Motability boss bags car allowance and payrise as scheme hits £3bn | Politics | News
The boss of the controversial Motability scheme, which provided luxury cars to benefit claimants, pocketed a £924,000 pay packet while raking in £3bn from taxpayers.
Andrew Millar has seen his salary soar after receiving a £300,000 bonus and a nine per cent pay rise, taking his base salary to just over half a million a year.
The fat cat chief executive also benefited from a £21,000 car allowance and private medical care; these privileges were partly funded by a scheme that allowed people on benefits to claim BMWs and Audis at no cost to them.
Millar, who previously worked as an executive at the left-wing Guardian newspaper, has seen his salary increase since taking up the top job at Motability in 2021.
Last year it made £748,000, before this year’s big increase; It was a wage increase that sparked outrage as hard-working taxpayers footed the bill for disability claimants to drive brand new luxury bikes.
The plan has sparked outrage across the country as it has been slammed by critics for allowing welfare claimants access to expensive new car models as working families struggle with the cost of living.
Last month Chancellor Rachel Reeves said she would limit the excesses of the scheme after mounting pressure on claimants who drive top-end BMW and Mercedes-Benz vehicles.
Motability was forced to promise to stop claimants from accessing top-end cars and instead encourage the use of more British-made models.
But Mr Millar’s massive pay rise shows the gravy train continues for bosses running taxpayer-funded schemes even as ministers claim they are tightening the budget.
The company’s accounts show revenues rose by 4.1 per cent to £7.2bn, with car hire alone rising by 23.5 per cent.
A staggering 890,000 people across the UK are on the scheme; This means one in five new cars sold in Britain are Motability vehicles paid for by the taxpayer.
Motability defended the huge pay rise to the Daily Telegraph, claiming it reflected the increased “complexity” in running the scheme.
Mr Millar previously ran Guardian Media Group (GMG), which at the time owned Autotrader. He served as GMG’s chief financial officer before becoming chief executive from 2010 to 2015.
He currently serves as a non-executive director at Channel 4.
The fat cat pay packet comes as new forecasts show one in eight people in the UK will be on disability benefits by the end of this decade.
Government figures now predict 8.7 million Britons will be claiming disability benefits by 2030, putting further pressure on taxpayers.
Motability was founded as a charity in 1977, but is now owned by a consortium of banks including Barclays, HSBC, Lloyds and NatWest.
The company still operates as a not-for-profit organization and lenders do not receive dividends, but Mr Millar retains a pay packet of close to £1 million.
He is one of several fat cat chief executives of groups that receive huge taxpayer dollars.
HS2 chief executive Mark Wild is being paid £600,000 a year to run the rail project, which is over budget.
Anthony Kirby, chief executive of major prisons outsourcing provider Serco, receives £845,000, while Capita, which helps raise the BBC license fee, gives its chief executive Adolfo Hernandez a salary of £700,000.
Critics have long argued that bosses running taxpayer-funded programs should not be paid private sector salaries when their income comes from the public purse.
The mobility scheme allows disabled people with certain benefits to lease a new car every three years using their mobility allowance.
Supporters argue it provides vital independence for disabled people, while critics say the scheme is bloated and allows access to luxury vehicles that ordinary taxpayers cannot afford.
