AQW 11258/17-22


Mr Andrew Muir
Alliance Party
North Down


Tabled Date: 30/11/2020
Answered On Date: 03/12/2020
Priority Written: Yes


Question:
To ask the Minister for Infrastructure whether she will give consideration to amending the terms of the Taxi Drivers Financial Assistance Scheme to require applicants to have valid taxi insurance covering driving for hire and reward at 22 March 2020 as opposed to the full period of 22 March 2020 to 30 September 2020.


Answer:
Since March, I have consistently and honestly highlighted that I didn’t have the powers to provide financial assistance to the taxi sector, however as a regulator, I have provided over one million pounds of support with a 12 month free of charge renewal of taxi licenses.
When the new powers were finally granted to my Department by the First Minister and deputy First Minister on 3rd November 2020, under section 1(1) and (3) of the Financial Assistance Act (Northern Ireland) 2009, 10 days later on 13th November, I opened the taxi scheme for applications.  The application process closed on Friday 27th November and payments will begin to issue this week.
I have made it clear that payments must be made as soon as they are verified. Applications are being processed as quickly as possible to allow payments to be made without delay.
 The Taxi Driver Financial Assistance Scheme agreed by the Executive was designed to provide a contribution to overhead costs (including PPE) that have actually been incurred as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.   It is in addition to the support available to self- employed drivers through the Self Employment Income Support Scheme which provides 70% or 80% of average previous profits. My Department has been advised that 3% of drivers (those who were newly self-employed) were ineligible for support for income losses through the self-employment income support scheme.  
In this contribution to overhead costs scheme, any taxi-driver who has incurred the overhead expenditure will be eligible for the payment of £1500.  In order to ensure value for money, the scheme is dependent on actual expenses being incurred between 22nd March and 30th September 2020.  Applicants were required to show evidence of continuous taxi insurance which proved availability to work as a taxi-driver for that period. The requirement for this evidence provides value for money assurance for the use of public money and reduces fraud risks and has been discussed with audit.