SEN0551

Written evidence submitted by The Licensed Private Hire Car Association (LPHCA)

Introduction

I write to your committee, having been previously a provider of SEND and other special needs transportation.  I am regarded as a long-standing, knowledgeable Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) Industry authority.

I have given evidence to government select and other committees in both Houses of Parliament.  I am also regularly contacted by government for discussions and meetings at all levels.

I provide evidence in this instance specifically on providing input on what you are seeking for Solving the SEND crisis.  However, I have for the sake of clarity provided information about other work I have undertaken.

• Invited to partake in roundtable meeting in Downing Street hosted by Prime Minster Sir Kier Starmer and Home Secretary Yvette Cooper to discuss criminalising Spiking.
• Industry representative on Department for Transport (DfT) / Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) Joint Air Quality Unit (JAQU) stakeholder group (2018 – to date)
• Industry advisor to HMRC and government on Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) Tax checks (Conditionality)
• Member, Task & Finish Group on Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle Licensing, Department for Transport (2018-19)
• Advisory Group Member, ‘Taxi & Private Hire Services’ Reform, Law Commission (2012-2014)
• Member Surface Transport & Rail and Underground Panels, Transport for London (2008-2016)
• London Mayor Boris Johnson appointed Board Member, Transport for London (2008-2016)
• Advisor to the Olympic Delivery Authority (2006 – 2012) on Taxi & PHV provision/management for the 2012 Olympics and Paralympic Games London
• Member & supportive stakeholder London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s Safer Travel at Night (STAN) initiative (2000 – 2008)

Prior to 2000

• Appointed and served as a board member/taxi & PHV representative of the government’s Sector Skills Council - GoSkills, which developed NVQ’s, BTECs and Industry Training Standards.
• As a former PHV operator my company was the first taxi-based entity to get both National Training awards and Investor in People recognition in the UK.
• Awarded an MBE for services to Transport in London, campaigning for and successfully getting the London Private Hire Industry Licensed.

Scope of the inquiry

I note from the Scope of the inquiry, the Committee would welcome evidence primarily focused on solutions, so that is what I have provided.  To this objective, I will focus on two of the areas that you specify. 

Current and Future model of SEND provision and the Finance, funding and capacity of SEND provision.  This will be outlined covering current and future shortcomings, that will add to costs, alongside my view on how to overcome such issues, by reducing costs, whilst increasing supply.

Background Information – LPHCA Research

The LPHCA in 2023 became very aware via our considerable Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle (PHV) Operator Membership across mainland UK that there were considerable issues meeting demand for Local and Regional Taxi & PHV Procurement departments.

Further research identified several reasons for difficulties including the consequences of the pandemic, increasingly bureaucratic procurement, unnecessary regulatory and training requirements, all this alongside considerable cost increases.

To find out more we contacted 330 local and regional authority’s respective Freedom of Information (FOI) Departments throughout mainland UK, by email or web forms to request procurement department contact details.

We obtained 258 responses, which, after analysis, reduced the contactable procurement departments to just over 100.  It was quickly established that many local authorities procure at regional or county level, rather than locally, so the same procurement teams were responsible for multiple areas.

Once we had rationalised the FOI response data, we subsequently surveyed just over 100 and closed the survey in September 2024.

SEND Cost, Supply and Demand Issues

The LPHCA had already identified that there were considerable supply and demand issues in the wider Taxi & PHV industry, with many Local and Regional Authority Procurement departments providing SEND transport having extreme issues.

Those issues included being unable to meet demand for SEND transport and, where supply was available, costs were in most responses increasing above (and in some cases well above) inflation.

The survey confirmed that the problems of lack of supply caused increased costs, however it became clear that there were solutions available to licensing and procurement departments that had worked elsewhere to help meet demand and reduce costs.

Safeguarding Issues

Through our membership and via groups involved in SEND transportation, we learned that there were huge safeguarding issues where supply could not be found.  This had led to vulnerable children in some cases not being able to get to their educational establishment and in other cases were being transported outside of a licensed, vetted and fully safeguarded environment.

LPHCA Survey Responders Outcomes Summary

• 90.3% Said they struggle to get Taxi & Private Hire Vehicle work covered post-pandemic
• 93.5% Said the cost of obtaining Taxi & Private Hire Vehicles had increased post-pandemic
• 87.1% Said costs were rising above inflation
• 67.7% Said licensing delays and costs had caused shortages of Taxi & PHV drivers

Current and future model of SEND provision

How can excess profit-making in the independent sector be tackled without endangering current provision?

Current procurement methods do not bring ‘best value’ to SEND transport provision, which then takes resources away from SEND budgets.  The lack of procurement cohesion at Local, Regional and County level means that inefficiencies and increased costs prevail.  This enables unscrupulous entities to exploit procurement provision.

Licensing and Procurement Departments in some cases are completely oblivious to the differences between standard taxis and the differing types of PHVs (see below).

•              Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND)

•              Mainstream Private Hire Vehicles (Also known as Minicabs)

•              Chauffeur & Executive

Many Licensing Authorities treat taxi & PHV licenses as the same, which requires unnecessary training & testing and subsequently greater costs.

For example, some Licensing Authorities do a ‘one size fits all licence’ which means that unnecessary costs have to be borne by drivers and operators that are inevitably passed onto the Educational Authority and Councils, putting up costs.

Taxis, can rank, ply for hire on the street and can be hailed (flagged down), and they are always fitted with a meter controlled by statute.  Whereas the three primary types of Private Hire Vehicle services listed above, specialise in different areas, therefore training, testing and costs should be different.

