Legal Framework
This document sets out the policy of Sheffield City Council (“the Council”) in relation to the provision of free school transport for children of compulsory school age.
It is the intention of the Council to comply with the statutory requirements set out in the
Education Act 1996, as amended by the Education and Inspections Act 2006, which confirms the duty on the Local Authority to make such travel arrangements as they consider necess ary to facilitate attendance at school for “eligible children”. These arrangements will apply from 1 September 2013.
This Policy also reflects the most recent guidance on Home to School Travel and
Transport issued by the Department for Education in March 2013 and the statutory guidance which applied immediately prior to the publication of the March 2013 guidance.
This document defines the Council’s policy on the provision of transport from home to a state funded school or college for children and students who are permanently resident within the boundary of the Sheffield administrative area and whose parents
(or legal guardian) pay Council Tax to the Council.
The type of transport assistance provided (for example taxi, bus pass, school bus) will be determined by what best meets the needs of the child or student, provides value for money and is as sustainable as possible. The Council reserves the right to withdraw the provision of any transport, either for a temporary period or permanently for more serious or persistent cases of misbehaviour,.also to review eligibility and suitability of type of provision on a regular basis.
Section 1 Free transport for children of compulsory school age
1. Free transport will be provided for children who meet one of the following statutory criteria:
(a) Children under the age of eight who travel two miles or more from their permanent home address to their nearest available catchment or qualifying school, measured along the nearest available walking route.
(b) Children aged between eight and sixteen years (or children up to Year
11) who travel three miles or more from their permanent home address to their nearest available catchment or qualifying school, measured along the nearest available walking route. c) Children of compulsory school age who attend a school that is more than the statutory walking distance because the Local Authority was unable to provide a place at a nearer school within the statutory walking distance.
d) Children aged over eight, but under eleven who are entitled to free school meals or whose families are in receipt of the maximum Working
Tax Credit, and who travel two miles or more from their permanent
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home address to their nearest qualifying school, measured by statutory walking distance e) Children aged 11 to 16 who are entitled to free school meals or whose families are in receipt of the maximum Working Tax Credit, and who attend one of their nearest three qualifying schools where that school is more than two miles but not more than six miles from their permanent address, measured by statutory walking distance.
(f) Children under the age of eight who travel less than two miles from their permanent home address to their nearest qualifying school and children aged between eight and sixteen years who travel less than three miles from their permanent home address to their nearest qualifying school, measured by the statutory walking distance, where the nature of the route is such that the child cannot reasonably be expected to walk (accompanied as necessary) in reasonable safety.
(g) Children who meet the statutory criteria under Religious or Belief grounds (See Paragraph 4)
(h) For a student in Year 10 or 11 to enable them to continue attendance at their current school following a change in address.
:
Notes for Section 1
Note 1
“ Permanent home address” is deemed to be the address where the child habitually resides with their parent or guardians. Proof of address may be requested in the form of a recent utility bill or Council Tax bill, tenancy agreement, evidence of registration on electoral roll or other valid evidence.
Note 2 Paragraph 15 of Schedule 35B of the Education Act 1996, as amended,
.
defines “qualifying schools” as
 community

