In the spring of 2024, GEV started an initiative study on driving services provided by all the municipalities in Iceland for disabled people and older people, by Article 14 of Act No. 88/2021 on the Quality and Supervision Authority of Welfare (GEV Act). The study aimed to examine whether municipalities offered the service and whether the service was operated by the municipalities themselves or by private parties. According to Article 5 of the GEV Act, private parties who intend to provide services that GEV regulates must obtain a permit to operate before they start to provide the service. In addition, municipalities are not allowed to negotiate the provision of services with parties other than those permitted by GEV, according to Article 9 of the Act No. 40/1991 on Social Services of Municipalities. In cases where private parties operate the regulated driving service, GEV also wanted to examine how high a percentage of them had a permit from GEV to operate the service.

GEV sent a questionnaire to all municipalities in Iceland, asking if the service was available and what form of operation it had, i.e., if the municipality performed the service or performed it based on a private contract. If the service was unavailable, the municipalities were asked to state its reasons. Responses were usually in the form that no requests for driving service had been received in the city. Therefore, the implementation of the service has not been tested. It can be stated that one municipality did not respond to the questionnaire.

The questionnaire results revealed that more than half (54%) of municipalities assign private parties to implement driving services for disabled people, while 46% operate the service themselves. Driving services for older people are operated by the municipalities themselves in 51% of cases and by private parties in 49% of cases.

The results also showed that most private parties that provided driving services for disabled people and elderly had not applied for a permit to operate from GEV. At the beginning of the GEV examination, only two private parties had a permit to operate, and two additional parties had applications in process. Following the questionnaire, it was decided to send a letter to all municipalities that offer privately operated driving services. The letter reminded the private parties of their obligations to apply for a permit to operate GEV, instructed them on the application process, and what requirements were made of private parties with a permit from GEV to operate driving services for disabled people. At the end of January 2025, 10 parties had a permit from GEV. Still, four of them had not been identified by the municipalities as parties that provide driving services on their behalf.

At the end of the study, all municipalities received a letter with a copy of the report. In the municipalities where improvements were needed, the letter contained recommendations or suggestions, as appropriate. In some cases, further information was requested about the implementation of the service.

The report on the study is available here (in Icelandic).