Home to School SEND Travel Assistance - Post 16
Wandsworth Council are committed to promoting greater independence and ability for young people with SEND who may require additional support when travelling to/from their place of education.
Local authorities do not have a statutory duty to provide free travel assistance, for young people, of sixth form age.
The home to school travel assistance requirements for young people with SEND must be reassessed, when they move from mandatory schooling to post-16 education. This also includes when the young person will remain in the same academic setting.
Where travel assistance is agreed for the young person, to attend their place of education/training, the travel assistance will take the form of one of the three options below.
- Travel Assistance Budget (TAB) – TABs are provided to families in order for them to have the flexibility to arrange and put towards the cost of the most suitable form of travel of the young person to/from school.
More information on Travel Assistance Budgets
- Independent Travel Training (ITT) – a valuable programme that provides young people, with the abilities to assist them in developing the life skills, in order for them access education, training, employment, and social/leisure opportunities, that that they may otherwise have been unable to access.
More information on Independent Travel Training
- Transport – May be provided as a discretionary option, if the young person has severe physical/complex learning disabilities and travels a long distance to/from their place of education.
How to apply
An online application will need to be fully completed and submitted to the SEND Travel Assistance Team. The completed application will be assessed against DfE Guidance, and the SEND Travel Assistance Policy, for eligibility at a future fortnightly panel. The panel’s decision will be communicated to the parent within seven working days. A further 15 working days will be required in order to safely set up all agreed forms of SEND Travel Assistance. The whole process can take up to approximately one month to complete.
Start application process Home to SEND Travel Assistance Post 16
In the Special Requirements section, please respond “Yes” to the question: “Independent Travel Training may be offered to secondary children if suitable, would your child benefit from this?”
For help completing the application form, please contact the WIASS team using the link below.
Please note, they are only able to provide general advice on completing the application form. They are unable to provide advice on the SEND Travel Assistance team’s processes.
Wandsworth Information, Advice and Support Service (WIASS)
If you have questions on completing the Application form, or would like any further advice, please contact the SEND Travel Assistance team using the email below.
