Southend-on-Sea City Council (the Council) will consider requests for home to school or college travel assistance made on behalf of any child or young person living within the city who is in fulltime education between school years Reception and Year 14. Those living outside the city should apply to their relevant Local Authority.
If your child has additional needs and attends (or will be attending) a school to support those additional needs, and the form of travel assistance you would like to apply for may be something other than public transport, please contact the Transport Entitlement Officer by phone on 01702 215007 or email to discuss this.
If your child receives high rate Disability Living Allowance for mobility or enhanced rate Personal Independence Payment for mobility, please contact the Transport Entitlement Officer by phone on 01702 215007 or email to discuss their transport needs.
If you are applying on behalf of a Looked After Child, it may be helpful to speak first with their social worker before making any application.
Please read the following sections carefully before making an application. If you think you may qualify as a Low Income Household please also see the Low Income Criteria section.
Primary and Secondary Schools
You qualify for travel assistance to primary or secondary school if your home address is in the City of Southend and one of the following applies to you:
- you are a primary school student, you applied to your nearest school for a place and we were not able to provide a school place within two walking miles of your home address
- you are a secondary school student, you applied to your nearest school for a place and we were not able to provide a school place within three walking miles of your home address
- you are a secondary school student, are registered for Free School Meals or live in a Low Income Household and you attend a selective school in Southend which is between two and six walking miles from your home address
- you are a secondary school student, are registered for Free School Meals or live in a Low Income Household, you attend a school which is between two and six walking miles of your home address and is one of the three closest appropriate secondary schools
- you are a primary or secondary school student, are registered for Free School Meals or live in a Low Income Household, attend the nearest Denominational (Faith) school within two to fifteen walking miles of your home address with vacancies in the appropriate year group and your celebrant (e.g. priest, rabbi, imam etc) confirms that you are attending the school for reasons of religious belief
- you are a secondary school student studying GCSEs, move home during year 10 or 11 and your existing school is at least three walking miles from your new home address
Sixth Forms and Colleges
You qualify for travel assistance to a publicly funded sixth form or college in the Southend, Rochford and Castle Point areas if all the following six points apply to you:
- You meet the criteria for Free School Meals or you live in a Low Income Household.
- Your home address is in the City of Southend.
- Your home address is over three walking miles from the sixth form or college.
- You are under 19 years old on 1st September 2024 (or were under 19 years old on 1st September 2023 if you are commencing the second year of a course).
- You are on a full-time course (a minimum of 450 hours of guided learning spread evenly over 36 weeks of the academic year).
- You attend the nearest publicly funded sixth form or college offering the course to be studied. If you study a multi-subject course such as A levels you must attend the nearest sixth form or college offering 50% or more of those subjects.
You qualify for travel assistance to a publicly funded sixth form or college outside the Southend, Rochford and Castle Point areas if either:
- points 1 to 6 for places within Southend/Rochford/Castle Point apply to you or
- points 2 to 6 apply to you and your parent/carer makes a contribution of £610 (or the equivalent of an adult annual Octopus pass for Southend, whichever is the greater) towards the cost of transport by 31st March 2025
You qualify for travel assistance to the sixth form of the publicly funded school that you attended during years 10 and 11 if you were eligible for free travel assistance during that time and if you, your parent, carer or partner remain in receipt of the appropriate benefits.