form by post to:

The SEND Transport Assessment Team
Children's and Families Services
Civic Hall
Calverley Street
Leeds
LS1 1UR

We aim to contact you within 15 working days of receiving your completed application form. If a child is eligible for travel support, it may take a further 15 working days for this to be put in place.