Commons Sense

House of Commons · Ministers' Questions

HMRC Mileage Allowance Rates

Tuesday 15 November 2022 · 3 questions

Summarised by AI from the official record, so it can contain mistakes.

Read the full transcript on Parliament.uk

At a glance

Answered 0 Partly answered 3 Not answered 0

Key points

  • Ministerial Questions addressed HMRC Mileage Allowance Rates on 2022-11-15.
  • Dan Jarvis questioned the adequacy of frozen mileage rates for keyworkers facing increased petrol costs.
  • Andrew Selous raised concern over MPs receiving higher mileage allowances compared to domiciliary care workers.

Topics (select to filter)

Questions & Answers

Q1 Dan Jarvis Lab Barnsley North
Employment Energy
Context

Petrol costs have increased by a third since January, leading to concerns about the financial burden on key workers who rely on their vehicles for work.

Question

Petrol costs are up by a third since January, but mileage rates for keyworkers have now been frozen for a decade. Midwives attending home births, social workers safeguarding vulnerable children and palliative nurses providing end-of-life care cannot afford the petrol they need to do their jobs in many cases. Will the Minister look to increase the mileage allowance payment rates?

Answer from James Cartlidge

The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. I think we are all conscious of the general increase in costs faced by keyworkers, but let me make this point about the specific HMRC-approved mileage allowance payments rate. It is there as an administrative convenience for both employers and employees. Employers can choose to pay more, though they would have to check tax implications with the employee. We sympathise about fuel cost increases, which is why we cut petrol and diesel duty by 5p a litre for 12 months in the spring statement, worth £2.4 billion.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Increase in mileage allowance payment rates

How: Sympathise About Fuel Cost Increases, Cut Petrol And Diesel Duty

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Q2 Dan Jarvis Lab Barnsley North
Employment Energy
Context

Petrol costs have increased by a third since January, leading to concerns about the financial burden on key workers who rely on their vehicles for work.

Question

Petrol costs are up by a third since January, but mileage rates for keyworkers have now been frozen for a decade. Midwives attending home births, social workers safeguarding vulnerable children and palliative nurses providing end-of-life care cannot afford the petrol they need to do their jobs in many cases. Will the Minister look to increase the mileage allowance payment rates?

Answer from James Cartlidge

The hon. Gentleman makes a fair point. I think we are all conscious of the general increase in costs faced by keyworkers, but let me make this point about the specific HMRC-approved mileage allowance payments rate. It is there as an administrative convenience for both employers and employees. Employers can choose to pay more, though they would have to check tax implications with the employee. We sympathise about fuel cost increases, which is why we cut petrol and diesel duty by 5p a litre for 12 months in the spring statement, worth £2.4 billion.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Increase in mileage allowance payment rates

How: Sympathise About Fuel Cost Increases, Cut Petrol And Diesel Duty

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Q3 Andrew Selous Con
Care & Healthcare Workers Employment
Context

Concerns have been raised that MPs receive significantly more mileage allowance than domiciliary care workers, prompting calls for alignment to ensure fair treatment of the lowest-paid public sector employees.

Question

I am sure that I am not the only Member to be concerned that, as MPs, we get considerably more than care workers doing domiciliary care visits. Can we try to even that out, so that some of the lowest-paid people in the public sector get a decent allowance?

Answer from James Cartlidge

My hon. Friend makes an important point. In my capacity as a constituency MP, I recently met with a domiciliary care company, and it is clear that this cost of running its vehicles is significant. These approved mileage allowance payments are really there as an administrative convenience for employers to support their staff. Employers can pay more but may have tax implications. The crucial point is that we cut the tax on both petrol and diesel, which was a significant measure.

Partly answered

Not addressed: Alignment of MP allowances with domiciliary care workers

How: Cut The Tax On Both Petrol And Diesel

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