1 Overview
You may be eligible to county council help with transport costs to school, sixth form college or college of further education if you:
- are a young adult learner aged 19 to 25 with special educational needs or disabilities
- live in West Sussex
Normally this will mean that you will have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP).
For post-19 students starting a new course, you must evidence why it is necessary for the council and not the student to make travel arrangements.
The county council does not normally offer help with transport for young adult learners aged 19 to 25 who do not have special educational needs and/or disabilities.
For full information, read our transport policy.
2 Apply for support
So that we can decide whether or not you are eligible for financial support towards your transport costs to college or sixth form, you will need to complete our online form
Post-19 transport assistance form for students with SEND (external link)This form is for transport starting from September 2026 only.
The information provided must reflect your course and address at the time of completing the form. If either changes, email post19travel@westsussex.gov.uk as this may affect your eligibility.
If you have any queries relating to transport for the remainder of this academic year (2025 to 2026), email post19travel@westsussex.gov.uk.
You will not be guaranteed any form of transport assistance for September 2026 at this stage.
Check your Spam inbox and add donotreply@westsussex.gov.uk and post19travel@westsussex.gov.uk to the Safe Senders list so you do not miss any emails.
Notes
- It can take up to 4 weeks for us to respond to your application.
- If we require further information in order to assess your application we will contact you to let you know.
- If your application is unsuccessful we will contact you explaining why.
- If your application is successful we will contact you with more information about what happens next.
- Do not contact us about specific transport routes, passenger assistants or drivers, as we will not know the details at this stage. If there are going to be changes to your current transport, we will confirm them in writing.
3 Contact our team
4 Supporting documents
You can access the Post-16 and Post-19 Transport policy statement and the Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) Transport policies on our home to school and college transport policies web page.
5 Unsuccessful applicants
If you are not eligible, alternative modes of support are set out within our Post-16 and Post-19 transport policy statement.
If your application for home to school transport has been unsuccessful, you can appeal the decision.