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PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 12:47 pm 
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We are an integral part of the education system, mainly SEN but some mainstream and also social services use us via the school system, they could never rearrange 20,000 contracts in a limited timescale and without the lowest bidder who does it already.

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PostPosted: Mon Mar 23, 2020 5:40 pm 
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County are paying in full for all routes this week if they operate or not

Quote:
SCC will be paying full contact price for transport for the week 23rd March – 27th March 2020 even if the transport is stood down. Payments and operation beyond this date will be communicated later this week as detailed above.


If schools/SCC explicitly inform the operator that a route is not to run or that none of students will be travelling to school, then transport does not have to operate but will be paid in full for the week 23.3.2020 – 27.03.2020.

This payment is subject to operators using this payment to pay staff.

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:15 am 
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grandad wrote:
We had an email from Leicestershire CC yesterday that now states that it is normal practice to NOT pay for any journeys that don't take place but they are reviewing this.


under NORMAL circumstance

on day to day runnings (even then they pay us if theres less than 24hrs notice)


these are not normal times and cabinet/HMG have issued advice

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 11:16 am 
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jimbo wrote:
edders23 wrote:
Lincolnshire I believe are doing 50 percent



Lincolnshire I know are doing 75%



Is that city or County council (if applicable) and have you any more reference/info please?

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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 5:19 pm 
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Does anyone know if Northumberland County Council are paying a retainer or at what percentage?


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PostPosted: Thu Apr 02, 2020 7:28 pm 
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bloodnock wrote:
Does anyone know if Northumberland County Council are paying a retainer or at what percentage?

Not specifically, but the government are saying that all contracts should be honoured up to the end of June.

So the answer should be that they are paying a retainer and it must be 100%.

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PostPosted: Fri Apr 03, 2020 10:26 pm 
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anyone heard if Durham are paying?

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 6:35 pm 
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This council in Scotland are still funding their schools runs, or at least 75% of it.

https://www.ardrossanherald.com/news/18 ... operators/

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PostPosted: Tue Apr 21, 2020 7:07 pm 
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wannabeeahack wrote:
jimbo wrote:
edders23 wrote:
Lincolnshire I believe are doing 50 percent



Lincolnshire I know are doing 75%



Is that city or County council (if applicable) and have you any more reference/info please?



spoke to a driver today who does a Lincolnshire school contact and he is receiving 100 %

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PostPosted: Wed Apr 22, 2020 12:14 pm 
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any word on Kent school run payments?

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:44 pm 
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Durham


We have been reviewing the situation of the many contracts where transport is not operating due to the suspension of normal requirements during through the current emergency. We are very aware that without special arrangements to support suppliers, there would be a material risk of business failures such that transport would not be available when we wish resume normal operation. To ensure a continued capacity to deliver transport we are therefore making special provisions, as outlined below.

· Payments up to Thursday 9th April (inclusive) will be at the normal rate for each day on which transport would have operated.

· As previously notified, subject to agreement to some conditions, after that date the normal contract provisions will be varied to maintain a substantial part of contractors’ normal contract income even where contracts are not operating. As required by the government’s directions, we must take into account cost savings through non-operation, and must avoid our supplier relief payments duplicating payments that a business is getting from the government’s Job Retention Scheme (JRS). Payments will therefore be as follows:

o 75% of normal price so long as relevant staff are not in furlough under the JRS and vehicles remain available.

o 35% reduction if staff costs are to be subject to a claim under the JRS

o 5% reduction if vehicles are not still in the possession of the contractor (or self-employed taxi drivers working for them)

o Payments will therefore be at 75%, 65%, 40% or 35% depending on the circumstances. Contractors will be required to certify the rate of payment they are claiming is appropriate, and payments are subject to retrospective “open book” verification. Excess payments will be recovered.

· To assist contractors’ cashflow, as early as possible in wb 27th April we will make an interim payment on account for all contracts, reflecting normal days of operation in April and May, calculated at 100% payment up to 9th April and at 40% thereafter.

· When we have processed the claims made by contractors under the supplier relief scheme a further payment on account will be made later in May, to reflect the appropriate rates of payment under the scheme.

· Further payments on account will be made for June and July as appropriate.

· If a contract has operated in April, please see instructions regarding invoicing in the letter which is to follow.

