Penalty Charge Notice (PCN) Levels for Decriminalised Parking Enforcement
Overview
Since 1997, 23 local authorities in Scotland have introduced decriminalised parking enforcement (DPE) regimes into their areas. These regimes enable local authorities to administer their own parking penalty charge schemes to encourage compliance with on-street parking controls.
Parking policies are an essential part of a local authority’s traffic management strategy as they are designed to effectively manage the traffic network, improve and maintain traffic flows whilst reducing congestion.
The integration of enforcement powers and parking policy enhances a local authority’s accountability to its residents, through better monitoring of the effectiveness of the parking controls in place to ensure that their parking policy is responsive to public needs.
However, parking has become a contentious issue across our towns and cities as we seek to improve the country’s health and encourage active travel whilst making our streets more accessible for all.
For enforcement to be effective, penalty charges for parking infringements need to be set at an appropriate level. Following on from a rise in the maximum level of charge in 2023, we committed to a further review in the coming years. This is why the Scottish Government is seeking your views on proposals that relate to the Government’s existing guidance on penalty charge levels.
Read the consultation paper. The consultation paper contains full background information for this consultation. You may find it useful to read or refer to while responding.
Consultation questions preview
The consultation questions are included here for your reference. Please click 'Begin consultation' at the bottom of this page to proceed.
1. Do you agree or disagree that the current maximum levels for PCNs, currently set at £80 & £100 (reducing by 50% if paid within 14 days) are appropriate?
2. Which of the following four options would be your preferred choice:
a) the current level of £100 (reducing to £50 if paid within 14 days);
b) £120 (reducing to £60 if paid within 14 days);
c) at a (potentially different) level set independently by each local authority; or
d) something else, please provide an explanation.
3. Option C for question 2 would mean removing current Scottish Ministers guidance on maximum PCN levels, leaving each local authority to set their own maximum levels independently. Do you anticipate any positive or negative effects should option C be implemented?
Useful information about responding to this consultation
As you complete your response, each page will provide the option to 'Save and come back later' at the bottom. This means you can save your progress and return to the consultation at any time before it closes. If you don't use this feature and leave the consultation midway through, your response will be lost.
Once you have submitted your response, you can enter your email address to get a pdf copy of your answers sent to you.
On the 'About You' page at the end of this consultation, organisations will have the opportunity to tell us more about their work and/or how their response was informed.
After the consultation has closed there will be a few months delay before any responses are published. This is because we must check any responses to be published abide by our Terms of Use.
All relevant submitted responses will be analysed. This may be carried out by third party organisations who Scottish Government, its executive agencies or non-ministerial offices, contract to do this work. Such data sharing will be governed by appropriate contractual arrangements to keep your data secure.
An analysis report will usually be published some months after the consultation has closed. This report will summarise the findings based on all responses submitted. It will be published on the Scottish Government website and you may be notified about it if you choose to share your email address with us.
You can also join our consultation mailing list where we regularly list newly published analysis reports (as well as new consultations).
Why your views matter
This consultation focuses on penalty charges for parking enforcement. The level of parking charges are currently set in accordance with guidance issued by the Scottish Ministers. The long-standing guidance was updated most recently in February 2023 when the maximum level of charge was increased from £60 up to £100, effective from April 2023.
This consultation will consider matters including views on whether the current level of charges are appropriate, whether they should be increased or whether the Scottish Ministers guidance that sets the maximum levels should be removed, which would have the effect of leaving local authorities to set their own maximum levels. This could result in different local authorities setting different levels of charges.
We are keen to hear the opinions of stakeholders and interested parties on the levels of charges and whether this level should change.
We hope that members of the public respond to this consultation where possible. We appreciate that some of the consultation questions are technical in nature (or apply to duties applicable to local authorities) but the level of PCNs could have a direct impact on numerous individuals. As such, we would encourage everyone to respond to any or all of those areas where you feel you have a contribution to make.
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