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Rachel Reeves Is Plan to restrict access for disabled people £1bn to be saved through benefits system for cars, it has emerged.
chancellor Is Improvements to the mobility scheme are reportedly being considered To save money and increase public confidence in the welfare system.
he is called Set to eliminate almost £1 billion of tax breaks each year In next month’s Budget, an exemption was cut that allows cars leased under the scheme to avoid paying VAT or insurance premium tax.
In another change, luxury cars including Mercedes and BMW can be removed from this scheme. many times reports,
It comes as Chancellor has been warned by the Institute for Fiscal Studies It needs at least £22 billion of tax rises or spending cuts in the November budget to avoid the “Groundhog Day” scenario of facing another black hole in the public finances next year.
The Motability scheme provides cars to approximately 815,000 users, including approximately 40,000 luxury vehicles. It is open to people who claim qualifying mobility allowance, usually through Personal Independence Payment (PIP).
But it has come under fire in recent months and has become a major part of Kemi BadenochDuring a speech at the Conservative Party conference, critics claimed online so-called “sicfluencers” were teaching people to game the system in order to claim free cars.
In her speech in Manchester, Ms Badenoch said: “Those cars are not for people with ADHD.”
While his shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whiteley said: “Millions of people are getting benefits for anxiety and ADHD along with a free mobility car.
“TikTok videos tell you how – and some people even pay for VIP services to increase their chances of a successful benefits claim.”
Disability groups criticized the proposed changes, saying they would make life more expensive for people with serious health conditions.
But sources said many times The changes are about fairness, not just cost cutting. One reported that the Motability Foundation, which oversees the scheme, paid its chief executive £658,000 last year, while it predicted profits of £748m in 2023. It fell to a loss of £565m last year.
It currently costs taxpayers £2.8 billion, and a portion of the claimant’s disability benefit is spent on a new car.
Emma Vogelman, co-chief executive of the Transport for All disability group, said public transport is “often unusable” for disabled people, with broken footpaths and “non-existent bus routes”.
“The mobility car changes this – it allows us to get to work, shopping and the school run. Cutting the scheme will cut disabled people off from daily life. Does the Chancellor want to take away our freedoms?” He said.
Meanwhile the charity Scope warned that the changes “could impose additional costs on disabled people across the UK”.
“Restricting mobility eligibility could have a disproportionate impact on low-income disabled people,” said Strategy Director James Taylor. Independent,
Reform UK has also attacked the Motability scheme, with policy chief Zia Yousaf saying that spending on the scheme has “spinned out of control”.
He said, “Motility schemes were designed to support people with real, life-limiting disabilities and many people taking advantage of these schemes are not even physically disabled. Targeted support should only go to those who really need it.”
Matt Ryder, the former head of mobility at the Department for Work and Pensions, has also called on the Chancellor to re-evaluate whether subsidies for the scheme are “delivering real value for money”.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We do not comment on speculation about tax changes outside of fiscal events.”