Travel award 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.

• About the grant
• Students with additional needs
• Further support

About the grant - 2021/2022 policy

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.

Eligibility

Grants are available 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 Universal 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).

Assistance in exceptional circumstances

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 Service
• Relocation due to domestic violence; and
• Change of school/college following exclusion; or
• Any of these - or other significantly disadvantageous - circumstances for students

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).

Right to appeal

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.

Students with additional needs

Learners with Special Educational Needs and/or a disability (SEND) may be eligible for additional support and this would be assessed under the Special Educational Needs Transport policy. This information is held on the Achieving for Children SEND Local Offer website.

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

Further support for post 16 travel

Students aged 16 to 19 can also access free travel on buses and trams under the TfL scheme. 

18+ Student Oyster photocard

An 18+ Student Oyster photocard entitles the holder to buy Student-rate Travel cards and Bus Passes:

• Valid for seven days, one month or longer periods of up to one year
• At 30 percent less than adult-rate season tickets

Money can be added to an 18+ Student Oyster photocard to pay adult-rate Oyster single fares.  These are cheaper than paying cash. Oyster card discounts apply at all times of day.

16 to 25 Railcard

Students can also purchase a 16 to 25 Railcard for a one off cost of £30. This gives them a third off rail fares. If a student has a 16 to 25 Railcard and they travel on the train at or before 10am Monday to Friday (except during July and August) a minimum fare will apply.

16-19 Bursary Fund

Learners may be able to access some funding towards transport costs directly from individual schools, colleges or other training providers, from the 16-19 Bursary Fund. Each learning provider has some discretionary funding that can be used for this purpose, subject to their own criteria.

Resources are limited so learners should make an application to their school or college as early as possible in the academic year.

Find out more on the Richmond College website.

Contact

See Achieving for Children for contact details.