Tuesday May 5th 2026
Scottish Borders school bus
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
Scottish Borders Council has refuted claims it disadvantages children who are co-parented with its travel to school policy.
Assistance with Travel to School schemes are devolved to local authorities within general Scottish Government guidelines.
The educational premise within the Assistance with Travel to School concept is that it should assist children to arrive “fit and ready” for learning.
But Freedom of Information (FOI) enquiries by Shared Parenting Scotland have revealed that more than half of Scotland’s local authorities refuse access to their assistance with travel scheme when a child starts their journey from one of their parent’s home, or impose conditions that not all co-parents can meet.
One Address Only policies are examples of the embedded disincentives to shared parenting in central and local authority policies, claims Shared Parenting Scotland.
Only eight councils – Moray, Orkney, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, Renfrewshire, Glasgow, Highland, and Fife – have a policy that explicitly accommodates shared parenting within their general eligibility criteria.
SBC’s reply to the FOI request indicated it applies “one address only policies,” which the organisation says “can be questioned as being out of date and not complying with the lived realities of children who live with both parents”.
.
That’s a statement disputed by SBC, a spokesperson for whom said: “Our school transport policy is applied consistently across all requests for assistance with travel to school, in line with relevant national guidance.
“For the purpose of determining eligibility, the child’s main residence is used, which is the principal home address held by the school. This allows us to apply the policy fairly and consistently across the authority.
“We recognise that family circumstances vary, including where children spend time living with both parents.
“Where there are exceptional circumstances, families can contact us and these will be considered on a case-by-case basis. There is also the opportunity for families to apply for our privilege lift scheme.
“We do not seek to disadvantage children in co-parenting arrangements and keep our policies under review, taking account of relevant Scottish Government guidance and the needs of children and families in the Scottish Borders.”
Fifteen councils operate an explicit “one address only” policy.
Shared Parent Scotland says that ignores the reality of life for many children who travel to school from more than one address when their parents do not live together.
Seven further councils have “discretionary” policies or impose restrictive criteria for accepting two addresses such as evidence of a court order.
Shared Parenting Scotland Chief Executive, Kevin Kane, says, “The Assistance with Travel to School policies of many councils are out of date and out of touch with lives of the children they were designed to help.
“Following our representations last year the Scottish Government guidelines were amended and for the first time directs councils to consider the situation of children in shared parenting arrangements.
“This recognition is a most welcome major advance in ‘getting it right for every child’.”
Tweet Share on Facebook