Chauffeur & Executive drivers do not undertake SEND, Mainstream Private Hire Vehicles may undertake some SEND work, but Special Educational Needs and Disability Drivers only undertake SEND work.  Some taxi drivers and operators also undertake SEND work.

Restricted Taxi & PHV Licences

Restricted Taxi & PHV Licences (Conditional Licences) allow for different, but tightly controlled, requirements for drivers that only undertake SEND or similar work.  All essential requirements, checks and measures remain (DBS, Medical, Driving Licence, Vehicle, etc).

Where introduced Restricted Licences have helped Licensed Operators to provide SEND transport, and improve the provision of such services enormously, with significant cost and bureaucracy reduction.

The esteemed organisation the Institute of Licensing (The IoL) - the professional body that represents those who work within the field of Licensing, now advocates Restricted Licences, which a few years ago they wouldn’t have done. The IoL has embraced the position that Restricted Licences work, so much so that in IoL LINK Issue (16) they produced an excellent article on Pages 20 – 23

https://www.instituteoflicensing.org/media/5klfrcer/link-16-web-version.pdf

This article was put together by Phil Bates (Southampton and Eastleigh Councils), Yvonne Lewis (City and County of Swansea), and James Button (James Button & Co).

How can excess profit-making in the independent sector be tackled without endangering current provision?

Levelling Up

• We believe less authorities in the procurement cycle would ensure best value, reduced costs and give more transparency for the industry, local authorities and the Education Authorities.

National Insurance Proposed Increase Impact

The October 2024 budget, has brought forward an unforeseen threat to SEND transportation costs and budgets via the increase in the Employers National Insurance rate and the lowering of the threshold as many SEND employers that majoritively use part-time staff will now come into scope.

Rightly, SEND Transportation is outsourced via procurement, rather than being undertaken in-house by councils, which would not be cost effective as it is mainly provided in term-time.

As SEND only drivers and the Passenger Assistants who manage the children are majoritively Part-Time, the new measures will compromise, existing contracts that have been won prior to the October budget and by their nature are long-term.  This provides certainty for parents, the children the education authority and the transport providers.

Whereas, local councils are being supported by the government when they rarely provide SEND Transport directly, the outsourced contracts will not.  The likelihood is contracts will be returned as no longer viable, and a considerable re-tendering exercise will be necessary.  Furthermore, there will be no gain for the treasury, as government provide resources for SEND transport, one way or another, so this is a major concern.

An LPHCA operators SEND Group formed prior to this problem last Summer called SENDTO (Special Educational Needs and Disability Transport Operators), have put together a campaign, details of which can be found at Https://sendto.org.uk.

They are currently campaigning on this matter, so our submission is timely.

• We propose that Send Transport Operators get funding support from government via local councils to negate the National Insurance increases and the need for re-tendering and all the other associated costs and problems.

How can innovation be encouraged across the system to address the current pressures and challenges?

• National Taxi & PHV Standards, are needed to bring procurement costs under more standardisation.   The Taxi & PHV Law Commission Review and The Task and Finish Group, both advocated National Standards. This would enable better SEND provision, and procurement controls, thereby reducing costs and bureaucracy.
• The introduction of Restricted Licenses by licensing authorities, has already proven to be a great success for local authorities including Epsom & Ewell, Braintree, Swansea and Southampton by removing unnecessary and inappropriate training and testing.  This has improved supply for SEND children and educational authorities alongside the inevitable reduction of costs.

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Significant Problems

In 1997, I was invited by the government, with other knowledgeable industry authorities, such as the safety group The Suzy Lamplugh Trust, to meet with the proposed Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) which has now closed.

The objective was to have input regarding the construction of a robust ‘fit and proper’ Criminal Record Checking system.  Sadly, this has not been the case and the replacement ‘The Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS)’ is regrettably not fit for purpose.

Alongside much of the Taxi and Private Hire Sector, trade bodies, The Institute of Licensing and users of the ‘service’ much of what was asked has not been delivered.

Failings, add to cost, ineffective checking and a great deal of unnecessary delays, not only for end users, but also for others such as the police who waste their valuable time.  This happens because there are multiple checks done on drivers and operators that have already been checked.  In some cases, by multiple licensing authorities whose Education Departments provide SEND transportation services.

Portability is difficult, in fact, it’s nearly impossible, even by adjoining authorities.  The only positive news is that the Home Office have now put in place an auto-update service, however the payment systems only allow credit card payments and of course they expire. 

When an operator or driver is emailed a reminder that a card is about to expire, there are multiple reasons the emails are not received.  E.g. Firewalls, spam monitors, change of email address, and many more reasons including the length of time between when the original DBS check is done and the expiry date of the card, sometimes many years into the future.

The outcome is SEND Operators and drivers DBS check expire resulting in their taxi or PHV licence becoming unrenewable.  The costs of managing this inevitably have to be passed onto Education Authorities providing the SEND transport.

At a recent online IoL meeting that I partook with Home Office Officials in attendance, they indicated that nothing will change in the near future.  This has a considerable negative impact on the cost of providing SEND transport.  Ultimately if a SEND (often highly trained Passenger Assistant or Driver) is unable to work, due to DBS checking shortcomings, SEND children are affected as a consequence.

The LPHCA is producing a report that we will be sending to the Home Secretary asking for a better payments system, portability and other measures beyond the scope of this response to be urgently put in place.

• Better technology, and fundamental changes to the DBS system, can save a great deal of time and money, which can help with Solving the SEND crisis.

I would be delighted to give further evidence to the committee, either in person or via internet meetings, should that be of assistance.

January 2025

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