Cornwall and Devon Councils paid staff £12m for staff car mileage in one year
Two cash-strapped Westcountry councils have been criticised for paying out more than £12 million in mileage allowances to their staff in one year.
The Taxpayers' Alliance said both Devon County Council and Cornwall Council have been paying their employees "well in excess" of the 40p per mile previously recommended by Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (HMRC).
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In one instance, they claim Cornwall Council was paying a rate of 65p per mile – the highest recorded anywhere in the country.
Devon County Council, which is cutting £54.6 million of public spending, had the sixth highest payment in the country at about £6.4 million between 2009-10, with a rate of 47.7p per mile.
Cornwall Council came in ninth, according to the Taxpayers' Alliance figures, with a payment of £5,841,155 in 2009-10.
During that period their rate paid per mile for vehicles above 1200cc was 60.1p. The following year, according to a Freedom of Information Act response, it was 65p.
But the leader of the local authority disputes the figures, saying that its employees receive 40p per mile for the first 10,000 miles.
The Taxpayers' Alliance said that with "eye-wateringly high" fuel bills and motorists one of the most overtaxed groups in the UK, many people would be angry that they are subsidising council staff to claim more per mile than most ordinary private sector workers.
Director Matthew Sinclair said: "It is shocking that the same councils that are pleading poverty are paying well above the recommended mileage rate.
"Ordinary motorists who are feeling the pinch will be shocked that council staff are getting such a generous deal for their mileage claims, it simply isn't fair.
"Some authorities have shown that it is possible to save millions by cutting back to the rate recommended by the taxman."
Torbay Council alone in the region paid 40p per mile, with a total payment of £782,858.
Cornwall Council leader Alec Robertson said that in 2009-10 and 2010-11 Cornwall Council staff could claim 40p a mile for the first 10,000 miles, and 25p a mile after that.
He said this rate was changed in April as part of the Council's strategy to save £170 million over the next four years.
Mr Robertson added: "I am disappointed that once again the Taxpayers' Alliance has not checked the accuracy of its information before releasing it to the media.
"The statement that the Council paid 60p a mile to all staff in 2009-10 and 65p a mile in 2010-11 is simply not true.
"Staff can now only claim 40p per mile for the first 3,000 miles, with the rate reducing to 20p per mile for all other mileage."
He added that his was "considerably less" than the amount paid to civil servants.
In their response to the Taxpayers' Alliance's FoI request, the local authority said it had "numerous travel rates which largely reflect historic agreements that pre-date the creation of Cornwall Council."
A spokesman for Devon County Council said: "Devon has the largest road network in the country which accounts for our generally high spend on fuel compared to many other counties, however our front line service staff and councillors must reach very rural communities on a daily basis to carry out their roles and responsibilities.
"We are constantly striving to make savings and as far as possible, encourage the use of car sharing, homeworking and video conferencing."
In last month's Budget the HMRC recommended rate was raised from 40p per mile to 45p per mile.
12 Comments
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by Bill, Newquay
Friday, April 15 2011, 5:32PM
“The TaxPayers Alliance is a great right-wing pressure group and it's
good to see support from the Cornwall & Devon Media Group (owned by the right wing Daily Mail) who publish their findings word for word without any of that time-wasting fact-checking nonsense.”
by Emma, Cornwall
Friday, April 15 2011, 4:07PM
“The Other TaxPayers Alliance has a good negative quote generator which is a handy tool for busy journalists
http://www.taxpayersalliance.org/quote
Meanwhile, back in the real world, Cornwall Council reduced the mileage rates a long time ago but it was far too complicated to mention that in the press report.”
by Jenny, Cornwall
Friday, April 15 2011, 1:34PM
“The revenue guidline is 40p (now 45p), however if more is paid that is not allowable it is a benefit to the employee and they have to declare it and pay tax on it. If they are paid less they can get tax refleif on the underpayment so why is it such a headline that they have been paid 65p? If the overpayment isn't allowable (depending on how many passengers) then the rest is taxed and going into the government's pockets anyway. They really must of run out of news today.”
by John, Fowey
Friday, April 15 2011, 12:38PM
“Unfortunately, the TaxPayers Alliance people are unable to access the HMRC website and read the following which took me 10 seconds to find, copy and paste:-
"Passenger payments
If one of your employees carries any other employees in their own car or van on business travel, you can pay them passenger payments of up to 5p per passenger per business mile without having to report these to HMRC or pay and tax or NICs on them. The passengers must be employees and they must also be travelling on business journeys.
