As a parent, you're legally responsible for making sure your child attends school. In some cases, we (the council) can offer some pupils help with travel between home and school.

Update - 2022/2023 academic year

Unfortunately the online application form will not be available until the 2023/2024 academic year. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

Application forms for the 2022/2023 academic year are available in the 'Apply for academic year 2022/2023' section below.

Eligibility

1. A primary school-age pupil attending their nearest suitable school, where that school is over 2 miles from the child's home address (where the distance is determined by the council and uses the shortest walking distance along which a child, accompanied as necessary, may walk with reasonable safety)

2. A secondary school-age pupil attending their nearest suitable school, where that school is over 3 miles from the child's home address (where the distance is determined by the council and uses the shortest walking distance along which a child, accompanied as necessary, may walk with reasonable safety)

3. A secondary school age pupil from a low income family attending:

• any one of their three nearest suitable schools, where the school is between 2 and 6 miles away from their home address 
• the nearest school preferred by their parents on the grounds of religion or belief, where the school is between 2 and 15 miles away from their home address

4. A pupil from a low-income family (where the pupil is entitled to free school meals, or parents receive the maximum level of Working Tax Credit, or parents receive Universal Credit of £7,400 or under), where a preference has been expressed to attend a school other than the nearest available school, and that school is over 2 miles away, and is one of the 3 closest schools

Support provided

If your application for travel assistance is approved, we'll tell you what type of assistance your child will get. This can vary, and may include a bus pass for a dedicated school bus, or money paid every term to cover the cost of getting public transport.

For some pupils attending special schools or support bases in mainstream schools, we may contract taxi operators or minibus suppliers to provide the home to school transport.

Academic year 2022/2023

Unfortunately the online application form will not be available until the 2023/2024 academic year. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

If your child has an EHCP or SEND, the ITU independent needs assessor will contact you as soon as possible to explain the type of travel assistance being provided for 2022/2023.

Please get in touch with us if you have any questions:

• for students who attend a special school, college, base unit, setting, or have an EHCP or SEND, email act@middlesbrough.gov.uk
• for students who attend a mainstream school and have a query about travel assistance, email eia@middlesbrough.gov.uk

Apply for academic year 2022/2023

If you think your child may be eligible for transport assistance, please complete the 'EIA application form 2022-2023' below, and send it back to eia@middlesbrough.gov.uk.

You can find the application forms for the appropriate academic year below. They should be completed in full and returned to us, including any required evidence to support your application.

• Complete the EIA application form 2022-2023 - Year 7 (DOCX)
• Complete the EIA application form 2022-2023 - Years 8 to 11 (DOCX)

What happens next

An application (including all required evidence to prove your child's eligibility) may take up to 8 weeks to be processed from the date we receive it, if it is complete.

If your application does not include the necessary evidence to prove your child is eligible for travel assistance, the application will be refused.

If your application is approved, we'll email you to confirm the type of travel assistance which will be offered. We'll include any documents we need you to complete and return to us. Any delay in returning these documents will affect the start date of any travel assistance.

All applications must be returned by Friday 15 July 2022. If we have not received your fully completed application form (and any other forms we send you) by this date, we may not be able to issue the bus pass or money in time for the start of the September 2022 term. It is a parent / carer's legal responsibility to make sure their child attends school.

Travel assistance renewals - 2021-2022

Any students who received travel assistance in the academic year 2020-2021 are subject to an automatic renewal for the academic year 2021-2022. Please email the student's name, date of birth, address (including postcode), parent's email address, and school they'll be attending in September 2021, to eia@middlesbrough.gov.uk.

If your child travels on a dedicated school bus, they'll need a new bus pass to travel from September 2021. We'll send you the bus pass application form once you've sent us the information above. Complete the form and send it back to us by email, along with a recent photo of your child, so we can issue a valid bus pass.

If we do not receive your form and photo until after 24 August 2021, this may result in the bus pass not being issued in time for the start of the September 2021 term. It is a parent / carer's legal responsibility to make sure their child attends school.

Any change of circumstances, for example, a change of address, change of school etc., will affect your child's eligibility, and they will not be eligible for an automatic renewal. You'll need to submit a new application for the correct year group for your child.

No valid pass, no travel

No face covering, no travel (unless medically exempt)

Contact us

You can get in touch with us by email:

• for students who attend a special school, college, base unit, setting, or have an EHCP or SEND, please email act@middlesbrough.gov.uk
• for students who attend a mainstream school and have a query about travel assistance, please email eia@middlesbrough.gov.uk

More information

• Parent/guardian information guide - September 2022 (PDF)
• Home to school transport frequently asked questions
• Home to School Transport Policy 2022-2023 (PDF)
• SEN assessment matrix (PDF)
  For more information about support for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disability, visit the Local Offer website.
• Post-16 transport policy 2022-2023 (PDF)
• Middlesbrough sustainable modes of transport strategy (SMoTS) - July 2020 (PDF)
• Integrated Transport Service privacy notice