St Helens Borough Council’s Cabinet is due to meet in Room 10 at the Town Hall at 4pm on Wednesday 18 November 2026. Members will consider a request from the hackney carriage trade to add 30p to the starting fare on each of the three hackney carriage rates. The present table came into force in December 2023. The proposed change would be the first increase in three years.
The three rates
The extra 30p covers the first 300 metres, or part of that distance. Every other fee and charge would stay as it is.
Rate 1 would rise from £2.60 to £2.90, Rate 2 from £3.20 to £3.50, and Rate 3 from £4.20 to £4.50.
A two-mile journey would go from £6.60 to £6.90 on Rate 1, from £8.60 to £8.90 on Rate 2, and from £11.20 to £11.50 on Rate 3. The report puts that two-mile rise at 4.75 per cent. On a national comparison of two-mile hackney fares, St Helens currently stands 272nd of 341 authorities, with the dearest authority ranked first.
The council sent 60 ballot papers to the hackney carriage trade. Of the 36 returned, 33 supported the increase and three did not.
Petrol prices had risen by 34 per cent up to September 2026. A hackney proprietor meets their own running costs. Private hire operators can set their own charges. Hackney carriage operators cannot set their own fares and must wait for the council to authorise a change.
What happens next
Cabinet is asked to start the statutory consultation under section 65 of the Local Government (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1976. If Cabinet agrees, the council must publish a notice in at least one local newspaper and display it at its office, leaving at least 14 days for objections.
If no objection is received, or any objection is withdrawn, the new table takes effect at the end of that period. If objections are lodged, a further report goes to Cabinet. The council must then set a date, no later than two months after the objection period ends, for the fares to come into force with or without changes.
An equality assessment notes the cost for disabled people, older people, care-experienced individuals and people at a socio-economic disadvantage who rely on hackney carriages. The rise is presented as the means of keeping a fully wheelchair-accessible fleet viable, and that benefit is described as likely to outweigh the limited extra cost.