When first introduced in the 1940s, home-to-school transport was designed to enable children living in rural areas to attend school.
Eight decades on, local authorities are spending billions (£2.3 billion in 2023-24) on transporting an estimated 520,000 children and young people to schools and colleges in England.
For most children and young people, getting to school or college is relatively straightforward.
However, for those who rely on it, home-to-school transport is an invaluable service which can have a significant impact on their wellbeing.
As well as facilitating attendance, parent charities report that it improves children’s readiness to learn and supports their independence.
‘Growing pressures’
As the independent public spending watchdog, we have highlighted the growing pressures of home-to-school transport on local authorities with the aim of informing the Department for Education’s consideration of the implications upcoming SEND reforms may have on it.
More children being assessed as having special educational needs has transport implications.
For example, the number of education, health and care plans has increased by 166 per cent in the last 10 years. Around a third of pupils with an EHCP attend special schools, which tend to serve broader geographical areas.
This, along with insufficient local capacity, often means more children travelling further to their place of education. The 2025 school census found 28 per cent of pupils with EHCPs across all school types live three or more miles away.
To ensure pupils arrive ready to learn, journey times should not exceed 45 minutes and 75 minutes respectively for primary and secondary-aged pupils. Yet in practice, journey times may be longer.
‘It may be some years before savings materialise’
With SEND reform announcements delayed until 2026, it will be some time yet before government outlines how it will deliver its aim of more inclusive education in mainstream settings.
While the DfE expects that changes to come will be central to reducing home-to-school transport costs, it may be some years before savings materialise.
With home-to-school transport spending increasing by 70 per cent between 2015-16 and 2023-24, local authorities are struggling to balance their transport duty with their duty to balance their budget.
In 2023-24, they spent £415 million more providing home-to-school transport than they had budgeted, meaning they had less to spend on other services.
In response to these cost pressures, councils have been adopting a range of measures ranging from promoting personal travel budgets and independent travel training, to tight contract management and the use of route optimisation software to increase efficiency.
Some authorities have opted to bring fleets of vehicles in-house. As the DfE improves its data on home-to-school transport, we recommend it uses this to support effective benchmarking and best practice sharing among local authorities.
‘Councils scaling back support’
Many councils have also scaled back their discretionary transport.
All local authorities that we spoke to had withdrawn or restricted free or subsidised transport for young people of sixth-form age, children under 5, or those not attending their nearest suitable school.
At the same time, losing this transport could increase the numbers of young people not in education, employment or training. It can also mean parents giving up work or working fewer hours to take their children to school or college.
With eligibility criteria having been in place for so long, the DfE has an inherent challenge in measuring the effectiveness of the policy in reducing absence.
It does not currently have the data to assess the impact that any future changes in policy would have on attendance.
However, as it seeks to improve its understanding of who receives home-to-school transport, we have recommended it works with local government to better understand how changes to policy or discretionary support affect outcomes – particularly attendance.
After all, ensuring pupils arrive at school ready to learn begins with the journey that gets them there.
Your thoughts