![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1756106112_938_0_ABM_5406.jpg\")
(Image: ABNM Photography)<\/p>\nThe M.E.N. is calling on Andy Burnham to make the change(Image: ABNM Photography)<\/p>\n
Pressure is mounting on Andy Burnham after a sixth Greater Manchester MP announced they support the M.E.N.\u2019s campaign to give children in temporary accommodation a free bus pass.<\/p>\n
Afzal Khan, Labour<\/a> MP for Manchester Rusholme<\/a>, is the latest figure to lend their support to the campaign, which launched only two weeks ago.<\/p>\n The Manchester Evening News is calling on Andy Burnham<\/a> to implement a free bus pass for homeless children placed in temporary accommodation that\u2019s more than a 30-minute walk from school.<\/p>\n Greater Manchester\u2019s homeless parents face an impossible choice: Try and find the money to keep their children in the classroom, or move schools.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a choice we believe no parent should make.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why we call on Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, to implement a free bus pass for children in temporary accommodation more than a 30-minute walk from their original school.<\/p>\n Greater Manchester\u2019s homeless families are often placed in temporary accommodation miles from home by councils, so their children go from walking to school to being a long journey away.<\/p>\n Council rules say children can only get free transport if they move more than two miles from home and there is no \u2018suitable school\u2019 nearer. But it\u2019s near-impossible to be further than three miles from a school in the city.<\/p>\n That presents homeless parents a difficult choice: Fork out for buses they previously didn\u2019t need to pay for, or move their children to a different school, if places are available.<\/p>\n Now, Mr Khan has announced he is backing the call.<\/p>\n He said: \u201cUnstable housing causes chaos for families. I empathise deeply with those who want to offer their children stability when they\u2019re living in temporary accommodation by keeping them in a school that is familiar, comfortable, and understands their needs.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is why I am glad to support this campaign, which I believe gives children the best opportunity to thrive during such challenging times.\u201d<\/p>\n Other MPs backing the campaign include Labour\u2019s Rebecca Long-Bailey (Salford<\/a>), Christian Wakeford (Bury<\/a> South), and Yasmin Qureshi (Bolton<\/a> South and Walkden<\/a>), plus two Liberal Democrats<\/a>: Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove<\/a>) and Tom Morrison (Cheadle<\/a>).<\/p>\n They join three major not-for-profits, Resolve Poverty, Wood Street Mission, and Shared Health.<\/p>\n Previously, a mayoral spokesperson said: \u201cWe are doing a lot to make travel easier and more affordable for everyone in Greater Manchester, including children and young adults. That includes \u00a31 single bus fares, free travel for 16-18-year-olds, an extension of free travel for care leavers and, from next month, half price bus travel for 18-21-year-olds.<\/p>\n \u201cTransport for Greater Manchester is currently undertaking a broader review of concessions, considering all the requests for support that we get from a range of groups across the city-region, and the Mayor has asked them to ensure this is included.\u201d<\/p>\n Greater Manchester\u2019s homeless parents face an impossible choice: Try and find the money to keep their children in the classroom, or move schools.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a choice we believe no parent should make.<\/p>\n That\u2019s why we call on Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, to implement a free bus pass for children in temporary accommodation more than a 30-minute walk from their original school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The M.E.N. is calling on Andy Burnham to make the change(Image: ABNM Photography) Pressure is mounting on Andy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":371740,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,2465,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-371739","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-manchester","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115088177755272529","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=371739"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/371739\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/371740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=371739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=371739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=371739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/1_ABNM_MEN_08122022_MCA_44381JPGjpga.jpg\")
School transport campaign<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/2_Burnham-presser-of-out-of-area-Taxis.jpg\")
The M.E.N. is calling on Mr Burnham to implement the bus pass(Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\nSchool transport campaign<\/p>\n