GovWire

This guidance is for licensing authority staff responsible for the issue, renewal, suspension and revocation of private hire and taxi driver licences and operator licences (called booking office licences in Scotland).

It has been issued to support the implementation of provisions in the Immigration Act 2016 in relation to illegal working in the private hire and taxi sector. These provisions commenced on 1 December 2016 with the exception of booking offices in Scotland.

Provisions in respect of booking offices commenced 22 January 2018 and the second edition of this guidance reflects this change. Licence applications are subject to immigration checks to prevent them being issued to anyone who does not have the right to work in the UK.

It includes information on:

• who is disqualified from holding a licence
• how and when to conduct right to a licence checks
• acceptable documents for these checks
• how to provide information to the Home Office