Request a safety assessment of your child's walking route to school

If you feel the route from your home to your catchment or nearest school is unsafe for your child to walk accompanied as necessary, you could be entitled to free school transport.

Read our walked route assessment guidance. 

Before you request an assessment, it is important to read the school transport and policy information.

Walked route assessment guidance

National guidance

National guidance is provided by Road Safety Great Britain (RSGB) for those tasked with assessing the safety of 'walked routes to and from schools' to determine the provision of free school transport for persons under the Education Act 1944 amended 1996.

The scope of the guidelines is limited to the risks resulting from the interaction between pedestrians and traffic. It does not consider personal security.

The assessment assumes a child is accompanied as necessary. It also considers that the child and parent will be wearing fluorescent and reflective jackets, particularly on roads with no street lighting (case law presumes a child is accompanied, as necessary as stated in the Education Act 1996).

Where parents have reservations about the suitability of a route, the Road Safety Team will look at the relationship between pedestrians and traffic and will make a formal assessment based on national guidance. Issues surrounding personal security do not form part of the assessment and the Council is able to assume that a child is accompanied by a responsible person. There is no requirement for a route to be lit and temporary closures such as road works or flooding are not considered in the formal assessment. Assistance will not be provided if alternative routes are available within the statutory distance.

Parents are responsible for ensuring their child has suitable clothes and equipment for the journey (for example, boots, wet weather clothes, reflective bands, torch, etc) and national guidance is clear that conditions such as muddy footpaths or lack of street lighting do not mean that a route is not available. 

Available routes include crossing fields, wooded areas, bridleways, public footpaths, and public rights of way.

The following are some examples of factors that are NOT considered as part of a route assessment:

• it is isolated and there is perceived to be a moral danger
• the route is muddy or soft underfoot
• it will be dark at the time of walking
• there are short lengths of road where there is no verge
• there are short lengths of road within the village/urban environment where there is no verge or footpath
• there are other variable conditions e.g. inclement weather or possible flooding