 foundation
 voluntary

 community special foundation special

 approved under section 342 (non-maintained special school) pupil referral unit

 maintained nursery school city technical college
 city college for the technology of the arts academy
References to “nearest qualifying school” are to be taken to mean the nearest catchment or qualifying school with places available that provides education appropriate to the age, ability and aptitude of the child and any special educational needs the child might have.
Note 3 The statutory walking distance is two miles for children aged under eight and three miles for children aged eight and over. It is measured
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according to the “nearest available walking route” which is not necessarily the shortest distance by road. It is the shortest route along which a child, accompanied as necessary, may walk with reasonable safety and may include footpaths, bridleways and other pathways, as well as recognized roads. This means that a route will be available even if the child would need to be accompanied along it by his or her parent. The route is measured by a Geographical Information System and this is the single measurement on which an application will be assessed.
Note 4 Assessment of the comparative safety of a route will involve such factors as:
• the age of the child;
• whether any potential risks might be mitigated if the child were accompanied by an adult;
• the width of any roads travelled along and the existence of pavements;
• the volume and speed of traffic travelling along any roads;
• the existence or otherwise of street lighting;and
• the condition of the route at different times of the year, at the times of day that a child would be expected to travel to and from school.
In assessing the comparative safety of a route, the local authority is required to conduct an assessment of the risks a child might encounter along the prescribed route (including for example canals, rivers, ditches, speed of traffic along the roads, overhanging trees or branches that might obscure fields of vision etc.) The assessment of a route should take place at the times of day that pupil would be expected to use the route. There would also be an assessment to determine whether any potential risk could be mitigated if they were accompanied by an adult.
1.2 Whilst it is the responsibility of the parent to ensure that a child attends school regularly, the local authority should consider whether it is reasonably practicable for the child’s parent/carer to accompany the child along a route which would otherwise be classified as too dangerous to walk in reasonable safety.
1.3 In conducting the risk assessments, the local authority should use data on recorded accidents along potential routes. However, a lack of such accidents should not be taken as conclusive evidence that a route is safe. It may well be that a route is potentially so dangerous that no reasonable person would walk along the route, or allow their children to do so
– resulting in such a low level of pedestrian use that there were very few or no recorded accidents.
2 The Policy Framework
2.1 The Aims of Sheffield Local Authority
Sheffield Local Authority operates within the above legal context.
Sheffield Metropolitan Borough is an urban, densely populated area, well supplied with schools; the exceptions lying mainly to its more rural
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Western borders. It is the wish of the Local Authority to promote sustainable travel to and from school consistent with statutory responsibilities. Further exercise of its discretionary powers will be undertaken within the constraints of the
Local Authority’s financial position and its wish to target maximum available resources possible on direct educational provision. The Local Authority exercises its statutory responsibilities through its Admissions and Special Educational Needs
Policies.
2.2 The pupil or student must fulfill the residence qualification of living within the City boundary and be in attendance at a Community, Voluntary
Controlled, Voluntary Aided, Academy, Foundation or independent school within its boundaries, at the time of the provision of transport.
Where residential entitlement is established, it is statutory to the age of
16 and discretionary thereafter.
2.3 The consequence of the link between Section 509 of the Education Act
1996 and Section 437-444 of the Education Act 1996, is that the
Authority has an implied duty to provide free transport for certain pupils who live more than the agreed walking distance from their school.
2.4 Definitions have been extensively explored in law. The defined walking distance f or the Authority’s Policy is two miles for a child under eight and three miles for any other child “measured by the nearest available walking route”.
2.5 The provision shall normally take the form of entitlement to free travel on public transportation, facilitated by an individual pass issued and paid for by the Local Authority for that purpose. In circumstances when such transport is unavailable the Authority will assist in making alternative arrangements.
2.6 Entitlement to such provision is determ ined by the pupil’s residence and the Local Authority’s Admissions Policy. The Authority’s Admission Policy prioritizes the admission of pupils living within the catchment area, after those with specific Special Educational Needs and pupils who are Looked
After or previously Looked After.
2.7 A free transport pass will be provided where a pupil attends their catchment school and where they satisfy the distance criteria. If a place cannot be offered at the catchment school and the nearest available
“suitable” schools is beyond the statutory walking distance, a free pass will be provided.
3. Provisions of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 for Low Income
Families
3.1 In addition to the eligibility criteria outlined above which continue to apply to all children meeting the relevant requirements the new schedule (35B) to the 1996 Act (inserted by the Education and Inspections Act) includes significant extension of rights to free school travel arrangements for children from low income groups.

