Many of you will have received a letter recently from the DVSA ‘Remote Enforcement Office’ concerning PSVAR Enforcement on Home to School (HTS) and Rail Replacement (RR) services. You can find the covering letter here. We and the UKCOA have received a number of queries regarding this and the UKCOA has spoken with the Accessibility team at the DfT and subsequently released a note providing clarification which we believe operators will find useful. The detail of this is set out below.
The purpose of the letter is to check that operators are complying with the PSVAR minimum levels of compliance for their Rail Replacement and Home to School Transport fleets that applied from 1 August 2024 (see below). It also reminds operators that, as things stand at present, all vehicles used on these services should be fully compliant with PSVAR from 1 August 2026.
The DfT are still reviewing the responses from the PSVAR Call for Evidence and this MAY result in a further set of exemptions from 2026. However nothing, as yet, has been decided or agreed.
UKCOA are continuing to engage, and a have good working relationship with the DfT Accessibility team on both PSVAR and the Accessible Information Regulations (AIR). They are aware of the need to get clarification to coach operators as soon as possible. UKCOA will ensure that news is passed onto you as soon as it is announced.
Just as a reminder, the PSVAR levels of compliance that apply from 1 August 2024 are as follows:
- Band A – For fleet sizes between 1 and 5 vehicles – At least 50% of the fleet partially compliant.
- Band B – For fleet sizes between 6 and 9 vehicles – At least one fully compliant vehicle and at least 50% of the rest of the fleet partially compliant.
- Band C – For fleet sizes between 10 and 29 vehicles – At least 15% of the fleet fully compliant and at least 50% of the rest of the fleet partially compliant.
- Band D – For fleet sizes of 30 vehicles or more – At least 25% of the fleet fully compliant and at least 50% of the rest of the fleet partially compliant.
The ‘fleet’ is just those vehicles that are used on HTS and RR duties; vehicles that are never used on this work (or are used on HTS services that do not carry any paying passengers) can be excluded from the fleet totals.
Partial compliance requires vehicles to comply with parts of PSVAR schedule 3 as follows:
- Paragraph 2 (floors and gangways).
- Paragraph 3 (seats).
- Paragraph 4 (steps, excluding sub-paragraphs 1d, 1e, 1f, and 5).
- Paragraph 5 (handrails).
ie: it does NOT include any requirement for a wheelchair lift or destination equipment.
Please feel free to contact Backhouse Jones on 01254 828300 or here is you have any queries.
