Finance and invoicing for school transport providers

Setting up a new account if you provide school transport.

New Transport providers should provide a letter including company letterhead to include:

  • Full company name and address
  • Companies House Registration Number
  • VAT number (if registered)
  • Bank account name, sort code and account number
  • Primary contact for finance, name, email, and mobile number – this is required as a verification code will be sent to this mobile number to give you access to the portal and make any changes to your account.
  • Once your account is set up, we will send you your supplier/vendor number which is unique to you within 3-5 days.  This will be required to access the portal to which a link will be text/emailed to you.
  • All account details will need to be confirmed by you via the portal before any payment can be made to you.

This document should be sent to schooltransport.finance@oxfordshire.gov.uk or submitted at the time of application to the DPS through the South East Business Portal.  

Invoice requirements

All invoices must include the following:

  • Date
  • Invoice Number
  • Route Number
  • Period of invoice i.e. Oct 2022
  • Daily Price
  • Number of days charged
  • Subtotal
  • Total including VAT if applicable

The finance team can only accept invoices in the following format:

  • PDF or Word document
  • Headed paper to include bank details and VAT number
  • One invoice per route
  • Without passenger names or identifying details

Submitting invoices for payment

Invoices must be emailed to schooltransport.finance@oxfordshire.gov.uk and must comply with the below:

  • Invoices to be submitted no earlier than the last working day of the month that you are claiming as invoices are likely to be incorrect due to changes with the transport
  • Invoices must be submitted no later than 30 days after the service was provided

For your information:

  • If your invoice has both a cost for a Driver and a Passenger Assistant, this will show as a split payment on your remittance, but the total will equal your invoice amount.
  • Payment will be made within 28 days of the end of the month of claim
  • A remittance advice will be sent via email directly from hants.gov.uk and not from oxfordshire.gov.uk as this process is outsourced.

If you have a query regarding payment, please send an email to  schooltransport.finance@oxfordshire.gov.uk to receive a response within two working days.

Hampshire County Council

Hampshire County Council process all payments on behalf of Oxfordshire Cunty Council.  For security reasons we are unable to make changes to your bank details.

  • If you need to make changes to your account, for example, a change of bank account number, or copies of remittances, you can log onto the self-service website. If you are unable to resolve your problem, please contact Hampshire on 0300 555 0223 to log a call. 
  • Within three days of us processing your invoice, you will receive a remittance from Hampshire County Council and NOT OCC to the email address you supplied. Once you receive a remittance payment via BACS will be made to your bank account in approximately three working days.

COVID-19

We have changed the way we ask you to invoice to ensure reduced COVID and 100% payments are processed correctly.  Please see below requirements when submitting invoices for payment:

  • Operational routes paid at 100% should be invoiced separately to any non-operational routes paid at a reduced rate e.g. 85%
  • Each invoice should be clearly marked as “100%” or “85%” to reduce processing time and allow us to process your payments quicker.
  • We can only pay the amount stated on your invoice, therefore if you do not reduce the cost by the appropriate amount on the reduced rate invoice, the invoice will be returned to you for amendment.
  • Invoices must be sent to schooltransport.finance@oxfordshire.gov.uk, please do not send invoices to individual’s email addresses as this will only cause a further delay in payments.  Due to the increased volume of invoices, individual email inboxes are not being checked as often as team inboxes.