A letter has been issued to schools by the DfT to inform them that a temporary exemption has been granted to operators in regards to the implementation of PSVAR regulations
The Confederation of Passenger Transport UK (CPT), recognised by the Government as the voice of the coach and bus industry, has advised that following discussions with the Department for Transport (DfT), ministers have agreed to grant temporary exemptions until 31 July to operators of school services procured by schools and colleges on which most children pay a fare.
This temporary exemption follows on from the announcement by the DfT that it has granted operators an additional month to comply with PSVAR regulations for rail replacement services, see CBW1425.
The CPT now has access to the spreadsheet that will be sent to those schools and colleges which procure their own transport. A copy of the spreadsheet is available in a compressed file from the CPT website at cpt-uk.org.
The letter was sent to local authorities in order for them to distribute to those responsible for procuring any home-to-school coach or bus services in their capacity as a school, including a maintained school, academy, faith school, independent school, private school or sixth form college, or services that may delegate responsibility for procuring to local authorities (LAs).
The highlights of the letter read: “As you may be aware, the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR) require coaches and buses designed to carry over 22 passengers on local and scheduled routes to incorporate features to enable disabled people to travel on them comfortably and safely, including a wheelchair space and a ramp or lift.
“The regulations have applied to vehicles progressively over the past 19 years, including coaches manufactured from 2005 onwards. From 1 January 2020, the regulations will apply to any remaining coaches subject to them, which were manufactured before 2005. Earlier in the year, the department became aware of confusion as to whether these provisions apply to any home-to-school service on which some or all of the seats are sold (rather than provided free of charge).
“Unless they meet the requirements of a relevant statutory exemption, these services are covered by the provisions of PSVAR and must either already comply with the Regulations, or comply by 1 January 2020, depending on the age of the vehicle concerned. It is the responsibility of an operator, or organisations commissioning services, to ensure they are complying with the law, and this letter in no way represents legal advice.
“On the 21 November 2019 we wrote to local authorities, schools and colleges offering a temporary exemption from PSVAR for vehicles providing home to school transport, on which up to 20% of seats are made available to fare paying passengers. This offer was intentionally focused on services predominantly used to transport children entitled to free home to school transport, but on which a small amount of spare capacity is made available to children who pay a fare.
“We understand however, that it has not helped schools and colleges which procure their own home-to-school transport, on which most children may pay a fare to cover the costs of providing it, and that without some form of exemption such services may not operate from January 2020 onwards, or may be provided only at a significantly higher cost to passengers. “Ministers have decided that, in these circumstances, it would be preferable to grant temporary exemptions from the Regulations to the operators of affected services. This will provide respective schools and colleges with time to procure accessible services from the beginning of the 2020/21 academic year. In doing so, ministers wish to make clear that disabled children who require accessible transport must not be disadvantaged, and they seek assurance from schools that, despite the temporary exemption, where a disabled child is unable to use an exempted home to school transport service, because it does not comply with PSVAR, alternative PSVAR-compliant transport will be provided.”
The temporary exemption will run until 31 July 2020 (irrespective of the date on which it is awarded). The exemption is intended to provide schools with sufficient time to procure services for the 2020/21 academic year which comply with PSVAR.”
Operators should be given a copy of the letter, and an accompanying spreadsheet by the school or LA they operate for to complete and email it to [email protected], no later than 31 January 2020. This email address can also be used for operator enquiries.
