Academic year 2024/25

Home to school transport: LA data collection

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Introduction

This publication presents data reported by local authorities in England on pre-16 pupils or children of compulsory school age (opens in new tab) and below who are receiving home to school transport (HTST) as well as post-16 learners who are receiving transport to education or training funded by their local authority. 

You can find out who is eligible for compulsory school age (pre-16) HTST from the statutory guidance (opens in new tab), and there is additional guidance for post-16 transport to education and training (opens in new tab).

The information in this release is based on the first HTST data collection. This was a voluntary collection and took place in February/March 2025. Three-quarters of local authorities responded. As a new data collection, we expect the quality of the data returns to improve over time as it becomes more established.

Response rates varied by question and results should therefore be treated with caution as the sample may not be representative in all cases. The data presented is from local authorities that provided data for all options in each question. The number of authorities included for each question is labelled as “base”. With the exception of overall numbers of pupils/learners eligible for transport, national estimates have not been derived from the data due to the varying numbers and types of local authorities responding to each question.

This publication will be updated annually.

Related information

Headline facts and figures - 2024/25

Explore data and files used in this release

Additional supporting files

All supporting files from this release are listed for individual download below:

  • HTST data collection (xlsx, 77 Kb)

    Tables showing numbers/percentages of pupils and learners receiving local authority funded home to school transport split by school type, eligibility and mode of transport, collected from local authorities

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Pupils and learners using transport who are travelling in single occupancy vehicles

9% of pre-16 pupils receiving HTST because of their special educational needs and/or disability (SEND) travelled in single occupancy vehicles (base: 108 local authorities). 

1% of pre-16 pupils receiving HTST for reasons other than SEND travelled in single occupancy vehicles (base: 100 local authorities).

15% of post-16 learners receiving transport because of their special educational needs and/or learning difficulties and disabilities (SEN/LLDD) travelled in single occupancy vehicles (base: 78 local authorities).

4% of post-16 learners receiving transport for reasons other than SEN/LLDD travelled in single occupancy vehicles (base: 60 local authorities, note this estimate is based on responses from fewer than half of local authorities).

Footnotes: 

  1. Local authorities were asked to provide numbers of pupils and learners using transport on 3rd February 2025.
  2. A minority of local authorities could not distinguish between pupils using single occupancy vehicles by SEND and non-SEND.
  3. A minority of local authorities did not include pupils who travel in single occupancy vehicles where they are the only pupil from the area travelling to a school.
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Data collection

Data presented in this publication has been collected from local authority transport teams. 

Full guidance (opens in new tab) was provided to local authorities, including reference dates and data item definitions. 

Data was collected from local authorities on a voluntary basis for the first time in February 2025. We will use feedback from this first collection to make improvements for the next collection.

The reported number of pupils/learners using transport is as at 3rd February 2025 and spend data is for financial year 2023-24. We wanted to collect the most up to date data on pupil numbers and spend data for the most recent complete financial year.

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Data quality

The HTST data collection is being developed to:

  • build a clearer picture of local authority provided transport at local and national levels, and
  • enable local authorities to benchmark against each other when the quality of the data allows.

115 local authorities (or 75%) submitted data for this initial collection. Table 1 shows that a good response rate by region was achieved, though rates for local authorities in the East Midlands and London were relatively lower. Table 2 shows the response rates for London, rural and urban local authorities, showing that rural authorities were more likely to have responded to the data collection than urban and London authorities. Urban and rural has been defined using the percentage of the population living in rural settings as published by ONS. Rural local authorities are those where at least 15% of the population live in rural settings.

Table 1: Overall response rate by region

RegionNumber of responding local authoritiesPercentage of local authorities in the region that responded
East Midlands

6

60%

East of England

11

100%

London

21

64%

North East

11

92%

North West

19

79%

South East

15

79%

South West

11

73%

West Midlands

10

71%

Yorkshire and the Humber

11

73%

Table 2: Overall response rate by urban/rural

Urban/ruralNumber of responding local authoritiesPercentage of local authorities that responded
London

21

64%

Urban

48

74%

Rural

46

84%

The quality of the data returned by local authorities varied by question. In terms of coverage, all 115 authorities were able to provide data for the highest-level questions: how many pre-16 pupils received HTST and how many post-16 learners received transport. We are satisfied that the data provides, for the first time, a robust assessment of the number of pupils using free HTST, but we also believe that this will improve further as the collection matures.

