Government’s concessionary fares consultation ‘flawed’, says London Councils

London Councils has reacted angrily to the outcome of the government’s consultation about concessionary fares funding.

The cross party organisation is unhappy with the Department of Transport’s decision to ignore the views of the capital in deciding that the amount paid to London for the national bus concession should be cut.

It has also said it is astonished that government officials, when analysing responses to the consultation, chose to ignore the views it received from London “in order to provide a more balanced perspective of the views expressed across the country.”

The government's national concessionary fares scheme allows disabled people and those aged 60 and over to use their passes on any off peak bus journey in England. The council covering the place where the free bus journey begins is required to pay the cost of the journey.

Under a three year package announced by the government in 2008, London was set to receive around £58 million in 2010/2011 to help cover the cost of providing free off peak bus travel in the capital.

But transport minister Sadiq Khan announced in November he would reopen the consultation on the last year of the settlement which looks set to result in London being given only £28 million, less than half of the original sum.

If the government proposals are agreed by the House of Commons, London will be hit harder than anywhere else in the country – with London boroughs losing around £1 million each.

The chairman of London Councils, Councillor Merrick Cockell said: “This consultation has blatantly ignored the views of London. The analysis is flawed because it has been done without including the views of London in order to reach the government’s desired conclusion.

“London Councils is angry that systematic underfunding by the government of concessionary fares looks set to cost London boroughs £30 million next year – almost two million more than previously proposed. This news has come just weeks before the end of the boroughs’ budget-setting process and means they will have to factor in an even more significant loss.

“The government has not played fair. The revised allocations proposed in the consultation were based on calculations that were not clearly described and figures that were not available outside government until more than halfway through the consultation period.

“London has been treated very unfairly compared to the rest of the country. We led the way on concessionary fares while the rest of the country caught up and now we are being penalised for it.”