The Licensing Panel are asked to note the report and:

i)               Agree to amend RBWM policies such that all RBWM licenced hackney carriage and private hire drivers enable the Licensing team to check their DBS for new information every six months with effect from 01 April 2024

ii)              That this is achieved as set out in Table 1, below,

iii)             That the charges for this are paid for by the individual drivers, and

iv)             That penalty points be introduced for failure to comply with these requirements.

Greg Nelson began by reminding the Panel what had been agreed at the last meeting. A consultation had since been completed and the full results of this were set out within the report. The results showed that a large majority of respondents, 81.9%, said they knew of no compelling reasons as to why RBWM should not implement the six-monthly checks. There were also no RBWM operational or policy reasons as to why RBWM should not implement these six-monthly checks. Greg Nelson then stated the two ways in which these checks could be carried out, as stated within the report. He said that making use of the “DBS Update Service Status Checks” facility provided by the third-party company was the preferred option as it would by far be the most efficient and effective way of implementing the six-monthly DBS checks. He said that it was also recommended that this be paid for by the individual drivers, with the costs then being read out.

Greg Nelson said that the cost of the “DBS Update Service Status Checks” facility was £6 + VAT per driver per year. He said that this would mean that the DBS costs to an individual driver would be as follows:

•                an initial £59 to sign up to the online DBS service via the third-party company.

•                £13 per year (including the first year) for the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Update Service, and

•                £6 + VAT (£7.20) per year for the “DBS Update Service Status Checks” facility provided by the third-party company.

Greg Nelson then said that it was important to note that the £6 + VAT (£7.20) per driver per year would be waived by the third-party company for the first year. It would then be recharged to RBWM. The intention was to recover this by increasing the hackney carriage and private hire drivers’ licence charges from 1 April 2025 to cover the fee. Therefore, in the first year, drivers would pay £72 (£59 + £13), and then in all subsequent years they would then pay £20.20 (£13 + £7.20), subject to any future inflationary price increases. He said that this would be a considerable saving compared with having to provide a DBS (£59) every six months.

Greg Nelson said that all drivers would benefit from the reduction in paperwork and the efficiencies that came with the automated system, particularly when renewing their licence. In effect, once they had signed up to the online services, there was no more that they would have to do in respect of their DBS during the lifetime of their hackney carriage or private hire driver licence other than renew and pay for the DBS Update Service annually. He added that it would of course take some time for drivers to understand and get used to the new system and some leeway would certainly be given for initial and innocent non-compliance. However there needed to be consequences for drivers who did not comply after advice and assistance was given, so it was proposed that penalty points be introduced for non-compliance, as set out in Appendix C of the report.

The Chair then invited Mr Jaffri to address the Licensing Panel as a registered speaker for 3 minutes.

Councillor Knowles said that his profession was similar to the subject matter, so he had knowledge on this. He said that due to GDPR rules, if a third-party did a sweep, it would simply say that the DBS was no longer supported. The authority would then need to ensure that the individual gets another DBS check. He asked if an addendum could be added to the policy further down so that it was a requirement for a driver to submit a new DBS when this was the case. He also said that the police used to notify authorities of any changes to a DBS, however this was no longer the case and now the authorities would have to carry out checks themselves, to see if any changes had been made to a person’s DBS.

Greg Nelson thanked Councillor Knowles for his comments and said that the third-party company were fully accredited by the Disclosure & Barring Service up and down the country. He then outlined what the process would be when a change would occur with a DBS, by saying that officers would look at the change when notified and if necessary, take action accordingly if it made officers question the driver being a fit and proper person. Councillor Knowles replied by saying that the onus legally was on the borough and not the third-party. Both were confident on what they had stated, however Greg Nelson said that he would look into what Councillor Knowles had said.

Councillor Douglas asked what the significance was for DBS checks every 6 months. Greg Nelson said that this was the statutory requirement and that the system in question offered the ability to check every 2 weeks. The recommendation was made in order to comply with the standards.

Councillor Story strongly recommended that communications be made to residents, to make them aware that regular DBS checks were being carried out to ensure that residents were being kept safe. He then asked for some clarity on the penalty points process.

Greg Nelson then explained that it was an existing policy that RBWM had in place for many years. 3, 6 or 12 points could be given for certain infringements, with some minor ones being things like the way they speak to passengers or parking in a disabled bay for example. If 12 points were accumulated over a 12-month period, then a decision would have to be made as to whether the driver was still fit and proper to hold a license. After 12 months, any points accumulated would be removed. Moving forward with the recommendation before the Panel, if a driver was to not adhere to rules around DBSs, then points would be issued.

Councillor Baskerville asked about the costs to the drivers and how the figures were worked out compared to the national average. Greg Nelson said the cost difference was very minimal, if not even just a neutral level. The charges set by the third-party company were the same nationally and also the time it took the drivers to administer paperwork, would also be reduced. The Chair then asked for some clarity on the cost, which Greg Nelson then provided, as set out within the report.

Councillor Knowles said that he was supportive of the recommendation as it made things easier for both the officer and also the drivers. Past history had shown that DBS certificates had needed to be applied for 4 or 5 months before their expiration, in order to ensure that they were ready in time. In the long run, it also made it cheaper for the drivers.

Councillor Douglas said that the hackney carriage badge was a symbol of trust and that the recommendation that was being looked at, really cemented this.

Councillor Wilson said that it was important to have one singular process for the drivers to abide by, to avoid any confusion between private-hire and hackney carriage.

Councillor Knowles proposed the recommendation that had been put forward by officers. This was seconded by Councillor K Singh.

A named vote was taken.

AGREED: That the Licensing Panel noted the report and:

i)               Agreed to amend RBWM policies such that all RBWM licenced hackney carriage and private hire drivers enable the Licensing team to check their DBS for new information every six months with effect from 01 April 2024

ii)             That this was achieved as set out in Table 1, below,

iii)            That the charges for this were paid for by the individual drivers, and

iv)            That penalty points be introduced for failure to comply with these requirements.