Agenda item

The Committee received a report on proposed revised Private Hire and Hackney carriage operator fees. Hackney Carriage and Private Hire fees had been reviewed in 2022 when it was found that 5 Year Private Hire operator fees could not be included in the review because further compliance and time recording checks had been required. This was in part due to the pandemic, wherein no audits were completed during 2020 and 2021. In July 2020, the Department for Transport had introduced the new Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards, which required annual DBS and right-to-work checks on staff. A new Audit List was compiled for these checks.

The review proposed that the 1-year multiple-vehicle licence fee that had been reduced in 2022 from £215 to £140 had been increased to £220 to cover costs incurred by the Council. The fees for single vehicle operator licences for both 1 year and 5 years did not change as the existing fees covered the costs incurred by the Council.

The Council licenced 36 operators in total, 22 of which were single-vehicle operators. Proposed fees sought to encourage the uptake of 5-year licences, which provided a discount to operators over the 1-year licence for the same period. It also reduced the cost for the Council. Operators with 5-year licences had made a saving of £140 over 5 years. Multiple vehicle operators with a 5-year licence had made a saving of £235 over five years.

A number of points were raised, and were as follows:

1.   The cost of licence fees had been raised due to the completion of audits and fees remained the same, subject to future audits.

2.  A comparison between Surrey Heath and neighbouring Boroughs had been completed, but concluding based on licence fees was complicated because other LA’s have varied levels for Private Hire Operator’s with more than one vehicle and fees increase with the number of vehicles, therefore a direct comparison could not be made.

RESOLVEDthat the proposed revised fees for private hire operators as set out at Annex A of this report be recommended for consideration by the Strategic Director of Environment and Community in consultation with the Strategic Director Finance and the Finance Portfolio Holder prior to public consultation.