Parents of children with special educational needs or disabilities who are changing school in September or who have had a new Education, Health and Care Plan issued since March are being urged to apply for school transport without delay.
Kent County Council (KCC) provides free school transport for eligible children and young people with special educational needs.
Not all pupils are eligible for free school transport, so it is important for parents to understand whether KCC is able to support them, or whether they may need to make their own arrangements.
Applications for school transport can be made by parents whose children are starting a new school in September or who have received a new or amended Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
KCC’s Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, Shellina Prendergast, said:
“We know that many parents of children who have special educational needs and disabilities need time to plan any changes to their child’s routine, especially when they are using new transport.
“We have written directly to parents to give them details about how to apply so that we can get transport organised for the start of school in September.
“We also made some changes earlier this year to simplify our mainstream transport applications so that we could free up capacity during the busy summer months to deal with SEND transport applications.
“Although we have received many applications so far, there are still some parents who have yet to apply.”
Parents can apply online. It usually takes six weeks for KCC to process applications, so any further delays in parents applying will mean that transport cannot be guaranteed to be in place by September.
If a child has SEND and attends a mainstream or special school, and already receives free school transport, parents will not usually need to reapply unless their child moves to a new school or when they move from Year 6 to Year 7.
Full details of the eligibility criteria and how to apply are available on KCC’s website
Murray Evans
Kent County Council
