| Staff/Union Feedback |
Response |
- Our routes and travelling have greatly increased
- We are expected to travel a greater distance and cover a wider area. We can travel between 20 and 86 miles per day.
- We are concerned that this will achieve the allowed 10,000 miles per annum within 10 months or less.
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This proposal does not set out to increase or reduce the number of business miles travelled by employees.
The current mileage scheme for grades 6 and below (known as the Casual Cars scheme) pays 52.2p per mile up to 8,500 miles. After 8,500 the rate reduces to 14.4p per mile.
The proposal is to move these staff (grades 6 and below) over to the HMRC scheme, which pays 45p per mile up to 10,000 miles. After 10,000 miles the rate reduces to 25p per mile.
The HMRC rate therefore pays the higher rate for more miles than the Casual Cars scheme. |
- The decrease will not cover fuel and wear and tear on our vehicles.
- Petrol and insurance is going up every year
- Our travelling costs have risen considerably lately due to increases in fuel costs. It seems particularly punitive to reduce the rate per mile repaid to the lowest paid workers who are carrying out Ceredigion’s business at such a time of financial hardship for us.
- Since July 2015 when it was agreed to retain the rate of 52.9 pence per mile, fuel prices have increased well above the rate of inflation yet travelling allowances have been frozen. The July 2015 cost for both unleaded petrol and diesel was around £1.16 (BEIS, Weekly Road Fuel Prices) . These have now increased to over £1.30 for unleaded petrol and £1.34 for diesel, respective increases of 12% and 15%. The proposal acts contrary to the increased costs being borne by our members, suggesting not to increase but to reduce travelling allowances received by the lowest paid grades by 14.9%.
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We acknowledge the increase in fuel and insurance costs. The proposal to move all staff to 45p per mile is based on the agreed mileage allowance rates set out by HMRC on a national level.
We are currently the only council in Wales paying above the HMRC rate of 45p per mile. |
- We are on low incomes and are not able to absorb any extra costs personally, which will inevitably occur, resulting from this change.
- This will hit the low paid
- The service and support we provide will suffer as a result.
- The proposed changes to the travel expenses rate for us would equate to the equivalent loss of £50 to £57 a month. At grade 6 we are already on a low wage and a loss of £50 to £57 a month will be a significant loss to our wages and annual income.
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Mileage payments should be viewed as a reimbursement for the business travel expenses incurred, and should not be considered as a top up to salary or any other remuneration.
We would not foresee that services or support offered by the council will be affected by changes to the travel rate. |
- The proposed changes would not affect those on grade 7 and above as they are already paid 45p per mile, however this will make a difference to myself and others. Once again the higher paid employees of Ceredigion County Council will not see any difference.
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This proposal aims to standardise the mileage rates paid to staff irrespective of grade or job type. |
- The relocation of my work base has added an hour each day to my journey to work and back, 12 addition miles that I am not paid for, and has caused a considerable increase in unpaid business mileage in going to meetings at other locations.
- I understand there is a cost to the council in recording the miles and preparing the P11D, but the relocation changes forced upon me have already left me out of pocket, detached from the rest of my team, and feeling considerably undervalued.
- On a practical note, it will be considerably more difficult to check any claim and ensure that the paid mileage claimed for a journey is correct if the unpaid mileage for that journey is not also recorded.
- We oppose the proposal to remove the option to record unpaid business mileage on the claim form, and the associated provision of P11D forms. It is evident from the data made available that a large amount of unpaid business mileage is claimed by employees across the grades. The removal of both this facility and the provision of P11D forms will result in the end of associated automatic tax relief deductions that are unlikely to be fully recovered by employees acting on their own behalf.
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The relocation policy sets out the procedure for managing the relocation of staff to different work locations, including any reimbursements of travel expenses.
We acknowledge that relocation sometimes results in an increased number of unpaid business miles for some members of staff.
We are considering a number of options for how we can continue to support employees in recording and claiming unpaid business miles. |
- [Our role] results in [us] carrying additional weight which inevitably contributes to higher fuel costs as well as wear and tear costs. Is this factor taken into account during the process of evaluating the impact of reducing the rate of travel claims?
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This proposal aims to standardise the mileage rate paid to staff, regardless of grade or job type. There are currently no provisions within our mileage rates for carrying additional weight in vehicles, and this proposal does not include any changes to this. |
- The commitment made in July 2015 also included an assurance that staff will not be charged for parking at their places of work. We ask that this assurance is reaffirmed.
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This proposal does not include any changes to the current arrangements for car parking at places of work. |
- Please could you clarify if [this proposal] also intends to introduce the HMRC rate of 20 pence per mile when using bicycles for business purposes.
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This proposal does not cover introducing a new rate for using bicycles for business purposes. |
