The Department for Transport has published details of BSOG payments to all local bus and community transport operators since 2010.

They have also provided information on payments to local authorities from 2013, when BSOG for tendered operations was devolved, as well as those payments in respect of Better Bus Area’s, which ceased at the end of March 2018.

It should be noted that the values provided are based on the actual amount paid out by the Department during each financial year. The figures will therefore differ from the final certified claim value due to timing differences – BSOG claim years are not always in line with financial years and settlement payments can cross into the following financial year. Additionally where a settlement payment has not been made in a financial year, possibly due to a delay in the processing of a claim, the operator will be shown as not claiming any incentives.

Details of the above payments can be found on the Government’s website.

If you have any questions on the Department for Transport payment schedule or would like to discuss how EPM can assist with your BSOG claim please contact us on 01527 556940 or via email.

Further to our news item of 9 November 2018 the DfT have written to operators with an update on the BSOG IT Project. They have confirmed that the project is still going ahead, however they are awaiting internal clearance in order to proceed.

A copy of the note that has been sent to operators can be found below – as we receive details of further developments these will be posted on the EPM website.

If you have any questions please get in touch with us on 01527 556940 or via email.

Dear Mr Matthew Hanlon

EPM

Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG) – IT Project

We wrote to you in November 2018 informing you that the Department had been working in collaboration with Deloitte and the Open Data Institute to deliver a Bus Service Operators Grant discovery programme, to test whether a digitised system would make the BSOG claims process more efficient than the current, largely manual and paper based system.  We announced in November that as a result of the discovery project a decision had been taken to proceed to alpha phase.

The purpose of this update is to let you know that we are currently working through various internal clearance processes so that we are able to proceed to the alpha phase of the project.

We will write to you again once we receive clearance to proceed.

If you would like to contact us about any aspect of this project please email us at bsogdigital@dft.gov.uk .

Yours sincerely,

 BSOG Digital Team

To speed up the processing of BSOG claims the DfT are asking operators to complete a year on year mileage reconciliation when submitting both actual and estimate claim forms. It is hoped that by completing this spreadsheet the number of queries being raised by the Department will reduce resulting in the faster payment of claims. This should benefit the majority of operators as they are usually due additional BSOG at year end when the AVL, Smartcard and Low Carbon incentives are paid.

The provision of information is entirely voluntary however as part of our certification process we will be submitting the data with the certified PSV311 to ensure our client’s cashflow is maximised. This will also be the case for those operators where we prepare the PSV310 estimate. In both instances where we submit the form we will utilise our own version of the spreadsheet, which the DfT’s BSOG team will accept, as this already forms part of our audit programme.

A copy of the email that is being sent to operators is provided below along with a link to the DfT’s version of the spreadsheet.

If you have any questions please get in touch with us on 01527 556940 or via email.

April 3, 2019

Reconciliation-and-Comparator-Tool

 Download Document

Dear Operator

As an interim measure to help streamline the processing of claims we are asking operators to complete the attached spreadsheet when submitting an Estimated or Certified claim. Please note that this is voluntary and is meant as a complimentary addition to the process to assist us in speeding up our checking procedures. We are also more than happy for you to forward this onto your auditor for them to complete (if your auditor is E P Morris please request them to complete their version of this spreadsheet). You will still receive a blank claim form as usual for completion through the post which will still need to be completed to claim your grant.

The spreadsheet contains some basic instructions and a Q & A section however if you have any queries regarding completion of this then please feel free to contact this office through the usual channels detailed on the claim forms.

Thank you for your consideration.

Any problems please do not hesitate to contact the BSOG Team.

Kind Regards

D/06, Ashdown House, Sedlescombe Road North, St Leonards on Sea, TN37 7GA