Post 16 transport policy statement 2025-2026
There is no entitlement to free home to school or college transport once a student is over compulsory school age. Compulsory school age ceases on the last Friday in June in the school year in which a child reaches the age of 16. This is usually at the end of Year 11.
The responsibility for making appropriate transport arrangements after this period, rests with a student and/or their parents or carers.
Sixth form and further education mainstream students:
Financial support may be available for students accessing year 12 and 13 further education, via a bursary directly from their educational establishment. Please contact your chosen education provider to ask if you are eligible for support from them.
Sixth form and further education students with SEND:
The above mainstream policy will apply to the majority of SEND pupils.
Young people who have a learning or physical disability may be entitled to an English National Concessionary Travel Pass that allows them to travel free of charge after 09:30 or for a flat fare of £0.30 pence before 09:30 on public bus services.
For more information and to apply for or renew a bus pass, follow:
How to apply for or renew a bus pass
Young people with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) will have an institution named in their plan at section ‘I’. There is no entitlement to transport to and from the named provider, and transport should only be named in an EHCP in very exceptional circumstances. This should have been discussed with you by your SEN officer during your young person’s EHCP assessment.
Exceptional circumstances are difficult to define but would be seen as a set of circumstances that are unique, out of the ordinary, or could not be foreseen and would not apply to other young people with special education needs.
Hartlepool Borough Council do not consider the below examples as exceptional circumstances:
- A parent’s work commitments
- Other caring responsibilities, such as siblings attending other schools
- A young person who is requiring travel support because they are not attending their nearest suitable College or place of further education
This is not a definitive list, and each case will be considered on its own merits.
Hartlepool Borough Council may consider referrals for travel assistance for a young person of sixth form age, if it is likely that they may be eligible for support beyond their 19th birthday under the ‘Adult Duty’, as detailed in the Education Act 1996, Section 508F and 508G. Applications will be completed on your behalf by your allocated SEN officer at Hartlepool Borough Council; please make your initial transport support enquiry with them. Consultations will then be carried out between Passenger Transport Services, our colleagues in SEND and possibly Social Care to determine possible eligibility in these individual cases.
Applicants who are considered and approved for travel assistance must be attending their nearest suitable post 16 education establishment. If the course being provided can be accessed at a provision closer, travel assistance will not be provided.
Eligible students may be required to share transport with other students, we do not guarantee that students will travel in their own taxi.
Transport will only be provided at the beginning and end of the college day. Students who are attending a part time course will be required to make their own arrangements where times vary from the standard college day.
Travel assistance can only be provided to the address where the young person normally resides. Where parents share custody, the home address will be considered as the address to where child benefit is paid.
If you are not happy with our decision
If you are unhappy with the decision to refuse travel assistance, you have the right to submit a formal complaint to rncomplaints@hartlepool.gov.uk.