The Department for Transport has provided some welcome news for the bus industry confirming that they will pay BSOG on eligible services that were not operated due to COVID-19. To provide operators with much needed cashflow they have also confirmed that BSOG estimate payments will continue to be made on the basis that operations had continued as planned, without any reduction for service changes.
Details of the full announcement can be found below.
Many operators will be currently processing their eligible kilometres based on revised schedules reflecting their reduced operations. As part of the certification audit EPM will ensure that the necessary amendments are made so that the mileage claimed reflects what would have operated in the absence of the COVID-19 outbreak. This will be a relatively simple exercise for users of the EPM Traffic system – the weekly mileages can be rolled forward using the previous schedule that was in place. For other operators we will advise on the best course of action prior to the certification audit.
If you have any questions on the announcement made by the DfT or on the BSOG scheme in general please contact us on 01527 556940 or via email.
March 26, 2020
BSOG-letter-to-operators-COVID-19-Final