Concerns raised over taxi licence fee increases

Elgan Hearn - Local democracy reporter

Concerns have been raised that increases to taxi licence fees could drive people away from taking the wheel.

At a meeting of Powys County Council’s Planning, Taxi Licensing and Rights of Way committee on Thursday, November 20, councillors received the annual report on taxi licence fees for next year.

From April 1 next year, the fees will go up by an inflation-busting eight per cent – which is on top of the eight per cent rise in fees that came into force this year.

Licensing team manager Natalie Jones said: “This report is to seek approval for proposed taxi fees to allow them to go out to public consultation in line with statutory requirements.

“If we receive no objections they will come into force on April 1, 2026.”

If there are any objections a further report will come back to the committee.

Ms Jones continued: “The local authority does not and cannot make a profit on taxi fees. Local authorities are only permitted to achieve cost recovery.

“The fees are based on figures from 2024/2025.

“These proposed fees for 2026/2027 are a modest increase of eight per cent.

“We are confident they are a true representation of the costs incurred in issuing these licences.”

The report explains that the taxi licensing team predict the eight per cent hike will see an increase of £9,800 next year.

Cllr Angela Davies (Liberal Democrat – Rhayader) said: “I completely understand the need of covering the cost of managing these licences, but I think it’s important to say that most taxi firms are probably small businesses in Powys.

“In my area they change a lot, which suggests to me that it’s not a great money-making business, it’s a difficult one to run.

“I am really conscious of making these small businesses unviable, and they are an important service to our residents, as we don’t have buses every 20 minutes.”

She asked how many of the fees would need to be paid annually.

Ms Jones pointed out even if the fees are set annually, some licences were only paid once every three or five years.

Cllr Peter James (Powys Independents – Llanwrtyd Wells) asked if there had been a drop in taxi license numbers.

Ms Jones said: “It’s not recovered post-Covid.

“Pre-Covid we have over 500 licensed drivers and we are around the 450 mark, it’s also due to the fact that many are school transport operators.”

Ms Jones explained changes to school rules contracts meant that taxi firms required “bigger vehicles” and are licensing one minibus rather than two cars.

Councillors voted to allow the proposals to go out to consultation.

The fees for 2025/2026, which don’t include the cost for DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks are:

Hackney carriage private hire (1 year): £168 – going up from £155 this year.

Driver licence (3 years): £332 – going up from £300 this year.

Private Hire Operators (5 years): £373 – going up from £355 this year.

Knowledge test: £50 – up from £45 this year.

The current number of licences are:

Driver licences – 453 – down from 502 last year.

Private Hire Operators – 64 – down from 65 last year.

Private Hire and Hackney Carriage Vehicles – 412 – down from 420 last year.