What a personal transport budget is
A personal transport budget is money a council pays a parent, with their consent, to arrange a SEND child's home-to-school travel themselves rather than council-arranged transport. Instead of booking a taxi, a minibus seat or a bus pass, the council hands the family a sum of money and the family sorts the journey out. Some authorities call it a personal travel budget or a mileage allowance; the thing it describes is the same.
The point most council pages miss is where it sits in law. A personal transport budget is not a separate scheme or a softer way to qualify. It is one of the discretionary ways a council may meet the free home-to-school travel duty it already owes an eligible child under section 508B of the Education Act 1996. Eligibility is the same whichever delivery method is used: distance, a SEND, disability or mobility problem that makes walking to school impractical, or an unsafe walking route. A diagnosis or an EHC plan is not the gate, and a budget does not loosen the test.
The two conditions the council pages bury
First, consent. A council can only use a personal transport budget if the parent agrees (s.508B(4)). It cannot impose one in place of arranged transport. If a family would rather the council organise a taxi or minibus, that remains their right, and an offer of a budget is an offer, not a decision the family has to accept.
Second, the payment must keep the travel genuinely free of charge. The 2026 statutory guidance flags that this may mean covering all four legs of the parent's journey, taking the child to school and driving home, then back again to collect and home once more, not just one single trip. A rate that only pays for the child's leg can leave the family out of pocket, which fails the free-of-charge test.
In practice councils set a per-mile rate calculated on the home-to-school distance, paid across roughly 190 school days a year, sometimes with receipts or evidence required. The rate is set locally and varies: examples in 2026 run from about 45p to 70p per mile (West Sussex, for instance, pays 70p). Regular payments are disregarded for Universal Credit and should not create an income-tax liability, and DLA, Motability and foster care allowances do not affect eligibility, though a one-off lump sum can count as capital.
Where it sits among the delivery options
A personal transport budget is one item on a menu. A council may meet the same duty in any of these ways:
- A bus or rail pass for a child who can travel on public transport.
- Dedicated transport: a taxi or minibus the council books and pays for directly.
- An escort or passenger assistant on that transport where the child needs support to travel safely.
- Independent travel training to help an older child learn to make the journey alone.
- A cycling or walking allowance where that is suitable.
- A personal transport budget: the parent arranges the travel and is paid a mileage rate.
Where the law comes from
Related
This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.