Now Motability bosses splurge £26million on tarting up their off ices
THE Motability scheme providing cars for the disabled has lavished £26million on refurbishing its offices, it emerged yesterday.
Bosses sanctioned the installation of chrome fittings, art displays and stone vases at the taxpayer-funded company.
The revelation follows a Daily Mail investigation exposing how Motability Operations has stockpiled £2.4billion of ‘spare’ money. The charitable scheme helps disabled people get around by leasing a car, scooter or powered wheelchair to them.
Customers agree to their £58-a-week state mobility benefits being paid directly to the company, which hands them a new vehicle with insurance, tax, servicing and breakdown cover all taken care of.
But the firm also paid its chief executive Mike Betts £1.7million last year – 11 times more than the Prime Minister earns. From 2011 to 2013, it refurbished its offices in Bristol and London, costing £26million.
The refit provided an 80,000 sq ft campus for 500 employees in Bristol ‘with the relaxed, affluent style of a tech-company’, the Sunday Times reported yesterday.
The 60,000 sq ft London base gained softback chairs, stone vases and chrome fittings. The two offices have matching boardrooms each with art displays and tables worth thousands of pounds. Insiders said Mr Betts and his team also spent thousands on ‘away days’ and overnight stays, including at the Pennyhill Park Hotel, a 19th-century country house and spa in Bagshot, Surrey, and the Runnymede on Thames Hotel near Windsor.
Last night Labour MP John Mann said: ‘This excellent scheme has become bloated by the trappings of largesse. Disabled people and the taxpayer deserve better.
‘To hear that these executives have been lavishing what is effectively taxpayers’ money on turning their offices into five-star hotels is quite shocking.’ Following the Mail’s investigation, the Government urged the National Audit Office (NAO) to investigate Motability. Around £2billion a year is paid directly from the Department for Work and Pensions to the company.
It is a charitable scheme, while also effectively being a private firm with a monopoly.
The Mail found Motability had been putting aside £200million a year in unspent funds for at least a decade.
Conservative MP Philip Davies said the NAO should also examine the office refurbishments, adding: ‘I suppose when you’ve got £2.4billion of reserves this type of largesse comes quite easily.’
Motability said: ‘[We] are proud that our refurbishment in 2011 means our buildings meet the highest standards of access and other facilities for disabled people.’