Thank you to all those who contacted me about HMRC’s approved mileage rates for employers reimbursing staff for the cost of using a vehicle for work, and the impact of these rates on public service workers.

Many public service workers need to use their cars to carry out their jobs. This means that if they are not reimbursed, they are out of pocket for the vital work they do day by day.

Yet, as UNISON has highlighted, while motoring costs have increased by over 40% over the last decade, the rates set by HMRC to reimburse these workers have been frozen since 2011. The Government must therefore acknowledge the impact the current mileage rates are having on the living standards of those affected.

The Government says approved mileage allowance rate is intended to create administrative simplicity and certainty and that it is “ultimately up to employers to choose what they reimburse.” However, the Government needs to provide answers to questions being raised by working families and those representing all of those affected. It also needs to recognise the impact of its inability to keep bills and the cost of living under control, both in relation to specific concerns about mileage rates and on the difficulties working people and families are facing more widely.