- Conference
- 2024 Police, Probation and CAFCASS Conference
- Date
- 13 June 2024
- Decision
- Carried
Conference notes that car mileage rates are a significant issue for UNISON members in Policing, Probation and CAFCASS. The rates that they are paid for driving while working do not equal the amount they spend on fuel, insurance, MOTs and repairs. As a result, our Police, Probation and CAFCASS members are left out of pocket and are effectively subsidising their employers.
Conference also notes that public sector workers in roles requiring a car tend to be lower paid than average. The average (median) UK annual income is £28,100 while UNISON’s data shows that public service workers who are required to drive their own car to do their jobs are skewed much lower, with a median salary of £22,499 annually.
Police staff, probation staff and CAFCASS staff currently all have their car mileage rates capped at the HMRC fixed-profit car mileage rate of 45p/mile.
Research undertaken with the RAC Foundation shows that the rate should be 63.4p/ mile. This means that a member driving 2 hours daily on HMRC mileage rates is £5127.04 out of pocket every year.
Conference therefore instructs the Service Group Executive to work with all our Sector Committees to encourage the submission of sectoral claims to increase the current car mileage rates in line with UNISON’s Service Group Liaison Committee campaign asks for:
1)An increase in mileage rates to 63.4p per mile (based on RAC Foundation calculations)
2. Mileage rates to be reviewed by HMRC/ Treasury on a quarterly basis, in line with the recalculations made for the Advisory Fuel Rate
3. The mileage cap should be removed, so that the same rate is paid irrespective of the distance of work related journeys
4. No deductions should be made for “average commuting distances” or equivalent – mileage rates should cover the entire journey undertaken for work
5. All workers who have to use a vehicle to do their job should be offered use of a car by their workplace instead of employers relying on their staff to own personal cars.
6. Expenses should be paid weekly not monthly, with mileage payments made in advance where feasible so that workers are not out of pocket waiting for reimbursement
7. Employers should introduce fuel cards so that fuel payments initially come from the employer directly, rather than from the employee.