Scottish taxi operators and drivers promised COVID support cash grants should SNP be re-elected
Taxi firms across Scotland have been promised grants of £10,000 if the SNP is re-elected next month.
If the SNP are successful at the elections, taxi drivers will also be able to claim a second £1,500 payment to assist them through the pandemic.
The grants were announced as part of the SNP’s ‘First Steps’ plan which details the party’s planned actions over the next 100 days should they be re-elected.
In the published plan it states the SNP will ‘provide a second payment of £1,500 to each taxi driver who previously received a Covid grant and up to £10,000 for taxi operator firms to help them through these difficult times’.
Kate Forbes, Cabinet Secretary for Finance, further clarified details of the grants on social media, saying: “Our plan to help Scotland’s taxi firms applies to both taxi operators and fleet operators.
“Hope this helps clarify things. More details can only be agreed after the election and, if re-elected, that’s exactly what we will do.”
Taxi driver representatives Unite Edinburgh Cab Branch have however asked for one more point to be cleared up. They asked Forbes on social media: “Really important detail needs cleared up Kate Forbes. Most individual taxi operators have their own "firm/company".
“Are they all eligible for grants of up to £10k or does yesterday's anouncement mean "operator firms" who have a fleet of vehicles.”
Unite Scotland have been calling on the Scottish Government to deliver the £10,000 grant to each taxi operator, plus an additional second cash grant to cabbies to help them recover from the devastating financial impact of COVID-19 since the turn of the year.
The £10,000 figure for operators would be the equivalent handed to other small business owners, whilst the additional second cash grant would be provided to drivers as part of the £57million Coronavirus (COVID-19): Taxi and Private Hire Driver Support Fund.
In December 2020, an online survey of over 200 taxi drivers released by Unite Scotland highlighted that many drivers are regularly working 16-17-hour days with a shift being determined as having been ‘good’ if £50 is cleared.
The survey also showed that 30% of drivers had at the time been unable to access any financial help from government support schemes. For those that had been able to access financial help from government, the biggest group (37%) reported that it represented less than 25% of their average earnings.