Response rates varied across data items; this includes where more detailed breakdowns were not readily available. While complete responses were received from some local authorities to the lower-level questions, data received from others reflected the fact that there has previously been no standardised data collection, hence they were unable to provide full answers.  These included:

  • Null responses – local authorities did not have the data to answer the question. Several of the post-16 transport questions were left blank with comments that local authorities did not hold the data requested. Sometimes this was because we asked for the data split between 16-18 and 19-25 year olds for those using transport as a result of their special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and they were not able to segment the data in this way; and sometimes it was because they could not separate the post-16 data from the pre-16 data because pupils and learners of different ages shared routes and vehicles.
  • Questions were interpreted differently – emails received and comments left by local authorities made clear that they had interpreted some questions in different ways. For example, when asked for numbers of pupils and spend by ‘mode of transport’ the distinction between “dedicated school transport” and “any other vehicle” was unclear and local authorities responded differently; and when asked about pupils travelling in single occupancy vehicles, some local authorities excluded pupils where they were the only pupil travelling from an area to their school, but we had intended for these pupils to be included. We have confidence in the percentages presented as only a small number of the local authorities included raised this issue.
  • Errors in the data returned – such as typographical errors and inconsistencies between numbers of pupils reported for different questions. While we have performed checks on the data, including comparing reported spend and spend recorded in Section 251 data returns for 2023-24 (Section 251 is part of the Apprenticeships, Skills, Children and Learning Act 2009 – local authorities submit statements of planned and actual expenditure on education and children’s social care) and comparing the number of pupils reported in responses to different questions, we were unable to contact all local authorities where their data appeared to contain errors. Of the 15 local authorities we did contact, five subsequently returned corrected data. We are aware of some reasons for the difference in spend: a small number of LAs were unable to separate their spend by pre- and post-16 as pupils and learners use the same vehicles/routes; and a small number said they had not included all overheads in the mode data, such as the cost of vehicles, passenger assistants and office staff. For the local authorities included in the percentages presented, the difference in the overall number of pupils/learners is small, however there is a slightly larger difference in the spend data. 

As this is a new data collection, we expect the quality of the data returns to continue to improve over time as the collection becomes established. For example, reductions in the number of unknown values for detailed breakdowns, improvements in our guidance and categories, and increased response rates. Caveats for each data item are given in the accompanying footnotes.

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Data processing

Data verification

We have not corrected errors in the data except where we contacted the local authority to verify their return in a minority of cases. The data should therefore be treated with caution given the potential for remaining errors.

We have not contacted local authorities to correct their data where the question was misinterpreted. We will seek to improve the clarity of the questions and guidance for future collections. The data should therefore be treated with caution.

Estimating national figures

With the exception of overall numbers of pupils eligible for HTST, national estimates have not been derived from the data due to the varying numbers and types of local authorities responding to each question.

To estimate the number of pre-16 pupils using HTST nationally, we have calculated the average proportion of pupils receiving HTST in London, urban and rural authorities and used these averages to estimate the number of eligible pupils in local authorities that did not respond. To estimate the number of post-16 learners using transport nationally, we have calculated the average proportion of the population aged 16-25 in London, urban and rural authorities receiving transport and used these averages to estimate the number of eligible learners in local authorities that did not respond.

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Data availability and rounding

Data availability

The following symbols are used in the supporting data files: 

low - denotes figures based on percentages that round to 0, but are not 0. 

Where any number is shown as zero, the original figure submitted was zero. 

Rounding

Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number, therefore component parts may not sum to 100.

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Official statistics in development

These statistics are official statistics in development undergoing evaluation. They have been developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics and published to involve users and stakeholders at an early stage in assessing their suitability and quality.

Official statistics in development have been produced as far as possible in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance (opens in new tab).

We will be reviewing and improving our methodology and considering whether future publications are necessary as part of the development. Feedback on the quality and relevance of these statistics can be sent to school.travel@education.gov.uk.

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Help and support

Ad hoc official statistics

Ad hoc official statistics are one off publications that have been produced as far as possible in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.

This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance (opens in new tab).

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Home to school transport: LA data collection statistics and data:

School Systems and Organisation Analysis

Email: school.travel@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Richard Allison

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