3.2 The Act defines children from low-income groups as those who are entitled to free meals, or those whose families are entitled to their maximum level of Working Tax Credit.
3.3 Primary Aged Children
Children of compulsory school age, but under the age of eight are entitled to free travel arrangements to their nearest qualifying school more than two miles from their home. In addition, children aged eight but under eleven from low income families must have travel arrangements made where they live more than 2 miles from their nearest “qualifying school”.
3.4 Secondary Aged Children
One of the aims of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 is to secure fair access to schools – especially for children from low-income groups, where lack of affordable transport can act as a barrier to choice. The Act extends rights to free transport for secondary aged children to a choice of schools within 6 miles of the child’s home, and to the nearest school preferred by reason of a parent’s religion or belief up to a maximum of 15 miles from the child’s home.
Children aged 11 to 16 from low income families must have travel arrangements made to one of their three nearest qualifying schools (or their catchment school) (or places other than a school at which they might receive education under section 19(1) of the 1996 Act), where they live more than 2 miles , but less than 6 miles from that school. e.g.
Child A is an eleven year old child entitled to free school meals. Their nearest suitable school is 2.5 miles from their home; the second nearest school is 3 miles away; and the third nearest is 5 miles away. Child A would be entitled to free transport to each of these three schools.
Child B is an eleven year old child whose parents are in receipt of their maximum level of working tax credit. Their nearest school - “x” - is 1.5 miles from their home; the second nearest
– school “y” - is 2.2 miles from their home; and the third nearest – school “z” – is 5.5 miles away. Child B would be entitled to free transport to either scho ol “y” or “z”, but not to school “x”.
4. Travel Provision on Grounds of Religion or Belief
4.1 Section 509AD of the 1996 Act (inserted by the Education and Inspections
Act 2006) places a duty on local authorities in fulfilling their duties and exercising their powers relating to travel to have regard to, amongst other things, any wish of a parent for their child to be provided with education or training at a particular school or institution on grounds of the parent’s religion or belief . This is in addition to the statutory duty on local authorities under the 2006 Act to make travel arrangements for children from ‘low income families’ who attend the nearest school preferred on
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ground of religion or belief, where they live between two and 15 miles from home.
4.2 Provision under Section 509AD is discretionary. There is no general statutory duty requiring local authorities to provide free transport to faith schools.
4.3 Under the Act, “religion” means any religion, and “belief” means any belief.
Reference s to “religion or belief” include references to a lack of religion or belief. It therefore follows that this duty covers all religions and denominations, as well as philosophical beliefs.
4.4
The DfE definition of “religion” includes those religions widely recognised in this country such as Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism,
Sikhism, Rastafarianism, Baha'is, Zoroastrians and Jains. Equally, denominations or sects within a religion can be considered as a religion or religious belief, such as Catholicism or Protestantism within Christianity.
The Department believes that the main limitation on what constitutes a
"religion" is that it must have a clear structure and belief system.
4.5 The DfES offers advice and guidance on what may or may not be defined as a “belief” for the purposes of home to school transport provision. The
Local Authority’s Home to School Transport Policy will operate within this advice and guidance for the purposes of establishing the interpretation of a “belief” in context of home to school transport.
4.6
For a “belief” to be worthy of protection, it must attain a certain level of cogency, seriousness, cohesion and importance; be worthy of respect in a democratic society; and not be incompatible with human dignity or the fundamental rights of the child.
Case law suggests that “belief” equates to “conviction”, and based on
European case law, it has to be more than an opinion or idea. A belief must be genuinely held and the parent bears a heavy burden of showing that it is the real reason for whatever it is they are doing.
Based on case law, the Department considers that the following may be considered as philosophical beliefs in the educational context:

Parental objections to the use of corporal punishment in school;

Be lief in single sex education, where that belief is based on the parent’s religious views
‘Beliefs’ which have been considered as not meeting the requirements of cogency, seriousness, coherence, and so on – and are not therefore included in this duty include:

a wish for a child to attend a particular category of school. The case law concerned a Grant maintained school, but the Department would consider a specific wish to attend, for example, a grammar school as fitting this category. In the view of the Department, a local authority would not have
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to have regard to such a wish when determining whether or not to make transport arrangements for a particular child;

preference for a particular type of management or governance which does not affect the curricula or teaching at the school;

a belief that a child should be educated privately;

a wish for child to attend school where they will be taught in a particular language;

objection to rules requiring that a school uniform must be worn;

content of school curriculum (sex education) provided that the curriculum did not amount to indoctrination incompatible with a parent’s religious or philosophical convictions 1 ;

objections to the curriculum, where special arrangements made by the school or authorities (such as allowing children to be withdrawn from class) ensure the curriculum is not ‘forced’ on them contrary to their convictions 2 ; and