· If you have not yet submitted an invoice for MARCH (or earlier months), please do so urgently as until that has been processed it will affect the payment on account. (Email invoices to passengertransport@durham.gov.uk )

Please do not email details of proposed claims etc until you receive our subsequent letter which will give further details and instructions.

Simon Day

Contracts and Services Manager

Integrated Passenger Transport, Regeneration, Economy and Growth Directorate

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 6:26 pm 
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I think the above conditions are being mirrored elsewhere.

Defo look very similar to the ones B&H are using.

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 8:15 pm 
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We still haven't heard anything from Leics for April.

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PostPosted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 11:09 pm 
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Quote:
...and payments are subject to retrospective “open book” verification. Excess payments will be recovered.

A bit like what I've been saying about some of these grants etc. Might be easy enough to get the payments now, but if they find out at a later date that you've maybe been a bit less than totally honest...

And it might not stop at just recovery of the payments made 8-[


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PostPosted: Tue Apr 28, 2020 8:14 am 
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Dear Sir/Madam

In these unprecedented times Leicestershire County Council is fully aware of the impact the coronavirus pandemic is having on our local bus services and taxi market with significantly reduced passenger patronage following advice from government agencies and the closure or partial closure of schools. 

We want to help where we can by clarifying our position and the support we can offer. We are aware that operators of all sizes have been requesting clarification on this matter and we thank you for your patience while we have been reviewing the government guidance and consider appropriate financial support.

We hope that the measures we will take will provide you with some financial stability in the short term whilst we work through Coronavirus pandemic together.

We do, however, ask that your resources are used flexibly to ensure critical services can be delivered effectively where required.

Our proposals and intended approach are as follows:


Local bus services operators in receipt of concessionary travel reimbursement payments

PAYMENTS

· MARCH: An ENCTS reimbursement payment for March based on the submitted passenger numbers for March 2019. This payment will be made by the end of April 2020 on receipt of March data (subject to data being received from the operator).

· APRIL, MAY, JUNE: We will then make monthly payments for April, May and June 2020 based on the 2019 reimbursements for those months on receipt of the patronage data as normal.

· Please continue to submit monthly data as normal.


Contracted local bus services

· The council will maintain contract prices at their current pre-Covid-19 levels where any reduction in timetables for local contracted bus services are made. Any timetable reductions should be agreed with the council and be kept under review. It is vital that appropriate service levels for key workers, most particularly to hospitals, and for more vulnerable users are maintained ensuring a level of frequency to maintain safe distancing.

· Where a contracted local bus service continues unchanged (because it is already of limited, infrequent nature), we may consider on a case by case basis either a price change or temporary reversion to a minimum cost contract.

· Invoicing of minimum cost contracted services will continue unchanged as the revenue loss will be automatically accounted for at the point of invoice.

PAYMENTS

· MARCH: Please submit your invoices and monitoring forms in the normal way, covering the whole of March, minus any normal deductions for revenue etc.



· APRIL- JUNE 2020: Please continue to submit invoices and monitoring forms in the normal way on a monthly basis.

· Invoices for each month will be accepted at their normal time:
o Invoices for April will be accepted after Thursday 30th April 2020
o Invoices for May will be accepted after Friday 29th May 2020
o Invoices for June will be accepted after Tuesday 30th June 2020.

In return for the above financial support you need to agree to act on an “open book basis” and make cost data available to LCC during this period. The Council expects you to act with best endeavours to reduce costs and access whatever additional support measures for businesses the Government has put in place for which you are eligible as a business and that you act with integrity and not seek to make profits on elements of a contract that are undelivered during this period.



This will require you to maintain records that will allow reconciliations to be undertaken at an appropriate point in the future (potentially after 3 months although this will be reviewed depending on how long the Government imposed measures continue for). This will then enable monies to be clawed back by the Council where the funding we have provided is also covered by funding received from other sources and/or costs have been saved as service levels have reduced.



You will also be aware that the Government has recently agreed to the introduction of a Covid-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG) to support Local Bus Services further during this difficult period. The funding is available to both Local Authorities and Bus Operators and is additional to the LCC financial support outlined above.



In order to determine how best this funding can be utilised to further support your contracted services with the council, avoid any double funding from this grant and clarify service levels, please can you provide the council with the following for each of your contracted services with us: -



· The current level of service being provided as a consequence of Covid‑19.

· Evidence of any revenue shortfall after taking into account the continued financial support at pre-Covid-19 levels.

