The Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards explained

Many of the safeguarding conditions on a taxi or private hire licence in England and Wales trace back to one document. This guide explains what the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards are, how much legal weight they carry, what they ask of councils, drivers and operators, and what the new 2026 law will change once it comes into force.

What are the Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards?

The Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards are guidance from the Secretary of State for Transport on how councils should use their licensing powers to protect children and vulnerable adults. The Department for Transport published them on 21 July 2020.

They're issued under section 177(1) of the Policing and Crime Act 2017, which lets the Secretary of State give guidance on protecting children, and vulnerable people aged 18 or over, from harm. Before issuing it, section 177(5) required the department to consult the National Police Chiefs' Council, the councils and the trade.

The Act's definition of taxi and private hire legislation includes the London Acts as well as the Town Police Clauses Act 1847 and Part 2 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. So the standards apply to Transport for London too.

Two definitions run through the whole document. A child is anyone under 18. A vulnerable adult has the meaning in section 42 of the Care Act 2014: someone with care and support needs who is experiencing or at risk of abuse or neglect and can't protect themselves from it.

The standards replaced the relevant parts of the DfT's 2010 best practice guidance, and where the two conflict, the standards win. GOV.UK's change history shows the 2020 publication and a Welsh translation added on 25 November 2022, and the current text also refers to the national register created by the 2022 Act.

Are the standards law?

Not in the way an Act is, but councils can't ignore them. Section 177(4) says any public authority with taxi and private hire licensing functions must have regard to the guidance.

The standards spell out what that means. Having regard is "more than having a cursory glance", and the department expects the recommendations to be put in place unless there's a compelling local reason not to. They warn that a council failing to follow them without good reason could weaken its defence in a legal challenge, and they ask every council to publish how it has considered them.

Decisions still belong to the council. So the standards reach your business through your council's licensing policy and the conditions on your licences. TfL is a clear example: after consulting, it brought in new requirements from 1 July 2024, including a register of booking and dispatch staff with basic DBS checks for operators, and continuous DBS Update Service membership for drivers.

What do the standards ask councils to do?

Most of the document is addressed to councils. These are the recommendations that shape what you'll be asked for:

The fit and proper test in section 5.4 sits behind all of it. The standards suggest one question: without prejudice, would you let a person you care for travel alone with this driver at any time of day or night? If the answer is no, on the balance of probabilities, the person shouldn't hold a licence.

What do the standards mean for a private hire operator?

Section 8 is the part that lands on an operator's desk. It recommends four things.

First, a basic DBS check for the operator every year, and the fit and proper test applied to every director or partner of a company or partnership, with any change of director reported to the council. Enhanced checks aren't available for operators, so the basic check is the level the law allows.

Second, a register of everyone who takes bookings or dispatches vehicles, with a basic DBS check seen for each one, a contract term requiring them to declare new convictions, and a policy on employing ex-offenders. Our guide to DBS checks for taxi operators covers how to run it.

Third, booking records. Section 56 of the 1976 Act already requires you to record every booking. The standards ask councils to require, as a minimum, these details for each one:

• the passenger's name
• the time of the request
• the pick-up point and the destination
• the driver's name and licence number
• the vehicle registration
• the name of whoever took the booking
• the name of whoever dispatched the vehicle

They suggest keeping booking records for at least 6 months, and keeping the staff register for the same period so the two can be cross-checked. Our guide to private hire record keeping goes through the detail. Dispatch AI is booking and dispatch software for taxi and private hire firms. It answers your phone, WhatsApp, texts and emails, books the jobs at your prices and sends them to your drivers on your own app.

Fourth, no hiding behind a contractor. You can outsource booking and dispatch, but you can't pass on the obligation to protect children and vulnerable adults. The standards also say you shouldn't send a PCV-licensed minibus driver on a private hire booking without the booker's informed consent, because those drivers face different checks.

What do the standards mean for drivers?

For drivers the standards set the core of every council's checks: an enhanced DBS check with both barred lists, continuous Update Service membership, self-reporting of arrests and convictions, safeguarding training and an English test. They also include an annex of recommended minimum periods after convictions, from never licensing anyone convicted of a sexual or exploitation offence to 5 years after a conviction for using a hand-held phone while driving.

Existing drivers aren't exempt. Section 3.5 says that when a council changes its requirements it should review licences already issued, while giving drivers a reasonable time to complete any new training. Our guide to taxi and PHV driver licence requirements shows how three councils apply this, and the safeguarding guide for taxi firms covers the training and reporting routes.

What has changed since 2020, and what's next?

Three things have moved on since the standards were published.

The 2022 Act. The Taxis and Private Hire Vehicles (Safeguarding and Road Safety) Act 2022 put two duties into law for councils in England. A council that learns of a safeguarding or road safety concern about a driver licensed elsewhere must pass it to the issuing council within 10 working days, a duty in force since 31 May 2022. Councils must also record refusals, suspensions and revocations on a national database, known as NR3S and run by the National Anti-Fraud Network, and search it before granting or renewing a driver licence. The database provisions have been fully in force since 27 April 2023, and entries stay for 11 years.

Updated best practice guidance. The DfT reissued its non-statutory best practice guidance on 17 November 2023, covering topics outside the standards such as medicals, fares and quantity restrictions.

National minimum standards. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act 2026 received Royal Assent on 29 April 2026. Its taxi and private hire chapter, sections 70 to 86, lets the Secretary of State set national standards by regulations for granting, renewing, suspending and revoking licences, and lets enforcement officers temporarily suspend a licence issued by any council in England. That chapter isn't in force yet. Section 108(2)(c) kept it out of the provisions that started on Royal Assent, and legislation.gov.uk still lists it as prospective on 9 October 2026. Until it starts, no national standards can be made under it, and the 2020 standards remain the rulebook.

Alongside the Act, the DfT consulted from 8 January to 1 April 2026 on moving taxi licensing from 263 councils to 70 local transport authorities. No outcome had been published on GOV.UK when we checked in October 2026. The Commons Transport Committee also published a report, Raising the standard: licensing of taxis and private hire vehicles, on 10 June 2026. That's a committee report, not a bill.