RHA has again called for measures to support the coach industry from central government, this time ahead of the forthcoming Budget on 26 November.
Leaning on the sector’s enabler status within the wider economy, RHA Managing Director Richard Smith notes how coaching is under pressure on rising costs and that it needs help to continue playing its role of supporting tourism, education and public transport.
Controlling those is key to the Association’s messaging to the Treasury. It is “urgently” seeking an essential user fuel rebate of at last 15ppl, with Mr Smith noting how diesel prices in the UK leave domestic coach operators “at a competitive disadvantage” to those from outside the UK.
Introducing the long-sought essential user rebate at the coming Budget would provide immediate cost relief and help to stabilise pressures on coach rates, the RHA chief adds.
To that RHA couples a further call to continue the temporary freeze on fuel duty. That 5ppl reduction is scheduled to end on 22 March 2026. Mr Smith says that extending it would particularly help coach operators that are “already locked into contracts where there is no scope to pass on the additional costs to the customer.”
Also returning to a point previously made by RHA, he adds that full expensing should be extended to leased assets. The current exclusion “punishes” businesses that finance fleet renewal via lease, and a relaxation of the current position would help to drive investment in newer and less polluting coaches, RHA believes.
In the 2024 autumn Budget, the current government said it would explore extending full expensing to assets bought for leasing or hiring “when fiscal conditions allow.” Nothing further was said in the 2025 spring statement.
Related to decarbonisation is a call to introduce a fuel duty rebate linked to emission reduction. Noting how planned uptake of zero-emission vehicles among coach operators is limited, Mr Smith says such a rebate “would incentivise the use of low carbon fuels (like HVO) as a practical, interim solution for the current fleet.”
He concludes: “Our message to the Chancellor is clear: support the coach sector to help the government to deliver its mission to drive economic growth.”
