The Motability scheme is taking the British taxpayer for a ride
A noble scheme is being used excessively and sometimes opportunistically
It all started so nobly. The Motability scheme was set up to help people with serious mobility impairments — those who genuinely couldn’t get around without a vehicle. A simple, compassionate concept: if your disability makes life harder, the state can step in to keep you mobile and independent. For almost 50 years, what made it remarkable was precisely how unremarkable it was.
But as the old saying goes, the road to hell is paved with good intentions — or in this case, the road to bankruptcy is full of taxpayer-subsidised BMWs.
Because what was once a targeted support scheme for the genuinely disabled has ballooned into something unrecognisable. Last year alone, a record 815,000 people made use of the scheme — that’s 170,000 more than the year before. Thanks to data crunched by the TaxPayers’ Alliance, we now know what’s fuelling it.
The whole piece is well worth reading as yet another example of political and cultural decline.
What’s clear is that Motability is no longer a lifeline for the most vulnerable. It’s becoming a mainstream perk — one that taxpayers are expected to fund without question.
While Motability Operations earns revenue from the sale of used cars, much of its funding also flows from the PIP system — and that means it’s funded, to a large extent, by taxpayers. It benefits from exemptions to vehicle excise duty, insurance premium tax and VAT, so while your council tax goes up, NHS waits lengthen, and the roads resemble the lunar surface, someone else is cruising around in a brand-new car courtesy of the state.
8 comments:
Iceland presumably isn't worrying about BMWs at 90% off, having something juicier to gossip about. Courtesy of Zero Hedge:-
"Iceland's Minister For Children Quits After Admitting Having Baby With 16 Year Old"
They're set to lose more money, given that some manufacturers are making it next to impossible to buy an ICE vehicle. Mini and Renault certainly are.
We're waiting for delivery of our first Motability car - a Skoda - as the memsahib insists that I'm too old and rickety to be doing my own servicing and repairs. I'm fine, I just have to keep in mind that a five minute job takes two hours and two days' recovery.
Yes, Hayes' point that exposure to the welfare system leads to greater uptake sounds reasonable. And people become better at playing it. All those people with psychological conditions like autism, driving around in cheap luxury cars. If challenged, they would claim that being on public transport or confined to home causes stress and isolation. "Give me a car, or I'll give you an even bigger problem!".
dearieme - oh dear, bang goes the image of Icelanders as sturdy, sensible people.
Jannie - I know what you mean about jobs taking longer and needing a rest afterwards. We've seen both sides of the Motability issue, Mrs H has an aunt with MS who relies on Motability just to get anywhere. I have distant relatives who have been scamming the system for years, I expect they will be quite happy with more expensive vehicles.
Sam - it comes across as a decline in rectitude, but maybe we are discovering that there never was as much rectitude as we might have imagined, just less opportunity and more severe punishment in the past.
We do seem to be less competent at knowing what punishment is supposed to achieve, whether socially or more formally via law.
Quite apart from need vs. trying it on etc, why do these people need BMW’s? If the message were “It’s a Dacia Sandero or get the bus” I bet the scheme would be a lot cheaper. But then that wouldn’t suit the motor trade, I guess. Or the big banks.
Peter - I suppose for some it's like a step up the social ladder, an illusion perhaps, but maybe it doesn't feel like one.
from the article: "the dramatic increase in people being awarded the enhanced rate of PIP for conditions like ADHD and autism "
So, to add to all the other dangers on the road these days (those dodgy MOTs say) we have mental cases being given cars.
djc - and if some rumours are sound, mental cases being given Ministerial jobs such as PM.
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