hi khalid, its because theyve fixed the weekly payment at £72. for wpms so when the allowance goes up in april 10%ish you get to keep the £7 odd or £28 a month whereas the pipetc is total allowance so they pay the extra to catch up. if you see what i mean? prob as clear as mud. took me a while to get it.
the seem to have changed the way they cost the wpms lease whereas the used to reduce the ap to rebalance the difference in allowance about £1100. they are now utilising the weekly rental, there are quite a few of the cars that have recently come back that are set at £72 a week for wpms rather than having a reduced ap. good in that any cost of living increases during the lease you get to keep. £7 x 52 = £364 x 3 =£1092. assuming 10% increase in april then add on an inc in 24 and 25. i am sure bigdave will be along to correct me lol.
I believe you are on the right track there Mitch.
As to why it has occurred, I think a few factors have come into play (although bear in mind it is rather late at night where I am currently so I maybe a bit wide of the mark):
1. Firstly, there has been no official announcement (yet) from the Minister for Service Personnel & Veterans regarding the annual increase to War Pensions (incl WPMS) from April 2023 (unlike the DWP who were quick off the mark with their benefit’s increase announcement. AFIP is also covered by separate ongoing legislation).
Hence although we all expect War Pensions, including WPMS to rise by 10.1%, until a Ministerial Statement is made and/or the relevant Statutory Instrument amendment to the Service Pensions Order is tabled, the increase is not set in stone yet. There will be severe ructions if it isn’t 10.1% though!
2. Secondly the fact that the increase is expected to be 10.1% – the largest increase by far for many years has had a disproportional effect, not noticed in previous years around this time of year.
3. Thirdly, Motability already have fully priced-in the April 2023 increase to the AP’s for all other benefits/allowances, but because of 1. above, cannot fully commit with WPMS – although from a brief look they have in some cases where vehicles are already total allowance – the differential between WPMS AP’s and other benefit’s AP’s has risen to £1285. However, in some cases they have held the max weekly price at £72 fixed and increased the AP accordingly as you have pointed out.
By holding the max weekly price on many vehicles at £72 fixed, it actually works in the WPMS recipient’s favour as, particularly if inflation remains high over the forthcoming years, they will receive a greater benefit from not having a total allowance increase during the lease.
Obviously this means WPMS recipients are paying greater AP’s – if these are unaffordable it is worth approaching one of the ex-service charities/associations for help (less prescriptive than Motability grants).
I will do a bit more digging when I get back to the UK next week.
Dave