belief that a child should receive a particular type of educational provision.
4.7 The Local Authority will make provision for pupils to travel free of charge on grounds of religion or belief where they meet the statutory qualifying criteria as described and attend their nearest qualifying school.
5. Interim arrangements for Denominational Schools
5.1 During the summer term 2013, the Council conducted a consultation process with regard to making changes to discretionary free transport provided for children attending denominational schools.
5.2 On 19 June 2013 the Cabinet resolved to withdraw all discretionary free bus passes to denominational schools from September 2013 except for those pupils entering Years 10 and 11 during 2013/14 and Year 11 in
2014/15 who were already in receipt of a pass, met the existing discretionary criteria, were of the denomination of the school and met the statutory distance criteria.
5.3 With the exception to those circumstances outline in 5.2, all other applications for assistance to attend a denominational school will be assessed based on the statutory criteria from September 2013.
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6. How to apply for Free Transport
6.1 To receive advice about eligibility to free transport and the application procedure all enquiries should be directed to:
Customer Services, Resources, Sheffield City Council
Floor 2 Howden House, 1 Union Street,
Sheffield S1 2SH
Telephone: 2053643
Email: customerfirstvoicemanager@sheffield.gov.uk
Website : www.sheffield.gov.uk
7. Subsidised Travel
7.1 All pupils and students in Sheffield schools who are under 18 on 1
September of any given year are entitled to subsidised travel. This provides for travel at a lower cost and is provided and subsidised through the ‘zero fare travel pass’ scheme.
8. Provision for Pupils with Statements of Special Educational Needs
8.1 Some children with SEN and/or a disability may, by reason of their SEN and/or disability, be unable to walk even relatively short distances to school. Similarly, children with a mobility problem caused, for example, by a temporary medical condition such as a broken leg, may also be unable to walk to school.
8.2 Where such children attend a qualifying school, which is within “statutory walking distance”, and no suitable arrangements have been made by the
LA for enabling them to become a registered pupil at a qualifying school nearer to their home, they will be “eligible children”. This means that local authorities must make suitable travel arrangements for children with SEN, a disability, or mobility problem (including temporary medical conditions) if their SEN, disability, or mobility problem means that they could not reasonably be expected to walk to the school (or other place where they might be receiving education under section 19(1) of the Act).
8.3 The Local has a duty to provide transport assistance to and from school for those pupils for whom such a service is specified in their statements of special educational needs. This duty shall be exercised within the
Authority’s published admissions and special needs policies.
8.4 Such transport arrangements shall be consistent and appropriate with pupils’ particular needs, and shall take account of any difficulties such pupils may experience in travelling to and from school. The provision of such transport however will be subject to efficient use of resources and regular review.
8.5 The Authority will furthermore use its enabling powers (to provide transport or otherwise) to provide escorts where it considers necessary, usually in the case of very young pupils or those with certain difficulties, where a considerable degree of supervision is necessary to ensure safety.
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8.6 The quality of the transportation and the experience of travelling will be consistent with health and safety regulations and as favourable as budgetary and organisational arrangements can achieve.
8.7 The necessity of provision of transport will comprise an element in the annual review of statements and future education, health and care plans
For a number of pupils, the provision of transport may continue throughout their school life; for others, maturation and the achievement of certain life skills will remove the necessity of such provision. This decision will be taken solely for education and developmental reasons and in partnership with the pupils, parents and school.
8.8
The Local Authority is obliged to provide “non-stressful” transport i.e. the transport necessary for a pupil to travel to and from school without undue stress, strain or difficulty such as would prevent him from benefiting from the education the school has to offer.
8.9 The Children, Young People and Families Portfolio has identified the urgent need for continuity of education for those children/young people being looked after who are subject to rapid and frequent changes of residence for care/or respite care arrangements.
8.10
Where it has been agreed and stated in the child’s/young person’s care plan that continuity of education is essential, and where CYPF staff have so authorised and requested, the Portfolio will use its expertise to make expeditious transport arrangements to ensure continuous attendance of the pupil at the home or known school.
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9. Timing of Assessment and Eligibility
9.1 Existing case law, points to the critical point as being when school places are allocated . This applies for the large majority of cases taking place during the normal admissions round, and the smaller number of cases that take place outside the normal admissions round.
9.2 At the point when transport eligibility is considered by the Authority, the prospect of being able to secure a place in an alternative school must be a real one. So, for example, where a parent had expressed a preference for
3 schools – one six miles from their home, one 7 miles from their home, and one eight miles from their home – a place offered in the school 7 miles away would attract transport support if, at the time that the offer of a place was made there were no places available in the school six miles away. As this school is the nearest school with places available, it is the
“nearest suitable qualifying school”. In practice however given the distribution of secondary schools in Sheffield this outcome should be rare.
9.3 The Department for Education advise that once eligibility has been confirmed on income grounds, then local authorities should consider the pupil to be eligible for the entirety of the school year for which the assessment has been made.

