Whilst the whole Motability & Motability Operations setup might be technically & legally described as a charity / not for profit affair, we all know that the reality is very different.
After a long career in the commercial world, I spent the end of my career before retirement in the real charity / not for profit arena. Generating income was always a challenge and, other than the recommended reserves of 6-12 months operating costs, all income was spent on the needs of those who used the charity. This is pretty much the norm for most charities. Also, most CEO’s of even household named charities earn in the region of £100-150k, even though they manage thousands of staff and hundreds of millions of pounds of turnover and are rarely in monopoly situations.
As we know, none of these challenges apply to Motability. They are a monopoly. They do not have to fight for income. They are not susceptible to ‘bad years’ when, for example, gifts in wills are very low (a massive issue for real charities). The CEO of this monopoly has a total remuneration package of over £1m. Also, when you pay even your most junior staff a pay and benefits package that is considerably above the norm for the private sector, never mind the third sector, then it is no wonder that there isn’t a big ‘profit’ left at the end to distribute! As I have often said, the fact that this gilt edged remuneration package is paid for by disabled people’s benefits is morally wrong on so many levels.
It’s interesting to read about the huge sum of surplus funds that have been transferred to the ‘charity’. What are they doing with that money I wonder? Given that all that money has been generated by, let’s face it, excessive AP’s (they make several hundred pounds profit per lease), how can it be that AP’s are rising considerably and customers are now being charged for essential adaptations that were previously free?
I was hoping that the arrival of a new CEO might result in some improvements, but he’s nearly a year into his role now and it’s got considerably worse, not better. Many of the issues that I have raised in this post were highlighted in the government sponsored review into Motability, but were ignored. Finally, it’s all very well saying “if you don’t like it, vote with your feet and leave”. Some of us have the means to do that, but many don’t.