From 14-18 October 2024, communities across the UK will celebrate CTWeek24, highlighting the vital work of the Community Transport sector. Inspired by our Manifesto, this year’s theme, Celebrating Community Solutions, spotlights the impact of accessible, inclusive, and affordable transport in strengthening community bonds.

As community transport providers, you play a pivotal role in ensuring the accessibility, well-being, and inclusivity of your communities through the transport you provide but none of it can be done without proper funding. 

The National Lottery

The National Lottery is a major investor in community projects throughout Northern Ireland, providing grants ranging from £300 to over £500,000 to support organisations from small local groups to large national charities. The National Lottery offers several funding programmes, including:

What is the CTA Advice Service?

The Community Transport Association provides the UK’s only specialist advice and support service to groups and organisations delivering community-led transport in the UK.  We do this by directly providing support and information on a wide range of topics, such as permits and licencing regulations, driver training, and operations, and by connecting with and signposting to other relevant agencies.

It is our mission to support and develop accessible, inclusive, and sustainable transport solutions in Northern Ireland.

We have over 75 members delivering a diversity of transport-related activities and services. Each organization offers a different range of transport services, including dial-a-lift, group vehicle rentals, and volunteer car schemes, showcasing their adaptability and commitment to meeting diverse community needs. These services are embedded into local communities throughout Northern Ireland.

We believe in volunteering for all, but we know times are tough for volunteers.

The cost-of-living crisis is having a major impact on recruitment and retention of unpaid drivers, with many people no longer able to afford to be part of helping to deliver the amazing work of Community Transport due to soaring motoring costs.

This’s why CTA has been leading a campaign calling for the UK Government to conduct an urgent, fair and transparent review of the Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP), which delivers a fully funded uplift.

We aim to make our website accessible and usable by people of all abilities and disabilities, including those with visual, hearing, cognitive or motor impairments.

Many people use assistive technologies to allow them to adjust their experience of a website to make it easier for them to use. For example, they might:

Rather than accessing MiDAS through an existing provider, you may want to be able to deliver MiDAS yourselves. This can be a good option particularly if you have a large number of people requiring training or if you struggle to find an existing provider close to you. It also allows you to deliver MiDAS to other organisations in your area. You can find out more about the steps involved with becoming a MiDAS Driver Assessor below.

Step 1 – Understand the responsibilities

In order to deliver MiDAS, your organisation must:

As well as ensuring that drivers can provide safe, legal and comfortable journeys to passengers, there are lots of other benefits of MiDAS.