Guidance

Home-to-school travel: DfE Sign-in guide

Updated 2 February 2026

Applies to England

Before you start 

Ensure that you have a DfE Sign-in account that is correctly linked to your local authority.

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account  

If you do not have a DfE Sign-in account, you will need to create one by completing the following steps:   

1. Access the DfE Sign-in page and select ‘create a DfE Sign-in account’. On the next page, select ‘No account? Create one’.

2. Enter your name and email address. A valid business email address that contains your name must be used. DfE Sign-in will not accept generic emails, such as ‘admin@’ or ‘info@’. Personal email address must not be used.

3. A verification email will be sent to the email address entered. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

4. Create a memorable password that is a minimum of 8 characters and contains 3 of the following: lowercase characters, uppercase characters, numbers and symbols. Enter your given name and surname.

5. Sign in using your new credentials. Request your multi-factor authentication (MFA) verification email by clicking on “Email code to [your email address]” on the ‘Verify your identity’ page.

6. You will receive an MFA email to verify your identity. Copy the code from this email and paste it into the box on the verification page.

7. When you first log in, you must complete account set-up and request access to your organisation. You can search for your organisation using either name or unique identifiers (UKPRN or UPIN). We recommend searching with one of the unique identifiers if possible.

8. Your request will be sent to the approver(s) at your organisation for action. You will not be able to see details of the approver(s) until your access request has been approved.

Access your DfE Sign-in account

1. Access the home-to-school travel: data collection. When prompted, enter your DfE Sign-in credentials (your account email address and password) for authentication.

2. If multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled on your account, you will need to enter a verification code to log in. To send the verification email with code, click on ‘Email code to [your email address]’ on the ‘Verify your identity page’ you were directed to after entering your email and password.

3. After clicking on ‘Email code to [your email address]’, you will progress to the next page ‘Enter code’. Copy the code from the verification email and paste it into the box. Then select ‘Verify’.

4. Choose the local authority you are completing the form for. This step is only required if your account is linked to several organisations.

5. You will now see the home-to-school travel (HTST) data collection questions.

Adding an organisation to your existing DfE Sign-in account 

To add an organisation to your existing DfE Sign-in account, log into DfE Sign-in and select ‘Organisations’ from the top menu, followed by ‘Request access to an organisation’.

To add a new (additional) organisation to your DfE Sign-in account, complete the following steps:

1. Log into your DfE Sign-in account.

2. Select ‘Organisations’ from the tab at the top of the page.

3. Select ‘Request access to an organisation’ from the ‘Related actions’ on the righthand side of the page.

4. Enter the name of the organisation you wish to add.

5. Select the organisation.

6. Select ‘Confirm’.

Your request will be sent to the approver(s) of your organisation. If your organisation does not already have an approver, your request will be actioned by the DfE Sign-in support team. 

If you need further assistance 

Use our DfE Sign-in help to request further assistance with DfE Sign-in issues. When raising a support request, select ‘Other.’  

Once you have access to the collection, contact school.travel@education.gov.uk for any queries relating to completion.