Post 16 School Transport for Mainstream and SEND Students

Two boys looking at a phone

Kent County Council (KCC) is consulting on our Post 16 Transport Policy Statements for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years.

No significant changes are being proposed for the 2025-26 Post 16 Transport Policy Statement. However, we are legally required to consult every year. While there are no changes to the level of support being offered for 2025-26, we have clarified some wording in the policy relating to how contributions and refunds are made, to better explain these processes, and included some limited additional wording to clarify KCC’s current approach.

We are proposing two main changes for the 2026-27 Post 16 Transport Policy Statement. The first proposal is for a Personal Transport Budget (PTB) to be provided to most learners of sixth-form age who qualify for funded travel support from KCC.

PTBs give families the flexibility and control in making their own travel arrangements. They may help towards covering the costs of running a family car or be used to make other arrangements to enable students to get to their place of learning.

Eligible families would receive between £1,400 and £4,700 to help with the cost of travel, depending on how far away home is from school, college or training. Parents would no longer have to directly pay the £600 contribution (the full cost of the Kent 16+ Travel Saver pass) as this would be calculated into the total amount they are eligible to receive.

The second proposal is to initially require adult learners (those aged 19 or over, whose course started after their 19th birthday) to apply for a discretionary bursary from their education or training provider for help with travel costs first before applying to KCC for additional support. These providers receive direct funding for these bursaries, whereas KCC does not receive dedicated monies for any travel support they provide adult learners.

Consideration may be given to providing mileage payments to students whose bursary is not sufficient to enable them to get to or from their place of education or training.

The Consultation Document, which is available from the Documents section on this webpage, provides a summary of our legal duties and how we currently meet these duties and more details of proposed changes and potential impacts. Easy Read and Large Print versions will be available shortly.

The proposed Policy Statements for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years can also be found in the Documents section.

Have your say

Before making any decisions we need to understand and consider people’s views on our Post 16 Transport Policy Statements for 2025-26 and 2026-2027.

Your feedback is important in helping us to ensure we have considered the transport needs for eligible students and Post 16 learners that require additional support from KCC to get to their place of learning. We want to hear how these proposals could impact you and any alternative suggestions that we have not considered that you think we should.

Tell us what you think by completing the online questionnaire below.

Alternatively, you can complete the Word version of the questionnaire which is available to download from this webpage and return either by email or post. If you need any help taking part in this consultation or have any questions, please contact us using the details in the 'Who's listening' section.

Please make sure your response reaches us before the consultation closes on 23 March 2025.

Next steps

Following the end of the consultation, the responses will be collated and analysed by an independent company and we will publish their report on this webpage.

This feedback will be carefully considered and used to help finalise the 2025-26 and 2026-27 Policy Statements and EqIA. The consultation report, EqIA and final draft Policy Statements are expected to be presented to the Children's, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee in June 2025, before a decision is taken on adopting the final Post 16 Transport Policy Statements for 2025-26 and 2026-27.

Kent County Council (KCC) is consulting on our Post 16 Transport Policy Statements for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years.

No significant changes are being proposed for the 2025-26 Post 16 Transport Policy Statement. However, we are legally required to consult every year. While there are no changes to the level of support being offered for 2025-26, we have clarified some wording in the policy relating to how contributions and refunds are made, to better explain these processes, and included some limited additional wording to clarify KCC’s current approach.

We are proposing two main changes for the 2026-27 Post 16 Transport Policy Statement. The first proposal is for a Personal Transport Budget (PTB) to be provided to most learners of sixth-form age who qualify for funded travel support from KCC.

PTBs give families the flexibility and control in making their own travel arrangements. They may help towards covering the costs of running a family car or be used to make other arrangements to enable students to get to their place of learning.

Eligible families would receive between £1,400 and £4,700 to help with the cost of travel, depending on how far away home is from school, college or training. Parents would no longer have to directly pay the £600 contribution (the full cost of the Kent 16+ Travel Saver pass) as this would be calculated into the total amount they are eligible to receive.

The second proposal is to initially require adult learners (those aged 19 or over, whose course started after their 19th birthday) to apply for a discretionary bursary from their education or training provider for help with travel costs first before applying to KCC for additional support. These providers receive direct funding for these bursaries, whereas KCC does not receive dedicated monies for any travel support they provide adult learners.

Consideration may be given to providing mileage payments to students whose bursary is not sufficient to enable them to get to or from their place of education or training.

The Consultation Document, which is available from the Documents section on this webpage, provides a summary of our legal duties and how we currently meet these duties and more details of proposed changes and potential impacts. Easy Read and Large Print versions will be available shortly.

The proposed Policy Statements for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 academic years can also be found in the Documents section.

Have your say

Before making any decisions we need to understand and consider people’s views on our Post 16 Transport Policy Statements for 2025-26 and 2026-2027.

Your feedback is important in helping us to ensure we have considered the transport needs for eligible students and Post 16 learners that require additional support from KCC to get to their place of learning. We want to hear how these proposals could impact you and any alternative suggestions that we have not considered that you think we should.

Tell us what you think by completing the online questionnaire below.

Alternatively, you can complete the Word version of the questionnaire which is available to download from this webpage and return either by email or post. If you need any help taking part in this consultation or have any questions, please contact us using the details in the 'Who's listening' section.

Please make sure your response reaches us before the consultation closes on 23 March 2025.

Next steps

Following the end of the consultation, the responses will be collated and analysed by an independent company and we will publish their report on this webpage.

This feedback will be carefully considered and used to help finalise the 2025-26 and 2026-27 Policy Statements and EqIA. The consultation report, EqIA and final draft Policy Statements are expected to be presented to the Children's, Young People and Education Cabinet Committee in June 2025, before a decision is taken on adopting the final Post 16 Transport Policy Statements for 2025-26 and 2026-27.

  • Kent County Council (KCC) would like to hear your views and have provided this questionnaire for you to give us your feedback. 

    We recommend that you read the consultation document before answering these questions.

    This questionnaire is split into three sections: 

    • Section 1 - About You
    • Section 2 - Post 16 Transport Policy Statements
    • Section 3 - More About You

    You can answer all or as many of the questions as you like. If you would rather not provide feedback on a section or question, just move on to the next one. Please remember to click through to the end of the questionnaire and submit your response.   

    In line with other local authorities and government departments, we ask people to register to take part in some activities. We do this to protect the integrity of our consultations from individuals and groups who may attempt to unduly influence the outcomes of the consultation process and to give people the opportunity to choose to be kept informed. 

    As with all our consultations a Word version of the questionnaire is available on request via the contact details in the Who's listening section on the consultation webpage. 


    Complete questionnaire