Boat licence fees increase for 2025

Published: Friday, 29 November 2024

YESTERDAY, Thursday, Canal & River Trust announced the rise in boat licence fees for next year.

These will rise by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) plus 3%, in line with the trust’s previously-announced long-term plan.

Increase

It also states there will be an increase of 4% in boat licence fees from 1st  April 2025 for both private boat owners and boating businesses. The rise is based on the latest Bank of England forecasts that inflation will remain at around 2.5% through until April 2025...

Surcharges for boats without a home mooring and wide beam boats, announced last year, will be applied in addition to this rise.

The Gold Licence charges are being agreed with the Environment Agency and will be announced in due course. The surcharge for boats without a home mooring will be applied to the trust’s portion of the fee. The trust will be looking jointly with the Environment Agency at the surcharge for wider boats, with more information to follow.

Essential

Richard Parry, chief executive at Canal & River Trust, explained;

“Boat licences contribute an essential one eighth of the income we have available each year to maintain our 250 years old canal network. We’re committed to keeping the canals open for navigation and, by purchasing a licence to cruise our waterways, boaters are playing an important part.

“But our charity is facing a combination of more extreme weather brought by climate change, an ageing network that is costly to fix, with higher material prices, and reducing government funding. We’ll continue to secure as much income as we can through our commercial and charitable activities and focus on those priority works that support navigation. On top of this commitment, we’ve recently introduced our Better Boating Plan to tackle the smaller-scale tasks that make life hard for boaters, such as broken paddles and overgrown vegetation. The funds we receive from boat licences supplement our other income streams and help us to carry out this vital work.”

The trust will continue to support boaters struggling to pay their licence fees on a case-by-case basis. This may include arranging flexible payment plans and signposting to relevant services and benefits, for example the Waterways Chaplaincy, local authorities and Citizens Advice.