Taxi and private hire drivers in Wrexham are facing licence fee increases of up to 20 per cent under proposals heading to the council’s environmental licensing committee on Monday 18 May.
The proposed rises would apply right across the board — covering all hackney carriage and private hire licence categories. They follow a fresh assessment of officer hourly rates within Wrexham Council’s Public Protection service, which found costs had climbed by around 20 per cent.
Fees were last increased on 1 April 2024, after what the council described at the time as an extensive assessment of the costs of running the service. A further review took place in spring 2025, but on that occasion councillors decided to leave fees alone.
According to the committee report, the council carried out a reassessment of officer hourly rates last summer. That exercise looked at every cost tied to employing licensing officers — salaries, transport, equipment, training, administration and HR, IT, legal and management support. The conclusion was that hourly rates needed to rise by roughly 20 per cent.
A separate reassessment of the licence fees themselves, carried out in autumn 2025 using the updated hourly rates, produced the proposed increases of between 10% and 20% now going before councillors.
The specific proposed changes are:
- Drivers licence — up £20 (three-year licence)
- Vehicle licence — up £30 (one-year licence)
- Small operator — up £22 (five-year licence)
- Large operator — up £64 (five-year licence)
The report describes the impact on school transport costs as “negligible” and points out that most driver licences are issued for three years, with operator licences typically running for five years — so the increase is spread over the lifetime of the licence rather than hitting drivers every twelve months.
The council’s report cites its cost recovery policy, which requires all chargeable services where the authority sets the fees to recover the full cost of providing the service through those fees.
If the committee approves the proposals, the new fees must be publicly advertised before they can take effect. Any objections received would then bring the matter back to committee for a final decision. If no objections are lodged, the new fees can simply be implemented.
The council says the increases would help protect its financial position.
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