Travel awards for 16 to 19 year-olds

Travel awards for 16 to 19 year-olds are designed to enable and/or support attendance at state-maintained school sixth forms or further education colleges for London Borough of Richmond upon Thames residents who:

• Are 16 or over and under 19 at the start of the academic year in which the course begins; and
• Attending on a full-time basis either Richmond Adult Community College, Richmond upon Thames College or the further education college nearest to home that offers the chosen course (allowance will be made for preference for a college that suits the needs of students with disabilities or learning difficulties and the needs of those of particular religions or denominations) or continuing state-maintained religious or denominational school sixth form; and
• The distance from home to school/college, measured by the shortest route by road and publicly-maintained footpaths, is more than three miles; or they have disabilities and/or learning difficulties); and
• They, or their families, are receiving one of the following benefits: Income Support; or Jobseeker's Allowance (Income-based); or Child Tax Credit, but who are not also receiving Working Tax Credit and who have an annual taxable income of less than £16,190; or Working Tax Credit; or financial support, in accordance with Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act 1999, from the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) or the Council's Asylum and Resettlement Team; and
• The school/college attended is not accessible within a timetabled journey of less than one hour by buses on which the Transport for London free travel concession for under-19 year-olds applies throughout the whole bus journey(s).

The Local Authority has the discretion to provide financial assistance for travel to 16-19 year-olds in schools/colleges in exceptional circumstances, which may be social, medical, financial, or other, but which cause significant disadvantage to attendance at school or college and which fall outside the eligibility criteria of the policy. Circumstances that could fall within this category include:

• Sudden, significant change of financial circumstances;
• Living, or having been, in public care;
• Receiving assistance from the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames People with Learning Difficulties Service;
• Being known to the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames Youth Offending Team;
• Relocation due to domestic violence; and
• Change of school/college following exclusion; or
• Any of these - or other significantly disadvantageous - circumstances for students aged 19-25.

You should note, however, that this list is not exhaustive. Applicants who feel that they have any such circumstances should provide full details on their application forms and provide any relevant documents that can support their case.  Applications that outline exceptional circumstances will be considered on their own merits by a senior Local Authority officer and discretion may be given. Successful applicants at this stage will be awarded grants at values to be determined by the senior officer. Applicants who are refused at this stage will be given the right of appeal to the Pupil and Student Support Appeals Panel (see below).

Applicants who do not meet the policy criteria, and whose circumstances are not deemed to justify the awarding of support at the ‘discretion’ stage (above), have the right to appeal against the Local Authority's refusal of assistance with home to school travel costs. Unsuccessful applicants will automatically be notified of the appeal procedure. Appeals are heard on a quarterly basis by the Council's Pupil and Student Support Appeals Panel, which is made up of four elected councillors and one parent-governor representative, and are treated on their own merits. Applicants who are successful at the appeal stage will be awarded grants at values to be determined by the Appeals Panel.

Grants are payable in three termly instalments to eligible students, including those who express preference for travelling from home to school/college by bicycle, appropriate to the number of Greater London travel zones of their journeys, as follows:

1. Zone of travel £200
2. Zones of travel £250
3. Zones of travel £350
4. Zones of travel £470

If eligible students attend specialist courses (which are not available locally) at schools or colleges at a considerable distance from home and they consequently incur annual travel costs that exceed the maximum amount available, the Authority will provide Learner Support Fund grants, subject to availability at the time of application, to cover the additional costs.

Funding for eligible students with disabilities and/or learning difficulties will be provided flexibly in the form that most suits the students’ individual needs.

Download a post-16 travel application here(pdf, 126KB).

Transport Partnership statement

Richmond upon Thames Council and local partners, including both Richmond Adult Community College and Richmond upon Thames College, jointly produce an annual statement giving details of funding available from all sources for students in further education. The statements for the 2011/2012 academic year is available here:

• Richmond upon Thames Transport Partnership statement 2011/2012(pdf, 143KB)