Background
Local authority spending on home-to-school transport has risen sharply in recent years and reached £2.3 billion in 2023–24. This rise is driven largely by increases in the number of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), some of whom travel long distances to schools that can meet their needs. It is placing significant strain on local authority budgets.
The Department for Education sets national eligibility criteria and issues statutory guidance to local authorities on provision of home-to-school transport. Local authorities are responsible for assessing whether individual children and young people meet the criteria and for arranging transport provision. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is responsible for the accountability framework for local government and distributes core funding to local authorities.
The Education Act 1996 requires local authorities to arrange free transport for children of compulsory school age who would not be able to walk there because of the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the route is unsafe. There is also provision for children from low-income families to enable them to exercise school choice. There is no legal requirement to offer free transport for young people 16 years and over, and local authorities have discretion over what transport and financial support they provide to help them attend education or training.
Scope
This study will consider the commissioning of, and spending on, home-to-school transport by local authorities in England. We will set out the facts with regards to:
- how local authorities deliver home-to-school transport
- trends in demand for, and expenditure on, home-to-school transport
- how government is responding to rising home-to-school transport costs faced by local authorities
NAO team
Director: Vicky Davis
Audit Manager: Joanna Lewis