Guidance

Claiming the Bus Recovery Grant

How to claim extended support from the Bus Recovery Grant (BRG).

From:
Department for Transport
Published
4 November 2021
Last updated
17 May 2023 — See all updates

This guidance was withdrawn on

This scheme is closed.

Applies to England

This scheme is closed to new applicants

From 1 July 2023, new funding will be available to support commercial bus operators via the Bus Service Operators Grant+. The Department for Transport will contact operators with details of how to claim this funding.

The Bus Recovery Grant (BRG) was extended until 30 June 2023 to continue to support commercial bus operators in England due to the impacts of coronavirus (COVID-19) on their revenue from reduced passenger numbers.

Payment for the extension period is intended to be made in July 2023. However, the terms and conditions of the grant require recipients to continue to submit information to the Department for Transport (DfT) for each of the remaining relevant periods (20 to 22) of the scheme.

Who is eligible?

To be eligible for the BRG extension funding, operators must:

  1. Be a public bus operator running commercial or community bus services in England outside of London.
  2. Meet the eligibility criteria for the Bus Service Operators Grant (BSOG).
  3. Have been accepted onto the original BRG scheme that ran from 1 September 2021 to 5 April 2022.
  4. Have successfully applied to receive BRG extension funding and been notified they have received a funding allocation.
  5. Operate 90% or more of pre-COVID-19 mileage levels during periods 1 to 10 and 80% from period 11. If your mileage is less than this, you must contact your local transport authority (LTA) and submit evidence of their approval for this level of running for DfT to review.

How to submit information for a claim

An authorised representative of your operator, such as a transport manager or director, must submit the required information online for each of the 28-day periods for which you are claiming.

You will need to:

  1. Enter your operator details, including BSOG reference.
  2. Enter your company registration number for limited companies.
  3. Enter your public service vehicle licence number for commercial operators or Section 22 number for community operators.
  4. Enter the scheduled live mileage, in kilometres, for each period you are claiming for that you agreed with your LTA.
  5. Enter details about any changes or re-registering of your timetable with the Office of the Traffic Commissioner from the period prior to the one you are claiming for.
  6. Enter details for your LTA or LTAs.
  7. Save your LTA agreement – either email or letter – as a PDF and upload it to your application. Include the LTA agreement for service levels being run below 90% and 80% thresholds for the relevant periods.
  8. Enter your contact details. You can enter a colleague’s contact details in addition if desired.

Payment is discretionary and based on the details you give us.

Reporting fraudulent activity

If you suspect that any form of fraud, bribery, theft or corruption is occurring as part of the government’s Bus Recovery Grant, you must report it.

You may report fraud by:

All reports will be managed in complete confidence.

Background

The BRG was set up in September 2021 as a successor scheme to the COVID-19 Bus Service Support Grant (CBSSG Restart), which ran from April 2020 to August 2021.

Updates to this page

Published 4 November 2021
Last updated 17 May 2023 + show all updates

  1. This scheme is closed to new applicants.

  2. Funding has been extended until 30 June 2023. Successful applicants for Bus Recovery Grant extension funding have been notified.

  3. Announcement of intention to extend the Bus Recovery Grant until 30 June 2023.

  4. Grant extended to March 2023.

  5. First published.

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