Appealing a travel assistance decision

You can appeal our decision if you live in Surrey and any of the following apply:

• You believe the policy has been applied incorrectly.
• You believe there may be exceptional circumstances.
• Your child is attending their nearest available school but does not meet the distance requirement and you believe the walking route is unsafe.

Please see:

• Under 16's policy - Travel Assistance Policy for under 16s
• Ages 16 to 25 policy - Travel Assistance Policy for learners 16 to 25

What are 'exceptional' circumstances?

The council will consider, and may agree, requests for home to school transport where there are exceptional circumstances that prevent a child accessing their school without travel assistance. We encourage you to include any evidence when submitting your stage one appeal.

Exceptional circumstances may include (but are not limited to):

• You or your child having a medical condition or disability, which prevents safe travel to school.
• Unforeseen accidents/medical procedures that may prevent you from transporting your child as usual.
• Where the walking route to school is deemed unsafe for a child to use.
• Specific family difficulties or needs that mean you are unable to transport your child safely to their school.

Stage one appeal

In order for your case to be considered under stage one of the appeal process, you must submit an online appeal form.

The form must be completed, attaching any supporting evidence within 20 working days from receipt of the original decision. If your appeal is declined, you will receive a written outcome within 20 working days detailing the reasons for declining. If your appeal is agreed, you will receive correspondence via email detailing the travel assistance arrangements.

Please note: Duplicate appeals will be disregarded and may cause further delays.

Stage one appeal form

Stage two appeal

If you are unhappy with the decision at stage one of the appeal process, you can request for your case to be escalated to stage two for consideration of an Independent Review Panel.

You must make a request for a stage two review within 20 working days from receipt of the stage one written outcome.

This is a formal process, your appeal will be heard (via a Microsoft Teams meeting) by County Councillors and senior officers in the Council, you will be given an opportunity to present your case to the panel. Full details of the process will be sent to you once we receive your request to escalate to stage two.

After the review, you will receive the outcome via post, this is normally within 5 working days of the Independent Review Panel. The outcome letter will detail next steps if you are unhappy with the decision of the panel.