IMPORTANCE OF WORKING THE NATIONAL INSURANCE (NI) HIKE AND
ITS EFFECT ON TAXI AND PRIVATE HIRE SECTOR
Article by Steve Wright Licensed Private Hire Car Assoc
https://lphca.co.uk
The Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA) and The National Private Hire and Taxi Association (NPHTA) alongside Private Hire and Taxi Monthly (PHTM), have been working
ever more closely in recent years for the good of all in the taxi and private hire sectors.
The trade associations have collaborated on things such as air quality requirements, English language tests, tax conditionality and vehicle age limits. We are often on the same calls, in the same industry meetings and part of industry focused panels, dealing with the same trade issues.
We also invite each other to speak at our respective events and agree to collaborate whenever possible. We are now taking matters a step further via two things: primary support from the PHTM on the LPHCA’s (SENDTO) Budget Campaign and further support directly from PHTM newspaper.
This article in PHTM is hopefully the first of many and is very timely because PHTM is clearly the primary media publication in our sector. Furthermore, recent editions, including this one, focus on the extreme difficulties facing our trade, and the importance of being united.
High Level Collaboration
Last summer the LPHCA formed a sub-committee to deal with the ever-increasing issues facing both LPHCA and NPHTA operators and drivers with regards to special educational needs and disability (SEND) transport.
The initial work focused on matters such as delays with DBS checks, medicals and getting drivers and vehicles licensed, often caused by inappropriate
24
training and testing and other onerous licensing requirements. The formation of a sub-committee group followed success in getting restricted licences for SEND transport-only drivers.
As with our other groups, we set our terms of reference and objectives, which includes LPHCA membership, however when the Budget put catastrophic pressure on SEND operators and drivers, it was unanimously agreed to make our campaigning fully open to all industry trade bodies and others.
Special educational needs & disability transport operators (SENDTO) campaign
Fortunately we had acquired a unique website URL
www.sendto.org.uk not knowing how valuable it would be following last October’s Budget National Insurance hike, which was particularly damaging for part-time workers in the taxi and PHV sector.
This increase will affect part-time workers in general, but in particular SEND transport workers as this service is often provided by part-time drivers, passenger assistants and office staff in the taxi and private hire vehicle sector who were previously below the NI Employers Contribution levels.
The few councils which provide the services directly will get support from government to negate these increases, however the taxi and private hire vehicle trade will not: hence the start of the ‘open to all’ campaign.
The campaign explains that the changes in tax legislation in the budget, due to take effect April 2025, regarding Employer National Insurance contributions will have serious and significant implications for the whole industry involved in providing special educational needs school transport services.
For those companies that provide these daily transport services to school children with special educational needs across the country, these new measures from the Exchequer mean that many of the routes that form part of the services they provide to local authorities will no longer be commercially viable.
FEBRUARY 2025 PHTM
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76
