England will waive local bus fares for children aged 5 to 15 on participating services from 1 August to 31 August 2026. The Department for Transport published the measure on 10 July, after Roads Minister Simon Lightwood met local leaders and operators in Bath on 9 July, and presented it as part of the government’s summer cost-of-living package. (gov.uk) The bus concession applies in England only. By contrast, the linked Great British Summer Savings campaign runs across the UK, with temporary VAT relief on selected meals, tickets and attractions from 25 June to 1 September 2026. (gov.uk)
Eligibility is narrow and simple. HM Treasury and the Department for Transport said the offer covers children aged 5 to 15, allows unlimited journeys on participating local bus services, and does not require registration. Families still need to confirm locally that an operator is taking part. (gov.uk) DfT said typical child fares are between £1 and £2. The department also said under-5s already travel free across the main bus operators, so the August scheme mainly extends support to school-age children during the holiday period. (gov.uk)
The government’s published example is a family with two children making one weekly return trip at a £1.50 child fare, which would save £27 over August. That illustrates the policy’s intended use: repeated local journeys during the school break, rather than a permanent change to the fare structure. The final point is an inference from the scheme’s one-month duration. (gov.uk) The wider Summer Savings package temporarily cuts VAT from 20% to 5% on eligible children’s meals, certain children’s and family tickets, and admission to a range of attractions. HM Treasury said the relief applies until 1 September 2026, while activities already outside VAT, including some not-for-profit cultural admissions, are not included because no VAT is charged on them. (gov.uk)
Funding is more explicit in the earlier Treasury announcement than in the Bath launch event. HM Treasury said in May that the free fares scheme would receive more than £100 million, while the wider Great British Summer Savings package was estimated at about £300 million. The same statement said the bus element also includes support for services facing higher costs, with allocation to be settled with the sector. (gov.uk) The August concession also sits inside a broader bus settlement. In its April 2026 policy paper, the Department for Transport said government is investing over £1 billion a year in bus services from 2025/26 to 2028/29 through the local authority bus grant, Bus Service Operators Grant and reimbursement for the £3 national fare cap. A separate December 2025 announcement described a £3 billion package for bus services and infrastructure. (gov.uk)
For passengers outside the free child offer, the existing £3 national bus fare cap remains the main affordability measure in England and has been extended to 31 March 2027 on participating services. DfT has also said its rail fares freeze is expected to save existing rail passengers £600 million in 2026 to 2027, placing the August bus scheme within a wider transport affordability programme. (gov.uk) The national design also draws on a regional precedent. In the West of England, Mayor Helen Godwin said the local Kids Go Free scheme had generated around 1.4 million free journeys across the summer, Christmas and Easter holidays since her election, and that bus use from the region’s lowest-income areas doubled year on year last summer. The move to a national August scheme appears to scale that model for one month rather than create a standing national entitlement. That final point is an inference from the published dates. (gov.uk)
For households, the immediate effect is lower transport costs for leisure, visiting and other local trips during the school holidays. For operators and local transport authorities, August will act as an operational test of whether zero child fares can shift travel behaviour and introduce more young passengers to bus services. That forward-looking assessment is an inference based on DfT’s published objective of growing bus use and keeping tickets affordable, including for younger people. (gov.uk) The practical point is that families should look for participating local bus services rather than assume every route is covered. In administrative terms, this is a temporary August concession with fixed age limits and a defined funding envelope, not a permanent rewrite of England’s child fare system. That characterisation is an inference from the published scheme rules and funding statements. (gov.uk)