ULEZ scrappage scheme expansion ‘will be in place’ by end of July, TfL confirms

The Ultra-Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) scrappage scheme extension will not be brought forward as hoped from its end-of-July launch date, Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, announced at the start of June that the ULEZ scrappage scheme would be expanded in order to support more Londoners having to upgrade or trade in their older, more polluting vehicles.

Currently, those eligible for the scheme, which includes those on a series of low income or disability benefits, are able to receive up to £2,000 for scrapping a car, up to £1,000 for a motorcycle, £5,000 to scrap or retrofit a wheelchair accessible vehicle, and between £5,000 and £9,500 for vans and minibuses.

The expansion to the scheme will mean all Londoners receiving child benefit and all small businesses registered in the capital with fewer than 50 employees will also be eligible, with additional benefits for charities and care workers.

However, its expected launch at the end of July allows just a month to apply before the ULEZ is expanded to cover all of greater London, penned in for August 29.

When asked about this timeline back in June, Mr Khan told LondonWorld: “We’re working to bring that date forward from the end of July, but also I was keen to give people as much notice as possible. I worry people are anxious, and I don’t want people to be anxious, and that anxiety worries me. By giving people as much notice as possible, they can plan in advance.

“By next month, they’ll be able to get some of that money in, and we’re going to try and bring that forward from the end of next month to early next month.”

TfL has now confirmed that while it is making the updates “as quickly as possible…it inevitably takes time to make changes to the website and back-office systems, which have been set up to allow us to deal with tens of thousands of applications”.

They added the new changes will be “in place by the end of July”, and that it will be communicating them ahead of time “so that people can take them into account when considering how to adapt to the scheme”.

As of June 25, £32.9m of the £110m in the scrappage scheme’s pot had been committed, with almost 9,000 applicants approved.

Announcing the scrappage scheme expansion, Mr Khan had said: “The majority of vehicles in London are already ULEZ compliant and will not have to pay anything. But I completely understand the concerns of people who may not have a compliant vehicle and are worried about how they’ll make the transition.

“We already have the biggest-ever scrappage scheme in place to support Londoners on low incomes, London based micro-businesses and charities and disabled Londoners. But I’ve listened to families and small businesses in outer London who want more support and I’m pleased to be able to announce today a major expansion to the scheme run by TfL to ensure we can help them.”

A judicial review into the planned ULEZ expansion was heard in the High Court over two days last week, after five Conservative councils challenged the legality of the scheme.

A decision on whether it can be expanded in its current guise is expected by the end of July.