School transport contracts: a guide for cab offices
By DispatchMe · Published
Councils in England must arrange free travel to school for eligible children, and much of it runs under contract with local transport firms, including taxi and private hire offices. To win and keep the work, you need the right licences, drivers and passenger assistants with the right checks, and records you can produce when the council asks.
This guide explains who qualifies, how councils buy the work, and what it asks of an operator.
General information, not legal advice
Licensing rules differ between London and the rest of England, and every council sets its own conditions. Check with your licensing authority before you rely on anything here. We link to the official sources so you can read them yourself.Why do councils buy school transport?
Because the law requires them to arrange it. The Department for Education's statutory guidance, Travel to school for children of compulsory school age (May 2026), sets out what each council in England must provide. Councils meet that duty with their own vehicles, passes for public transport, and contracts with bus, coach, taxi and private hire operators.
Which children qualify for free school transport?
Under the guidance, a council must arrange free travel for an eligible child of compulsory school age to their nearest suitable school when the child:
- lives beyond walking distance: more than 2 miles if under 8, more than 3 miles if 8 or over;
- cannot reasonably be expected to walk because of special educational needs, a disability or mobility problems; or
- would not have a reasonably safe walking route.
Children from low-income families have extended rights to travel further. Work for children with special educational needs and disabilities can call for smaller vehicles, passenger assistants and the same faces each day.
How do councils buy school transport?
Under the Procurement Act 2023, which came into force on 24 February 2025. Higher-value contracts are published on the Find a Tender service, and contracts over £12,000 on Contracts Finder.
Some councils buy school transport through a dynamic market: a list of approved suppliers that the council can invite to bid for individual routes as they come up. Under the 2023 Act, dynamic markets replace dynamic purchasing systems, though systems set up under the old rules carry on until they end. Check each council's procurement pages for how it buys transport.
What does school transport ask of an operator?
Each council writes its own conditions into the contract. Read them before you bid. These are the areas to look for:
| Area | What to check |
|---|---|
| Licences | Operator, driver and vehicle licences in order. Vehicles carrying nine or more passengers need a PSV operator licence instead. |
| Vetting | DBS checks for drivers and passenger assistants, at the level the council asks for. |
| Vehicles | Seats, wheelchair access and any equipment named for each route. |
| Cover | How you cover a route when the usual driver is off, with someone who has the same checks. |
| Records and reporting | What you record for each journey, and what you must tell the council about absences, incidents and changes. |
| Invoicing | How and when you invoice, and what each invoice must show. |
What DBS checks do drivers and passenger assistants need?
The DfE guidance says councils should make sure drivers and passenger assistants on dedicated school transport have an enhanced DBS check with a check of the children's barred list. For school transport, councils ask for these checks under the “children's workforce”; taxi and private hire licensing uses the “other workforce”. So a driver's licensing check may not be enough on its own.
GOV.UK explains the levels. A basic check shows unspent convictions and conditional cautions. A standard check adds spent convictions and cautions. An enhanced check adds information held by local police, and can include the barred lists.
Running a school contract day to day
- Keep the same driver and assistant on a route where you can, and tell the council when that changes.
- Keep your cover drivers vetted to the same level as the regulars.
- Record every journey as your operator licence requires, and keep anything else the contract asks for.
- Report absences, late running and incidents the way the contract says, and on time.
- Keep driver and vehicle documents in date: a lapsed licence can take a route off the road.
- Invoice the council the way it asks, with VAT where it applies.
Where dispatch software helps, and where it doesn't
DispatchMe keeps the records that make an audit easier. Each job writes a booking record before it starts, and that record can't be changed afterwards. Your staff register holds DBS details for the people on your desk. A driver with an expired or unapproved document can't go online or be given a job. You can export booking records, the staff register, documents and complaints as CSV or PDF, and invoice an account customer such as a council with VAT worked out.
It doesn't yet do everything school work needs. There is no screen for setting up repeating runs, no field for a passenger assistant, no route planning, and no council-format reports. See DispatchMe for school and council work for what it covers today.
Sources
- Department for Education: Home-to-school travel (statutory guidance, May 2026)
- DfE: Travel to school for children of compulsory school age (PDF)
- GOV.UK: Checks you can make on someone's criminal record
- GOV.UK: Transforming Public Procurement (Procurement Act 2023)
- GOV.UK: Guidance on dynamic markets
- GOV.UK: Find high value contracts in the public sector (Find a Tender)
- GOV.UK: Contracts Finder
- GOV.UK: PSV (public service vehicle) operator licences
- Department for Transport: Statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards