Sheffield City Council's Licensing Service has asked the Environmental Services and Regulation Policy Committee to approve a new six-tariff table of hackney carriage fares and to start the statutory consultation. The committee meets at 10.00am on Friday 6 November 2026 in the Town Hall, Pinstone Street. The meters would not change that day. Section 65 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976 requires a public notice first. Hackney Carriage Fares Review
The present table came into force in December 2023, after the Waste and Street Scene Policy Committee agreed it in November 2023. From then to September 2026 the Consumer Prices Index rose by about 9%, and the transport element by about 1.7% after a spell of fluctuation. Average diesel went from 151.87 pence a litre to 191.30 pence, about 26%. For 76% of that period the diesel price was still below the December 2023 level, with the sharper rise from March 2026. The transport insurance index was about 3.1% lower. Smaller hackney carriages, which the council began licensing in March 2023, are now about 52% of the fleet. Vehicles licensed for five to eight passengers are about 48%.
What the meter would charge
Flag fall would stay at £3.50 between 7am and 7pm, £3.70 between 7pm and 7am, and £4.70 from 7pm on Friday to 7am on Sunday. Waiting time, bank holiday extras and the fouling charge would not change. The increase is a shorter run for each 20 pence. Licensing Service fare proposal
On a cab licensed for up to four passengers, 20 pence would cover 160 yards up to 10 miles and 145 yards after that. The published table charges 20 pence every 176 yards up to 10 miles, and every 159 yards after that. On the daytime tariff a mile would rise from £5.50 to £5.70, two miles from £7.50 to £7.90, five miles from £13.50 to £14.50 and 10 miles from £23.50 to £25.50. Two miles at night would go from £7.70 to £8.10, and two miles on the weekend tariff from £8.70 to £9.10. Across the sample distances in the proposal, including an unchanged flag, the average rise is about 6%.
Cabs licensed for five to eight passengers would have their own three tariffs, with 20 pence covering 152 yards up to 10 miles and 140 yards after that. The same samples average about 8.6% above the present meter, before the £2 extra. A daytime two-mile fare would be £8.10 and a five-mile fare £15.10.
That £2, added by the driver when five to eight people are in the cab, would disappear. The higher yard rate would run on every hiring in a larger cab, whoever is in it. Set against a fare that includes the £2 today, a short trip would be cheaper and a long one dearer. Daytime, one mile would fall from £7.50 to £5.70, 10 miles would rise from £25.50 to £26.70, and 20 miles from £49.70 to £53.70.
A compulsory airport pick-up or drop-off fee could be passed on at cost, itemised, and kept off the meter. The comparisons assume the cab keeps moving, with no waiting time and no other extras. Because the meter steps in 20 pence, the percentage is not the same at every distance.
A diesel extra, not recommended
The same report sets out a temporary fuel surcharge that could sit on top of the six tariffs. Officers do not recommend it. It would start when the previous calendar month's average diesel price reached £2.20 a litre: 20 pence a journey from £2.20 to £2.29, 40 pence from £2.30 to £2.39, 60 pence from £2.40 to £2.49, 80 pence from £2.50 to £2.59, and £1 from £2.60. The monthly figure would come from Department for Energy Security and Net Zero prices. The clause would lapse 12 months after the new table took effect, whether or not a surcharge had been switched on.
September's average, 191.30 pence, is already inside the distance rates now proposed. A trigger close to today's price would recover the same fuel cost twice. The extra would also be a flat sum on a one-mile hiring and a 20-mile hiring alike, and it would need the supplementary button that the six tariffs are meant to retire. No comparable variable fuel surcharge turned up in the Core City tables the service looked at. Fuel is one bill among several, and a later review of the whole table can pick up whatever diesel does next.
The trade proposals
The Sheffield Taxi Trade Association asked for a shorter 20 pence drop, a single night tariff from 7pm to 7am every day at the present £4.70 weekend flag, the £2 extra kept, £5 for a pet dog other than an assistance dog, venue access charges, and a fuel surcharge of its own. At 191.30 pence a litre that surcharge would already be £1.20 a journey. Its daytime distances are close to the licensing proposal for four-passenger cabs, about 6.1% on the samples. Monday to Thursday nights would average about 16.6% more, because those jobs would move onto the £4.70 flag. Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings, already on that flag, would average about 5.7%.
That table is not the one recommended. Nothing in the submission shows how the £5 dog charge was calculated, or why it would apply to dogs and not other animals. A fouling charge is already there when a cab needs cleaning, and a dog extra would have to stay off assistance dogs, which must be carried free. Airport access charges are in the recommended table. Other venue and parking charges are not: the papers do not show that they fall on a significant share of Sheffield hackney journeys.
Unite the Union asked for the present tariffs and the £2 extra to remain, for an automatic surcharge tied to a published diesel index, and for a review every year. It gave no rates and no trigger prices. That option is not recommended. A regular review could be looked at on its own.
How a change would be made
In June 2026 the committee agreed to consult on a temporary fuel surcharge and on removing the £2. Forty-two objections followed, chiefly to losing the £2 on the larger cabs. In September members left the December 2023 table as it was and asked for this full review.
Keeping the old table was considered and not recommended. The licensing assessment is that it would leave the trade carrying cost increases since December 2023 and could thin out the hackney service.
A notice in a local newspaper is estimated at about £2,000, met by the Licensing Service. Every hackney meter would have to be reset by an approved agent. At the 2023 review that was about £30 a vehicle. Agents set the fee, and licence holders would be expected to pay something similar. New council seals and fare cards would cost the service about £600.
If an objection is lodged and not withdrawn, the council must set a start date no later than two months after the date in the notice, with or without changes once the objections have been heard.