The CEO’s pay is on par with the sector, HOWEVER he did not defend the scheme nor the disabled customers’ right to choice and collapsed under the slightest (false) accusations about the scheme. Other agencies’ and journalists did. For that reason, its scandalous he is in post.
What did actually expect him to do, you still have a scheme, unfortunately it is watered down, the worst case scenario the scheme could have lost VAT exemption in it entirety, as from July 2026 it is applicable to AP. Lets see what 2026, the automotive industry needs the Mobility scheme to balance their production line and outgoing models, we may see little or no real changes to the AP.
Whilst I maintain that Motability Operations pay and benefits are excessive for a monopoly (at all levels, not just the CEO), which sits uneasy with me as it is all paid for by disabled people, many of whom have very low means, I agree that it could have been worse.
I don’t doubt that this economically illiterate government could well have been looking to remove the VAT exemption from the whole scheme, and the CEO and CFO would have had to explain to them that doing this could have resulted in the scheme collapsing, as the block VAT exemption is what makes it very competitive against commercial schemes that don’t have all the restrictions of choice.
However, I don’t share your optimism that APs may be unaffected by the changes. I believe that Motability Operations themselves have already said that the average AP is likely to rise by around £400 as a result of the VAT and IPT additions. As always with ‘averages’, some will be affected by very little (cars with zero or very low APs) whilst others will be affected by far more. A car with a £4k AP today (not uncommon) could reach £5k in 6 months time.
Hopefully some of the scheme changes (such as reducing the 60k mileage allowance) will help a tiny bit in offsetting some of these extra costs, but we have seen a steady rise in APs over the past few years, so even that may be offset by a continuing upward trajectory.
Unfortunately, it’s going to be a long 6 months until all is revealed, but even that won’t be the end of it as this will soon be followed by the Timms review, which could well impact Motability by a far greater degree than last months budget.