If your child is eligible for transport assistance, they may qualify for a Personal Transport Budget if:
- Your child is currently being transported on a single occupancy transport route
- Your child needs to be placed on a single occupancy route due to your child's needs or behaviour
- There is no existing transport route available, resulting in your child being on a single occupancy route
A Personal Transport Budget (PTB) is an alternative to transport organised by the council. It is a payment made directly to families giving you the freedom and flexibility to make transport arrangements that suit you and your child. The amount you receive is based on the distance being travelled from home to the school or education setting.
What you can use a Personal Transport Budget for
You can use the Personal Transport Budget payments in anyway you wish, to aid your child in getting to school or college:
- Drive your child to school or college yourself
- Pay for fuel and running costs of a family vehicle used to transport your child to school or college
- Lease a vehicle to use if your family doesn’t have one
- Pay for a shared taxi with other students
- Pay for another person to take a sibling to school to free you up to transport the child with SEND
- Buy travel passes for siblings so they can travel to and from school, allowing you to transport the child with SEND
- Pay for childcare for a sibling to allow you to transport the child with SEND
- Pay towards car sharing with other families
- Pay for a bus pass for your child with SEND
- Work with the school or college to join up transport options with other parents (e.g. car share)
Please note we reserve the right to ask your child's school or college for evidence of their attendance. We will stop payments if your child's attendance drops below a satisfactory level.
How we calculate Personal Transport Budgets
We calculate Personal Transport Budgets on a price per mile, from the distance from your home address to the school / college. The total amount we pay is based on two return journeys each day (four journeys).
We measure these distances on a digital mapping system.
- All SEND (children with Education, Health and Care Plans) including post-16 students receive 70p per mile
- Mainstream including post-16 students receive 45p per mile
Example:
Home-to-school distance = 5 miles
Trips per day = 4
Allowance per mile = 70p
Personal Transport Budget per day = £14 (5 miles x 4 trips x 0.70)
How we pay you the money
We make 11 monthly payments directly into your bank account from September to July. We do not pay in August whilst schools and colleges are closed.
Example:
£14.00 per day x 190 academic days = £2,660.00
£2,660.00 divided by 11 months = monthly payments of £241.82
Personal Transport Budgets should not affect benefits as the payment is made in relation to the child or young person, not the parent / carer. It should not affect your benefit or tax situation. You may wish to seek your own advice on this.
Apply for a Personal Transport Budget
You can apply for a Personal Transport Budget anytime throughout the academic year.
How to apply for a Personal Transport Budget if child already receives transport assistance
If your child already receives transport assistance and you wish to change to a Personal Transport Budget, please email personaltransportbudgets@peterborough.gov.uk. Please state your child's name and the school / college they attend.
How to apply for a Personal Transport Budget when applying for transport assistance for the first time
When completing your initial online application for your child's transport assistance, you can indicate on the form that you wish to be considered for a Personal Transport Budget:
- Apply for mainstream school transport assistance - 4 to 16 year olds
- Apply for SEND school transport assistance - 4 to 16 year olds
SEND post-16 students
All SEND post-16 students will be offered a Personal Transport Budget due to the timetable requirements and to promote independence.
What happens after you apply
We assess each application on a case-by-case basis.
We usually respond to applications within a couple of weeks. However, if we need to cease the existing transport arrangements / route, we have to give one month's notice to the transport operator, which would increase the wait to six weeks.
Annual reviews
We review all Personal Transport Budgets annually to ensure they are still the right provision for the child. We consider the following as part of the review:
- Attendance
- Independence / vulnerability
- Transport sharing opportunities