What is the LA's home-to-school transport duty for SEND?

The duty, in one line

Local authorities must arrange free, suitable home-to-school travel for an ‘eligible child’ who cannot reasonably walk to their nearest suitable school because of SEND, disability or mobility, regardless of distance. The duty sits in the Education Act 1996 (s.508B), which requires the authority to make the travel arrangements it considers necessary to secure attendance at a child’s qualifying school, provided free of charge. Who counts as an eligible child is defined by Schedule 35B and expanded in the Department for Education statutory guidance Travel to school for children of compulsory school age, last updated 26 May 2026.

The two qualifiers the top results blur

First, the SEND, disability and mobility category is distance-independent. The 2-mile (under 8) and 3-mile (8 and over) walking-distance thresholds govern only the separate ‘too far to walk’ category. A child who genuinely cannot reasonably walk to their nearest suitable school because of SEND qualifies even if they live well inside those thresholds, including where the route could not be walked safely even if an adult went with them.

Second, an EHC plan does not trigger transport on its own. Holding a plan, or having a school named in section I, does not automatically entitle the child to free travel. Eligibility is decided separately against the s.508B and Schedule 35B test, and the duty attaches to the child’s nearest suitable school. So a placement at a further or non-nearest school, even a parental preference named in the plan, can lawfully forfeit the entitlement.

What this means for casework

• Test the child against the eligible-child categories, not against whether they hold an EHC plan. The question is whether they can reasonably walk to the nearest suitable school.
• Where a special school named in the plan is not the nearest suitable one, record why the named placement was made and whether the authority, not the family, drove that choice.
• A parent who disagrees with a refusal can challenge it through your two-stage transport appeals process: a first-stage review by a senior officer, then a second-stage panel of councillors and officers not previously involved.
• The February 2026 Schools White Paper and Education for All Bill propose narrowing EHC plans to the most complex needs over the longer term, with no changes before September 2030. The s.508B transport duty is unaffected by those proposals and remains current law.

For the policy mechanics, see how LAs set SEND transport eligibility policy and personal transport budgets. Where the named school is contested, see appealing the school named in an EHCP.

This page is general information, not clinical or legal advice.