I managed to get an email through to Andrew Miller registering my anger and dismay at the mileage changes and have had a reply which I’ll put here. I know it’s not much but if those who are angered by this email Miller and their MP we might at least raise wider awareness of these changes to the scheme and the effect they’ll have.
I do wonder if there has been any impact assessments done, I highly doubt it and if not if Motability are forced into doing them it may show that the impact falls foul of discrimination laws but I don’t know enough about them to be sure but I thought all changes to schemes like this have to have impact assessments done?
Anyway, this was Millers reply and I’ve already has further contact from Sam Hulance a Senior Customer Solutions Account Manager!
Dear Mr. Miller,
I am writing to formally express my strong opposition to the changes announced for new Motability leases starting from 1 July 2026. Specifically, I am challenging the decision to:
Reduce the annual mileage allowance and increase the excess mileage charge by 500%.
Increasing the excess mileage charge from 5p to 25p per mile which let’s face it is extortionate and bears no comparison to mileage charged by dealers on private PCP’s. It’s almost as though someone shut their eyes and just plucked a figure out of thin air and said “this one”!
Increasing the excess mileage charge by 500% (from 5p to 25p) creates a significant financial barrier that penalises those whose disabilities require more frequent travel. The Motability Scheme was founded to provide “worry-free” mobility; these changes instead create financial anxiety and potentially “trap” disabled people in their homes to avoid punitive costs.
As a disabled person who relies on the Motability Scheme for essential independence, these changes represent a severe restriction on my freedom of movement. For many users, 10,000 miles a year is insufficient to cover regular medical appointments, social care needs, and daily life—especially for those living in rural areas (which I do) with limited public transport. In fact in my last car on the scheme I clocked up just over 50,000 miles and in my current car, which has just under 4 months to run currently has 42,614 and will probably top 47000 by the time I reach July 20th producing the ball clenching figures of £5000 for my first lease and £4250 for this one. That is totally unsustainable for me and I suspect many others. I am out of work and rely on benefits so just running a car and finding an AP is difficult enough, even more so with the Trump/Netanyahu war in Iran and the wider Middle East forcing up prices of just about everything but particularly fuel.
I am lucky in that I can order my next car before the cataclysmic changes are enforced on 1st July and I’m grateful for that stroke of luck. However I still have to find an AP and have been forced to sell my deceased parents jewellery, which I wanted to pass onto my kids, in order to get £1000 to at least give me the chance of finding something I might actually want to drive for 3 years assuming AP’s don’t continue to climb at alarming rates, something that’s happened on your watch. However unless these decisions are reconsidered and reduced in severity if I continue to do well over the punitive 27 miles per day I would be allowed under these new rules this will be my 3rd and final car on the scheme and I am not the only one saying this.
I have to say I wonder where you get your assertion that “on average scheme members only drive 7500 miles a year”. Really? Did you put out a questionnaire and only used those who said they do low mileage as I’m on a forum where the vast majority are doing many more than that. Do you realise that your 10,000 mile a year limit equates to just 27 miles per day. For those of us living in a rural area with poor and often inaccessible public transport that’s an impossible number to keep to. To have slashed the 20,000 per year limit by 50% is reckless and far from supporting us as you claim it will force disabled people from the scheme forever. I suspect the last thing you or the motor industry needs is a mass exodus from the scheme.
I also note that whilst taking this wrecking ball to the scheme you yourself do not seem to have taken any of the hit. In fact the opposite as a quick google search shows you earned a 23.5% pay increase in 2025, bringing your total remuneration to £924,000. This package includes a £501,000 base salary, a £300,000 bonus, and benefits like a £21,000 car allowance. How can this be justified especially that bonus, a bonus for what exactly; royally shafting disabled people?
When The Mail and The Telegraph started spouting about “benefit scroungers driving free luxury cars” what did Motability do? Did you put them right, try to reclaim the narrative and put facts out there..no, you did absolutely nothing to dispel the lies being peddled. When this narrative was parroted by Reform and the Tories did you pipe up then? Nope, again silence while the public were duped into believing the lies as fact. Then when the chancellor banged on about free luxury cars, repeating those lies what did you do? You meekly removed perceived luxury brands to appease these people.
Then when she carried on picking on us and the scheme by the imposition of VAT on AP’s and then insurance tax what did the highly paid CEO of motability do? Did he say that’s enough, did he push back, did he rally the motor industry for whom motability customers make up 20% of all cars sold in this country to petition against it? Seemingly no, what he did was pocket his inflated, unjustified salary and meekly did as he was told and took a wrecking ball to the scheme. I wonder if Neville Chamberlain is a hero to you and if appeasement of the jealous and ill informed is what you will want to remembered for.
So I implore you and your board to reconvene today and review your flawed/made up data (delete as appropriate) and go for a mileage allowance of 15000 which is much more realistic and to also reduce the punitive 25p per mile excess to something more reasonable. Then you should resign and admit you have failed the very people who rely on Motability.
I request a formal response outlining how Motability Operations plans to support users who inherently require more than 10,000 miles per year due to their specific disability needs if you refuse to review what is clearly flawed planning.
Please note I have copied this in to my MP in the hope this can be raised in parliament.
Yours sincerely,
Mark Pithers
Andrew Miller’s email address is andrewmiller@mo.co.uk
sorry everyone thats my email to him here is his reply:-
Dear Mark,
Thank you for getting in touch to share your concerns regarding the recent changes to the Motability Scheme, particularly the reduction in mileage allowance, increase in excess mileage charges, and the impact this may have on your ability to continue with the Scheme. I am sorry to hear of your disappointment and understand why these changes will be concerning for many customers.
As outlined in our recent announcement, the changes are in response to increased costs following Government tax changes. We have taken careful steps to manage these costs and reduce the impact on customers, while ensuring the Scheme remains affordable and sustainable for the long term. Our priority remains to protect what matters most to customers and to continue offering an all-inclusive package that provides confidence and peace of mind.
I appreciate you taking the time to contact me and your MP. I can assure you that these changes have not been made lightly by me or my team. I will pass your email to our solutions team, who will review your comment and provide a response. They will be in touch within 24 hours and will keep me updated.
Andrew
Andrew Miller
Chief Executive
Motability Operations
6th Floor, 22 Bishopsgate
London, EC2N 4BQ
