Agenda Item No

Resources Board

9 February 2009

1 Summary

1.1 This report outlines the proposals for the 2009/10 Taxi Voucher Scheme.

2 Recommendations to the to the Board

That a decision be made regarding an increase in the value of taxi vouchers for 2009/10

3 Background

3.1 With the introduction from 1 April 2008 of free off peak countrywide bus travel for residents over 60 or with eligible disabilities, the previous travel token scheme was discontinued and replaced by a taxi voucher scheme which focussed on those residents that were unable to access transport, either through disability or inaccessibility.

4 Current Scheme Arrangements

4.1 The current taxi voucher scheme allows for persons over the age of 60, and specifically defined disabled persons to claim vouchers worth £40 (£60 for couples) redeemable against journeys made with taxi firms located in the borough if the claimants satisfy the following conditions:

4.2 The amount of vouchers is reduced proportionately on a monthly basis to new joiners to the scheme within the financial year, eg someone joining the scheme on 1 October will receive £20 (£30 for couples).

4.3 The scheme closes on 31 January each year to allow renewal applications to be processed for the following year. The vouchers are only valid until 31 March of the year in which they are issued.

5.0 Report Implications[Author ID1: at Tue Jan 27 13:27:00 2009 ]

5 Financial Implications

5.1 There are currently 415 residents that have claimed and qualified for taxi vouchers. Of these, 90 are part of couples paid at the joint rate. This number has remained fairly constant throughout the first year of the operation of the scheme.

5.2 In order for the value of the concession to be maintained, the issue per person (couple) of vouchers would need to be increased in line with the increase in taxi tariffs.

Current day time tariffs are:

1 mile - £3.30 2 miles - £5.00 3 miles - £6.70

5 miles - £10.10 5 miles - £18.60

Options are

b) to increase the issue to £50 per person (£75 per couple), which would increase expenditure by £3,925, assuming that take-up remained the same.

5.3 Should members wish to increase the value of the taxi vouchers, there will need to be a growth bid made against the general fund balances. This bid is [Author ID1: at Tue Jan 27 13:27:00 2009 ]included[Author ID1: at Tue Jan 27 13:28:00 2009 ] [Author ID1: at Tue Jan 27 13:27:00 2009 ]in the report on budgets included elsewhere on this agenda.[Author ID1: at Tue Jan 27 13:28:00 2009 ][Author ID0: at ]

[Author ID1: at Tue Jan 27 13:27:00 2009 ]

6.1 Equalities Implications

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[Author ID2: at Tue Jan 27 17:29:00 2009 ]

The Contact Officer for this report is Mike Shaw (Telephone 01827 719338).

Background Papers

Local Government Act 1972 Section 100D, as substituted by the Local Government Act, 2000 Section 97