The Council is seeking views on a range of options that could form part of a new Home to School Transport Policy for children and young people with special education needs and disabilities (SEND).
By law, the Council must provide free transport to and from school to eligible children of compulsory school age, where they are:
- under eight years old and have to walk more than 2 miles (3.21 kilometres) to the nearest qualifying school or
- aged eight or over and has to walk more than 3 miles (4.82 kilometres) to the nearest qualifying school.
Under its current policy Halton Borough Council provides a transport service that goes beyond these statutory duties.
As part of the consultation, the Council wants to hear the views of parents, carers and young people on a number of options that could form part of a new Home to School Transport Policy – these include alternative travel solutions that could give families more flexibility about travel arrangements; options that support the independence of young people; and a review of discretionary transport to bring Halton more in line with other neighbouring authorities.
The results of the consultation will be considered as part of work to develop an updated policy, with any changes that are agreed, applying to the 2025 to 2026 academic year onwards for new applications and existing users.
The consultation will run between Wednesday 2 April and Tuesday 6 May and can be accessed online here.
In addition to the online survey, a number of face-to-face events will take place, details of these events will be available on the Halton Local Offer website.