Information for Passenger Assistants

Resources and information to help you in your role

Key information

You can find the answer to most queries relating to your role as a Passenger Assistant in the code of conduct.

You can use the online enquiry forms to:

For any other queries, you can contact us using the school transport enquiry forms (select the Passenger assistant tile).

We regularly send out a newsletter to all Passenger Assistants. Please refer to the newsletter for the latest updates and information.

Absence and leave information

Your roles are term-time only, so absences must be approved in advance. If you need to take time off, please follow our policy and criteria set out in the code of conduct. We are unable to grant annual leave outside the school holidays.

If you need to consider a non-medical absence, the team will review each request on an individual basis.

Any absences that would take effect within 24 hours would be treated as urgent. Passenger Assistants are provided with a phone number to call in emergency situations.

You can use the online enquiry form to:

report an absence or return to work including a non-medical absence
request unpaid leave. If the request is authorised, you must submit the unpaid leave request through ESS Lite before you take the time off
contact us about incorrect pay.

For any issues relating to pay complete the enquiry form (select the Passenger assistant tile).

Transport arrangements

For transport starting or continuing in September, the School Transport Team are often still planning routes until late in the school holidays. You may not receive an update until the last week of the school holidays.

Once you have been allocated to a route, you will be sent a route schedule. You can access this using Safedrop. You will be notified about documents sent via Safedrop by email. The link to open Safedrop items will expire after 24hrs.

If you have further issues about routes, complete the route schedule enquiry form.

Issues on the journey

If you need to tell us something about your route, such as a child’s behaviour, a driver, a journey delay, or a route cancellation, you can complete the relevant school transport enquiry form (select the Passenger assistant tile, then select My route – queries).

You should fill out the accident and incident reporting form to tell us about:

an accident or incident involving yourself or a student
incidents involving challenging behaviour which cause a health and safety risk to the driver, passenger assistant or other pupils on board

Contacting the School Transport Service in an emergency

In an emergency, you can find information about how to contact us to report the following incidents, which would be dealt with urgently:

a vehicle that has broken down
an incident which is going to cause a significantly late pick up
a safeguarding concern
an accident that your vehicle has been involved in, even if all the children are off the vehicle

Further information for Passenger Assistants

You can also use the online enquiry forms to:

View the Driver’s Code of Conduct and the Student’s Code of Conduct.

Operator provided Passenger Assistants

Some operators provide Passenger Assistants on journeys. If you are an operator, you can find the guidance to understand the steps that you will need to take to gain authorisation for your Passenger Assistants.

Becoming a Passenger Assistant

If you know somebody who would be interested in becoming a passenger assistant, you can find further information and how to apply. Visit careers with Hampshire County Council.

For any other queries relating to recruitment, you can contact us using the recruitment enquiry form.