The Education (Assisted Places) (Scotland) Regulations 2001

School travel grants for boarding pupils and amounts thereof

16.—(1) This regulation shall apply in relation to school travel grants in the case of an assisted pupil who is a boarder in attendance at a participating school.

(2) In this regulation “school travel expenditure” means such amount as may be determined, in accordance with the provisions of this regulation, to be the aggregate amount of travelling expenses reasonably incurred by the parents of an assisted pupil in respect of whom this regulation applies in respect of travel to and from the school by the assisted pupil by any of the following means:–

(a) by public transport services including any train, bus, boat, hovercraft or air services within such services;

(b) by transport provided in pursuance of arrangements made by that school and for the time being approved by the Scottish Ministers;

(c) by any combination thereof.

(3) A participating school, in accordance with this regulation, shall make, in respect of any school year, a school travel grant to the parents of the assisted pupil in respect of their school travel expenditure:

Provided that–

(a) in the case of a pupil who is a boarder (other than a weekly boarder) grant shall not be payable in respect of more than 12 single journeys, either to or from school in any school year;

(b) in the case of a pupil who is a weekly boarder no grant shall be payable unless the pupil’s walking distance between home and school exceeds 4.8 kilometres, but in respect of journey’s in excess of 80.5 kilometres in each direction by any such transport as is mentioned in paragraph (2) account shall be taken of only so much of those expenses as bears to the full amount thereof the same proportion as 80.5 kilometres bears to the length in kilometres of the journey in each direction measured with reference to the actual distance by the nearest available route between the pupil’s home and the school;

(c) in the case of any pupil–

(i) where the pupil’s expenses are in respect of journeys by public transport and they are in excess of what they would have been if advantage had been taken of available arrangements for reduced or concessionary fares, the excess shall be disregarded;

(ii) where the journey is to or from a place outside the British Islands, so much of the expenses as are in respect of a journey between a port, hoverport or airport within the British Islands and that place shall be disregarded;

(iii) where the pupil’s expenses are in respect of journeys by air and they are in excess of what they would have been if advantage had been taken of available train, boat or hovercraft services and arrangements for reduced or concessionary fares, the excess shall be disregarded.

(4) A school travel grant shall also be payable in respect of school travel expenditure reasonably incurred in relation to journeys actually made by the pupil in the school year within the British Islands for the purpose of attending a university, college or other establishment of further education at the invitation of the establishment with a view to being admitted to that establishment for the purpose of further education; and said grant shall be payable in respect of not more than three such journeys from the school or from the pupil’s home to such an establishment and three journeys from the establishment to the school or to the pupil’s home in any school year.

(5) The amount of any grant awarded in relation to an assisted pupil in respect of any school year under paragraph (4) shall be determined in accordance with this paragraph by reference to the actual cost of such journeys subject to the provisions of paragraph (3)(c) and to the relevant income of his parents in the preceding financial year so that–

(a) in any case where the relevant income does not exceed £11,129 per annum, the school travel grant shall be such sum as is equal to the amount of the school travel expenditure so incurred;

(b) in any other case, the school travel grant shall be such sum as is equal to the amount (if any) by which the school travel expenditure so incurred exceeds one twelfth rounded down to the nearest multiple of £3 of the sum by which that relevant income exceeds £10,950.

(6) For the purposes of paragraphs (4) and (5), sub-paragraphs (a) and (b) of paragraph (3) shall have no effect.

(7) A participating school may, in the course of or immediately before a school year, make payments, on account of any school travel grant in respect of school travel expenditure, being grant which it appears to it will fall to be made in respect of that year to the parents of that pupil; and where any such payments on account are made, any overpayment or underpayment of grant for the year in question shall, within 3 months of the final determination of the amount (if any) of the school grant, be adjusted by payments between the parents and the school.