Tax-payers face having to foot £7.5m per year for obese motorists
How YOU are paying for overweight drivers’ cars – as tax-payers face having to foot £7.5million per year for obese motorists to get around
- Cars available for obese people include a Volkswagen or £40,000 Alfa Rimeo
Tax-payers are facing having to foot £7.5million per year for overweight motorists to get around – as around 2,000 obese people are eligible for discounted cars worth more than £40,000.
In England and Wales more than 1.5 million people are given the enhanced rate for mobility needs under the Personal Independence Payment (RIP), a £71 weekly benefit.
Those who receive this enhanced rate can use the money to lease significantly discounted cars through a scheme run by Motability Operations, according to The Telegraph.
Obesity, drug, alcohol misuse and Munchausen’s syndrome are some of the disabilities cited by successful claimants, according to stats by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
More than 85,700 of eligible candidates cite depressive disorders and mixed anxiety as their primary disability. This equates to £316.6million in taxpayer-funded weekly payments over a one-year period.
Eligible claimants who can afford to pay and upfront sum could lease a £40,000 Alfa Romeo for a one-off payment of £3,999 (File image of an Alfa Romeo)
Meanwhile 24,529 cite Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) at an annual cost of £90.5million to the taxpayer.
Around 4,200 claimants are disabled due to alcohol misuse, while 1,123 suffer due to drug misuse, equating to a combined annual payment of more than £19.6million.
Claimants are required to score a minimum of 12 points across two DWP assessments that decide how their condition restricts them getting around or prepping and carrying out a journey.
For instance a person could score 12 points if they are unable to follow the route of a familiar journey alone due to ‘overwhelming psychological distress’.
Additionally, a person might score 12 points on the ‘moving around’ section of the assessment if they fail to move more than one metre.
Eligible claimants who can afford an upfront fee could lease a £40,000 Alfa Romeo for a one-time payment of £3,999.
Cars available to those eligible for lease through the Mobility scheme with no upfront fee include a Volkswagen T-Cross which can cost as much as £25,000.
A driver who leases the same Volkswagen over a three-year period could expect to pay £255.77 every month and pay a £1,500 deposit.
Tax-payers are facing having to foot £7.5million per year for overweight motorists to get around (File image)
Someone paying a deposit of a similar amount for the same Alfa Romeo could pay £403.52 every month for the same deal.
These vehicles would need the full weekly enhanced mobility payment to be used to lease the car. Other cars have cheaper monthly payments.
READ MORE: How obesity is draining the NHS of up to £14BILLION of much-needed cash every year: Fat people cost TWICE as much, analysis claims
The scheme is packaged with insurance cover for as many as three named drivers, frequent services and routine repairs, breakdown cover and charge point access for electric cars.
UK business spokesman for Reform UK, Rupert Lowe, said: ‘It is not the responsibility of the taxpayer to fund travel for people with mental health challenges such as anxiety or self-inflicted problems like obesity.’
Chairman of the National Obesity Forum, Tam Fry, said the money spent on funding enhanced mobility payments for overweight people was a policy failure.
He told The Telegraph: ‘The Motability scheme is absolutely essential for the very overweight and immobile. It is very regrettable that the cost of caring for their needs is so high but taxpayers must bear it.’
A DWP spokesman said: ‘All assessments are carried out by qualified health professionals to make sure support is given to those who genuinely need it, and less than a quarter of PIP claims cleared up to July were entitled to the enhanced mobility rate.’
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