Proposed changes to taxi and private hire licence fees for 2025 to 2026

Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions Act) 1976 
proposed changes to taxi and private hire licence fees for 2025 to 2026

Notice is given, today, 14 November 2024, in accordance with Sections 53 and 70 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 that Rutland County Council proposes to amend the fees for taxi and private hire licensing to take effect from 1 April 2025.   

In accordance with Section 70(3)(b) of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976, a copy of this notice is displayed for public inspection in Rutland County Council’s reception, Catmose, Oakham, LE15 6HP.

Objections

If we receive no objections within the 28 day notice period or if all objections made are withdrawn, the new fee charges will apply from 1 April 2025. Any objections will be given due consideration by the council and the proposed fees with or without modification will apply from 1 April 2025. Anyone wishing to object to the proposed fees should do so in writing detailing their objection no later than 11 December 2024. Objections made will be in the public domain and may be published by the council. Objections can be submitted as follows:

By post: Licensing, Rutland County Council, Catmose, Oakham, LE15 6HP

By email: rcclicensingnews@peterborough.gov.uk

Online: Submit an objection via our online form

How we assess taxi licensing fees

Taxi and private hire licensing fees can only be set at levels to recover the cost of providing the service. The council are not allowed to make a profit from licence fees and any shortfall must be borne by the council. Where a surplus or deficit occurs, this must be considered in subsequent fee reviews.

Rutland County Council's licensing function is provided via a shared service with Peterborough City Council. Rutland County Council pay an annual sum to Peterborough City Council for them to provide this service.

The shared service provides established and ongoing efficiencies, resilience and economies of scales for Rutland County Council. Approval to enter into a new shared service agreement with Peterborough City Council from 2024 onwards was approved by Rutland County Council full council in March 2024.

When the shared service was originally set up several years ago, costs factored into the agreement related to staffing and service provision. No account was taken of corporate overheads and the support costs associated with Peterborough City Council providing the service on behalf of Rutland County Council. As part of the agreement of the new shared service and following a corporate wide review by Peterborough City Council using modelling adopted by several councils, a gap in funding was identified. This has subsequently been factored into the new service level agreement for Peterborough City Council to fully recover their costs. However, this created a variation between the previous contract value paid by Rutland County Council and cost recovery.

Significant additional demand in licensing through vastly increased numbers of applications has also put significant pressure on the service. This has led to frequent delays in processing applications. The resource required to meet this demand has increased from 2.1 to 3.1 full time employees to effectively provide the service.

Under the new shared service agreement with Peterborough City Council, this additional resource has been factored in and as a result, costs need to be recovered through updated license fees. To ensure that Rutland County Council can promote growth and protect the public, there is a need to ensure that licensing and wider regulatory regimes are adequately resourced. It is an accepted principle that licensed activities should be paid for by those benefiting from the licensed activity, rather than drawing on the public purse.

The additional costs of running the taxi licensing service are offset through the proposed new fees. If we are unable to increase fees, the additional licensing resource cannot be funded and the costs of providing the shared service will not be recoverable by Rutland County Council. Locally set fees are a vital means of ensuring both that full costs can be recovered by each council, reducing the risk of a subsidy from local taxpayers, and that businesses do not pay more than they should.

The fees have been set to facility full cost recovery, not to make a profit from running the service. The proposed charges are considered reasonable and proportionate to the cost of the processes associated with running the taxi licensing scheme.

Fees will be reviewed as part of the annual ‘fees and charges setting’ process to ensure that they remain reasonable and proportionate. This will allow for any fine tuning of fees to avoid either a surplus or deficit in future years. This will not immediately affect licence holders where the licence has been granted for a number of years and paid for in a lump sum but will ensure new entrants to the taxi licensing scheme are charged appropriately.