IN THE NEWS WOLVERHAMPTON COUNCIL LOBBIES FOR NATIONAL POLICY CHANGE TO REDUCE DRIVERS FEES
City of Wolverhampton Council has successfully influenced a national policy change which will save hackney and PH drivers across the country hun- dreds of pounds in fees. Drivers who receive manual DBS certificates, and are therefore unable to subscribe to the Update Service, will now be refunded their DBS fees after successful lobbying by Cllr Phil Page, chair of the council’s regulatory committee. Cllr Page wrote to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, and the Chief Executive of the DBS, highlighting the unfair finan- cial burden placed upon drivers who receive manual DBS certificates. Under the Statutory Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle Standards, published by the DfT, drivers must either be registered
to the DBS Update Service (for a £13 annual fee) or provide an Enhanced DBS Certificate (£38 + admin) every six months. However, drivers with manual DBS certificates are ineligible from subscribing to the DBS Update Service, meaning a brand-new certificate must be purchased every six months. Over the course of a three-year licence, a driver on the Update Service whose certificate remains current would pay £92.49. Drivers who are issued a manu- al certificate are forced to pay £320.94, a staggering £228.45 difference. Cllr Phil Page said: “In a time where there cost of living is rising, this is extremely welcome news that will ben- efit drivers across the entire country. “There is a shortage of licensed drivers and the trade does not need any more
barriers to entry. “This is a fantastic result and I will continue to work tirelessly to help sup- port the private hire trade”. Eric Robinson, Chief Executive of the DBS, replied to Cllr Page, advising: “I am pleased to inform you that DBS has recently agreed to refund the DBS fee for those hackney and private hire drivers that receive manual certificates going forward, ensuring they are not out of pocket. “This will enable licensing authorities to submit new DBS applications every six months.
“DBS will process the new application as normal, but will refund the applica- tion fee (not the Registered Bodies administration fee) upon request where a manual certificate is issued.
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JUNE 2022
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