There is no equivalent to Mileage Allowance Relief (MAR) for passenger payments. If you make no passenger payments or if you don't pay the full amount allowable, employees are not entitled to any tax relief."
So what do I learn from carefully reading the TaxPayers Alliance report?
1. Councils are encouraging staff to car share in order to save tax payers money.
2. Cornwall and Devon are probably larger counties than some other other counties so the staff probably have to drive a bit further.
3. The TaxPayers Alliance are good at publising pointless reports.
4. Lazy journalists don't bother checking the accuracy of these meaningless reports.”
by David, Cornwall
Friday, April 15 2011, 11:31AM
“Can't believe I'm spening my week off doing this...
I just sat down and worked out how much my car cost to run per mile in 2009/10 and 20010/11.
In 2009/10 it was 33p per mile
In 2010/11 it was 50p per mile (big repair bill and insurance hike)
An average of 41.5p a mile over 2 years. So over the last 2 years I have been paying 1.5p per mile for the joy of driving for the taxpayers of Cornwall (self included).
60p plus a mile is not the norm either (you'd have to take 4 passengers everywhere).
It would cost a lot more if the council had to provide pool cars or taxis so that no one had to use their own car.
If I worked in the private sector I'd be paid about a third more than CC pay. But I'd be unhappy at getting 30p a mile allowance, as my figures show that on a 'good' year it still cost me more than 30p a mile to run my car. Don't forget though, you can claim tax relief at 45p a mile for business miles now, I don't know how it works, but this site has some info.
http://www.emmerson-hill.co.uk/downloads/Claim_for_Mileage_Allowance_Relief.pdf”
by Tony, truro
Friday, April 15 2011, 8:58AM
“If you worked in the private sector, you would only receive 30p per mile, why do the council think they are entitled to more than double this amount?”
by David, St Austell
Thursday, April 14 2011, 3:51PM
“So some of the low paid public sector workers make a bit on mileage. So what? Better fit they concentrate on the obscene wastage that goes on at the top. Sending officials to London 1st class for a meaningless awards ceremony for example.”
by David, Cornwall
Thursday, April 14 2011, 2:47PM
“As a council employee, I can confirm that you can get 65p a mile or more. For each passenger you carry, you can get an extra 5p per mile.
It would seem reasonable that 65p is the most that has been claimed (in either Devon or Cornwall) by one or more persons. This is completely in line with Inland Revenue guidlines (in fact it is now below them):
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/rates/travel.htm
The passenger allowance encourages car sharing, in effect each passenger carried is a saving of 35p a mile as each person could have taken a car.
I would say that about 60% of my journeys (I do about 4000 miles a year) are work related, mostly alone. So 60% of the expense of running my car is due to work, 40p per mile doesn't come near to covering it.”
by The Limpet, Penzance, Kernow
Thursday, April 14 2011, 2:18PM
“If the figure of 60 - 65p a mile was obtained from Cornwall Council's own Freedom of Information Dept., whose legal duty is to give factual information about the actions of local government officers, who are we to believe - the FREEDOM OF INFORMATION OFFICE, or 'the leader'...? Perhaps they should all get their story straight before talking to the press. What with this latest debacle and the chaos over parking charges, perhaps it's time for a new boss of Transport planning in Cornwall...
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/graeme-hicks-resign/
For more on Mr Hicks:
http://savetheholyheadland.blogspot.com/2011/04/hicks-resign-petition.html
or just 'google' Graeme Hicks RESIGN”
by Gobsmacked, cornwall
Thursday, April 14 2011, 1:56PM
“Hoorah! well done both of you! Common sense responses to yet another negative headline.
I know for a fact that the majority of Council employees have only been paid 40p a mile for years. Many of these employees are forced to use their own vehicles to carry out work for the Council
The 40p also takes into account wear and tear on the vehicle and any extras such as higher insurance rates. Hardly a "benifit" as described by the papers and tax payers alliance eh?
I would suggest that the alliance concentrate on the flagerant waste of public money on the high salaries of senior managers,Golden handshakes for failed senior managers, hireing of a constant stream of consultants and silly staff survey's, posh expensive gas guzzling cars for senior directors and managers.”