10. Provision Made at the Discretion of the Local Authority
10.1 Any such discretion is exercised within the constraints of the available budget and the legal imperative for parents to secure their children’s attendance at school
10.2 Individual cases may be made on the grounds that a parent is unable to secure attendance of the child at school through medical or geographical reasons, although definitions of such reasons are very stringently restricted by case law.
10.3 The Local Authority will exercise its discretion to continue to offer travel for a temporary or interim period in the case of parents transferring residence outside the City boundaries where a child has been provided with travel to special educational provision, until such time as the receiving Authority can make satisfactory alternative arrangements.
Such arrangements shall be offered in consultation with parents and the neighbouring Authority. In the case of parents transferring other than to border Authorities it is believed that the disadvantages of lengthy travel for a pupil would outweigh the advantages of temporary continuity. In any event, no such arrangement could be considered for extended periods of time (for example, longer than 1 term) because of costs.
11. Home to School Transport Appeals Process
11.1 The following two stage home to school transport review/appeals process will be implemented for applicants who do not meet the statutory eligibility criteria and have been refused assistance with transport to a school.
The parent/carer who wishes to challenge a decision about the transport arrangements offered to their child, including questions of their child’s eligibility for travel support, the distance measurement and the safety of the route, will be entitled to seek a review of and, if necessary, an appeal to the Admissions Committee against the decision.
Once a decision has been made to refuse Home to School Transport, a parent/carer will receive a letter from Customer First informing them that:
They have 20 working days from receipt of the local authority’s home to school transport decision, to make a written request asking for a review of that decision.
The written request should detail why the parent/carer believes the decision should be reviewed and give details of any personal and/or family circumstances the parent believes should be considered when the decision is reviewed.
Within 20 working days of receipt of the parent’s written request, a senior officer will review the original decision and send the parent a detailed written outcome setting out:
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1. The nature of the decision reached;
2. What factors were considered;
3. How the review was conducted (including the standard followed e.g. consideration of eligibility criteria, qualifying schools, Road Safety etc. if appropriate);
4. Information about other departments and/or agencies if they were consulted as part of the process (if appropriate);
5. The rationale for the decision reached;
6. Information regarding further escalation of the appeals process to stage two (if appropriate).
The parent/carer has 20 working days from receipt of the local authority’s
Stage one decision to make a written request to escalate the matter to stage two where an Admissions Committee will meet and consider the individual circumstances. The parent/carer should submit detailed reasons for the appeal, together with any supporting information/documents.
The Terms of Reference for the Admissions Committee is set out in the
Council’s Constitution. The Committee have delegated authority to determine appeals against decisions to refuse transport. This means that the
Committee has discretion to consider any case that does not fall within the
Council’s Home to School Transport Policy. The Committee is experienced with regard to school transport legislation guidance.
Within 40 working days of receipt of a request for escalation, the Committee will consider representations from the parent and Local Authority officers. At this stage of the process the parent/carer is welcome to attend the appeal to support their case in person, if they wish to do so. For those who do not wish to attend, the appeal will be determined on the basis of the written material submitted.
Before reaching their decision the Committee will look at all the available information and documentary evidence and reach a considered view in light of their discretion. The Committee will consider whether there are any exceptional educational, financial, medical, physical, family or social circumstances. The Committee will also consider the reasons for choosing a particular school. Please insert any other factors you feel are relevant
Once a decision has been reached the parent/carer will receive a detailed written outcome of the appeal setting out:
1. The nature of the decision reached;
2. What factors were considered;
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3. The rationale for the decision reached;
4. How the review was conducted (including consideration of eligibility criteria qualifying schools, road safety assessments etc, if appropriate);
5. The guidelines and standards followed (including statutory duties, DFE guidelines, road safety assessments;
6. Information about other departments and/or agencies that were consulted as part of the process (if appropriate);
7. If refused, information about escalation to the Local Government
Ombudsman (see below).
The decision of the Committee is final and there is no further appeal, unless there have been significant and material changes in the parent’s circumstances that require a new decision about their application, e.g. medical reasons or they have moved house.
Where an appeal is unsuccessful at Stage two, appellants will be notified that they have the right of complaint to the Local Government Ombudsman, only where complainants consider that there was a failure to comply with the procedural rules or if there are any other irregularities in the way the appeal was handled.
If the complainant considers the decision of the Admission Committee to be flawed on public law grounds, the complainant may also apply for judicial review.
This document will be published on the Sheffield City Council’s website and paper copies will be provided with refusal letters.
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