· Services you will be claiming separately from the operator CBSSG.



Please send this information to ptps@leics.gov.uk at your earliest convenience.



Once determined, we will advise Government accordingly on how the Council’s CBSSG allocation is being utilised.





Mainstream school bus contract services - (beginning with the letter “S”)

· Where contracts are continuing to run to support the transport of vulnerable or keyworker children, please continue to operate as normal and submit invoices in the normal way on a monthly basis.

· Where contracts are no longer running, please submit your invoices at 100% of the normal contracted rate based on the number of days you were due to operate that month.

· LCC Student Season Tickets – any tickets purchased will be paid for the spring and summer term to cover any possible travel by children of key workers or any return to school, i.e. we are not seeking a credit for passes not used.

· Commercial school specials – any tickets purchased will be paid for the spring and summer term to cover any possible travel by children of key workers or any return to school, i.e. we are not seeking a credit for passes not used.

· If at any time we need to re-instate the contract that is currently non-operational then you must be available to do this or alternatively you need to be available for delivery of an alternative type of service. Revised payments may be made by agreement with LCC if the alternative requirements are seen to require additional time or mileage to deliver.

PAYMENTS

· MARCH: If you haven’t already, please submit your invoices for March based on the number of days you were contracted to do, minus any normal deductions that occurred prior to the school closing. If you have already submitted your invoice for March as you were no longer providing transport, please add the extra days to your April invoice, do not send an additional invoice for the March.



· APRIL TO JULY: Please submit your invoices for each month (not all at once) based on the number of days you were contracted to do.


· April’s invoices should exclude the Easter holidays unless you were otherwise contracted to fulfil journeys on those days. The same applies for bank holidays 08/05/20 and 25/05/20) and May half term.



· Invoices for each month will be accepted at their normal time:
o Invoices for April will be accepted after Thursday 30th April 2020
o Invoices for May will be accepted after Friday 29th May 2020
o Invoices for June will be accepted after Tuesday 30th June 2020
o Invoices for July will be accepted after terms or contract ends around 10th July 2020

In return for the above financial support you need to agree to act on an “open book basis” and make cost data available to LCC during this period. The Council expects you to act with best endeavours to reduce costs and access whatever additional support measures for businesses the Government has put in place for which you are eligible as a business and that you act with integrity and not seek to make profits on elements of a contract that are undelivered during this period.



This will require you to maintain records that will allow reconciliations to be undertaken at an appropriate point in the future (potentially after 3 months although this will be reviewed depending on how long the Government imposed measures continue for). This will then enable monies to be clawed back by the Council where the funding we have provided is also covered by funding received from other sources and/or costs have been saved as service levels have reduced.





Mainstream school taxi contract services (beginning with the letter “S”),
SEN taxi school contract services (beginning with “00” or “PTU00”) and
Social care taxi contract services (beginning with the number ”5”)

· Where mainstream, SEN and social care contract services delivered by taxis are continuing to operate as normal taxi operators will be paid in full, please submit invoices in the normal way on a monthly basis.

· Where mainstream and SEN school transport and social care transport services have been suspended we will be in contact with you over the next few days with the arrangements.




Demand Responsive Taxis (DRTs)

· Demand Responsive Services will continue to operate as normal and be paid on use as per the contractual arrangements. Please continue to submit invoices and monitoring forms in the normal way on a monthly basis.



We hope that the above measures will provide you with some financial stability in the short term whilst we work through Coronavirus pandemic together.

Finally, on behalf of Leicestershire County Council, we would like to thank you for all your efforts during this very difficult time for the whole country and especially for those operators who have already offered use of their resources in a flexible manner.

If you have any further questions.

LBS concessionary travel reimbursement
Contract invoices
Payment enquiries
to@leics.gov.uk
Mainstream transport contract enquiries
mainstreamtransport@leics.gov.uk
SEN transport contract enquires
sentransport@leics.gov.uk
Social care transport contract enquiries
socialcare@leics.gov.uk
LBS contract and Covid-19 Bus Services Support Grant (CBSSG)enquiries
ptps@leics.gov.uk
Demand Responsive Transport enquiries
ptps@leics.gov.uk

Information on the various measures the Government has put in place can be found on the link below.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... ion-scheme

Kind Regards,



Safe & Sustainable Travel Team
Leicestershire County Council


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