Temporary exemption for school-procured vehicles used for home-to-school transport

As you may be aware, the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations 2000 (PSVAR) require buses and coaches 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. 

Unless they meet the requirements of a relevant statutory exemption, any home-to-school service on which some, or all, of the seats are sold (rather than provided free of charge) are covered by the provisions of PSVAR and need to have complied with the regulations by 1 January 2020. 

It is the responsibility of an operator, or organisations commissioning services, to ensure they are complying with the law.  This exemption is not available for services procured by a local authority to fulfil a statutory duty.

For schools and colleges that procure their own home-to-school transport, the government is offering a temporary ‘School Procured’ exemption for vehicles providing home-to-school transport services, irrespective of the number of passengers who pay a fare. The temporary exemption will run until 31 July 2020 and is intended to provide schools with sufficient time to procure services for the 2020/21 academic year which comply with PSVAR.

Please refer to the following letter and application form for more information regarding the ‘School Procured’ exemption.  Where a school would like to apply for an exemption, the completed form will need to be emailed to HomeToSchoolExemptions@dft.gov.uk by 31 January 2020.

Exemption Application Letter

Exemption Application Form