Home to School Transport

A parental payment is a form of transport assistance that we provide if a pupil is entitled to transport assistance but it is not possible or appropriate to provide a seat on a vehicle. It is a contribution towards the cost of alternative arrangements, not a full reimbursement of costs.

We will notify you if we are awarding you an annual or monthly parental allowance. You cannot choose to ‘swap’ another form of transport assistance that you have been awarded and receive a payment instead. 

Parental payment does not impact on any other benefits or income that your household receives. The payment is tax free as the payment is made for your child for the purpose of home to school transport assistance.

There are two types of payment – annual or monthly.

Annual Parental Payment:

• These are typically for children attending mainstream schools.
• You claim online and receive a single payment to cover the full school year.
• Your payment is based on the distance from your home to school, which we calculate based on the nearest available route.
• One payment is made per family, regardless of the number of children or schools attended. The distance to the furthest away school is used to calculate the payment if your children attend different schools. 

Payment rates are as follows:

Monthly Parental Payment:

• These are typically for children who have a special transport need and are attending special educational provision.
• A daily rate is calculated, that reflects the distance from home to school and your child’s additional transport needs. 
• You submit a claim each month based on the number of days your child actually attended school in the previous month.

Annual Parental Payment

You must submit a claim every year in order to receive payment.

For the 2020/21 school year, Parental Payment claims opened on 7 December 2020 and closed at 5pm on 26 February 2021.

Be advised that whilst we will honour your payment this year we will not be in a position to accept any late claims in future years.

All claims MUST be submitted on time and within the set deadlines.

If we receive your claim in the first 5 working days of a month it will be paid by the end of the same month.  Claims received after this date will be paid by the end of the following month.

If you require assistance, contact us on 028 9598 5959 (Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm).

Monthly Parental Payment

Claims should be submitted each month, for the month prior, based on your child’s actual attendance which is verified by the school. Click here to download a monthly claim form.

Claims must be submitted in hard copy or scanned and emailed to your local Transport office by the end of the following month e.g. February’s claim should be submitted by the end of March. Claims received more than two months late will not be paid.

If we receive your claim in the first 5 working days of a month it will be paid by the end of the same month.  Claims received after this date will be paid by the end of the following month.

If you require assistance, contact us on 028 9598 5959 (Monday to Friday, 9am – 5pm).