Motability: Give cash to us, not the disabled

MOTABILITY chiefs have defended hoarding public money – by suggesting disabled motorists would simply spend extra cash on food.

The car scheme for the disabled has piled up £2.5billion in reserves and paid directors huge salaries and bonuses.

It is now under pressure to return the unused cash. However, it is fighting back by disputing a National Audit Office conclusion that it enjoys £ 888million a year in tax breaks. Motability argues that if disabled people spent their benefits on things like ‘food for example’ – instead of a Motability car – then the taxman would not be any better off because most food is exempt from VAT.

The comparison was made by Lord Sterling, chairman of the Motability charity, in a letter to MPs in which he argues the £ 888million ‘ is essentially meaningless’. Sir Amyas Morse, head of the NAO, said Lord Sterling’s position was ‘difficult to reconcile with the facts’.

In response to a Daily Mail investigation, Motability scrambled to offload its 2018 profits by pledging £500million to its charitable arm. It leases cars to wheelchair users and others in exchange for their mobility benefits.