Petition · past parliament · Department for Education
Extend ‘qualifying school’ criteria for free school bus travel
Closed
270 signatures
What the petition asks
The Government should extend the criteria for free bus travel to school to require local authorities to provide travel to any school in whose catchment area the student lives, even if this is in another local authority area.
Our locally school funded bus route is to the nearest school as it is deemed the ‘nearest suitable school’. Yet it is out of county and we do not live in the catchment area.
Local authorities are not required to provide free bus travel to a catchment school if there is a ‘suitable school’ nearby, leaving parents having to pay hundreds of pounds a term for a private contract. Ours is not the only case, this can happen all over the country where the catchment school has no funded or council-provided bus transport because of what feels like a loophole.
Local authorities are not required to provide free bus travel to a catchment school if there is a ‘suitable school’ nearby, leaving parents having to pay hundreds of pounds a term for a private contract. Ours is not the only case, this can happen all over the country where the catchment school has no funded or council-provided bus transport because of what feels like a loophole.
Timeline
| 5 Jul 2022 | Petition opened for signatures |
| 19 Jan 2023 | Closed to new signatures |
Key facts
Signatures
270
Status
Closed
Department
Department for Education
Opened
5 Jul 2022
Closed
19 Jan 2023
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Source: the official petition page. Last checked 15 Jul 2026.