Greater Manchester Mayor calls for reform of taxi licensing system

With over half of the city-region’s taxis licensed out of area, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has called for reforms to the taxi licensing system that would give local leaders greater control of standards for private hire vehicles in the area.

Launching a new campaign ‘Backing our taxis: Local. Licensed. Trusted.’ in Manchester city centre, he outlined the call for the government’s English Devolution Bill to both devolve power on taxis to Mayoral Combined Authorities and put a stop to ‘out of area’ licensing. Mayor Burnham says local accountability is critical to ensure public safety and trust in taxis as an essential part of the transport system. He says the move would not only help drive up standards, but also better support the livelihoods of Greater Manchester’s taxi drivers through control of numbers and better incentivisation.

Aligned to what’s been done on the city-region’s Bee Network buses – where local control has driven up standards and in turn passenger numbers – the Mayor wants more control on enforcing safety, vehicle standards and accessibility conditions on taxis. He also says a clearer link between Greater Manchester Police and licensing authorities would allow for swifter investigation into incidents and collisions where a taxi is involved.

In Greater Manchester, nearly half (49%) of private hire vehicles are now licensed by authorities outside of its ten councils. The city-region’s out of area figure of more than 12,000 has risen sharply from just under 7,000 in 2023, with the majority of those licensed by City of Wolverhampton Council in the West Midlands where 11% of England’s taxis are licensed.

Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said: 

“Taxis are a crucial part of our transport network. Just as we set out to with Bee Network buses, we want our taxi fleet to be amongst the safest and most trusted in the country. But we can’t do this with the current broken licensing system. Local leaders have zero oversight over nearly half the private hire vehicles on our streets, with no relationship with the drivers, no levers to enforce the standards we want and no control over the numbers of taxis serving our communities.

“We want to guarantee our residents that if they’re getting in a Greater Manchester taxi – no matter how they book it – it’s one that meets high standards we expect across all public transport. To do that, we need national change in the English Devolution Bill to both devolve taxi powers to city-regions and stop the ability for vehicles and drivers licensed in non-GM authorities to operate here. Such a change will give political leaders more control over measures that impact public safety, vehicle standards, emissions and accessibility.

“But this is as much about making Greater Manchester the best place to be a taxi driver – and safeguarding the livelihoods of our cab drivers – as it is about passengers. They’ve been under immense pressure over the last few years, and we want to get behind them.

“We’re today [16th April] kickstarting in-depth discussions with the trade. We want to get under the bonnet of the issues that affect them, review how we can improve our own licensing and incentivise them to register here without dropping standards. We’re committed to doing what we can under the current system, but it will only be effective if it’s done in lockstep with change on out of area licensing at a national level.”

As well as greater devolution on the issue, the ‘Backing our taxis’ campaign also calls on the government to support drivers to make the switch to greener, more accessible vehicles easier, with recommendations to extend the VAT exemption to new wheelchair accessible taxis; extend the national Plug-In Taxi Grant for electric vehicles; and reduce the rate of VAT on public electric vehicle charging.

Leader of Bury Council and Clean Air lead for Greater Manchester, Cllr Eamonn O’Brien, added:

“The importance of taxi and private hire vehicles cannot be underestimated in keeping people across Greater Manchester moving day in, day out. 

“They support our visitor and night-time economy by providing door-to-door transport for thousands of residents and workers and play a role in helping improve air quality on the city-region’s roads.  

“Just like the Bee Network, we want to have the right standards in place to encourage drivers to license here in Greater Manchester. But we understand the pressure being faced by drivers, and that’s why we want to work with the trade to find out how we can best ensure all journeys are safe and reliable for passengers. We also want to provide the right support and time to help them transition to cleaner vehicles, helping deliver a cleaner, greener city-region.”