Low-income applications
This route is where you can apply for a bus pass if you qualify under the home to school transport policy. To qualify the student must be from a low-income household. For more information about transport to school or college, please see our current Home to School transport policy.
To apply for assistance with transport to school, you'll need to provide documentation to prove that the student is from a low-income background. These may include:
- scanned Universal Credit proof
- scanned Income Support proof
- digital photograph of the student - if applying for a bus pass
- the parent, guardian or carer's National Insurance number
- the student's National Insurance number - if they live independently
You'll be able to upload these documents when you complete the online form.
In addition, there are a few questions which require longer answers. You may want to compose your answers to these questions prior to completing the form. You can then 'copy and paste' your text into this form once you're ready to send it. There is a 500 character limit for each of these questions so please make sure your answers are an appropriate length.
The following question will be asked:
- how does the student travel when not at school or their educational setting?
Please note: our system will 'time out' after 10 minutes for each form page, so you may need to gather these documents and answers before starting this form. Read more about uploading supporting documents.
Apply for help with transport to school or college
Definition of 'low income'
For the purposes of extended rights to free home to school travel, a child is treated as being from a low-income family where they are eligible for targeted free school meals (targeted FSM). From the 2026 to 2027 academic year, extended rights continue to be based on targeted FSM rather than the wider expanded free school meals entitlement.
Targeted FSM applies where the child, or their parent or carer, meets one of the following qualifying criteria:
- Income Support
- income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance
- income-related Employment and Support Allowance
- support under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999
- the guaranteed element of Pension Credit
- Child Tax Credit, provided they are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190
- Universal Credit, where annual household earned income is no more than £7,400 after tax and not including benefits
Working Tax Credit has been phased out and is no longer an eligibility category for extended rights to free school travel.
Children from low-income families may qualify for extended rights where:
- they are aged 8 to 11, attend their nearest suitable school and it is more than 2 miles from their home;
- they are aged 11 to 16 and attend one of their three nearest suitable schools, where the school is more than 2 miles but not more than 6 miles from their home; or
- they are aged 11 to 16 and attend the nearest suitable school preferred on grounds of religion or belief, where the school is more than 2 miles but not more than 15 miles from their home.