Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+

BenefitsCompany carsLatest NewsInflationPay & benefits

‘Ministers must increase employee mileage rates’ as costs soar

by Adam McCulloch 23 Jun 2022
by Adam McCulloch 23 Jun 2022 The ScORSA campaign and toolkit is highlighting the dangers of distraction, drink or drugs, speeding, and not wearing a seatbelt. Photo: Shutterstock
The ScORSA campaign and toolkit is highlighting the dangers of distraction, drink or drugs, speeding, and not wearing a seatbelt. Photo: Shutterstock

Government should increase the mileage rate that employees can claim when using their own cars for business travel, a leading accountancy and tax firm has urged.

The car mileage allowance has remained unchanged since 2011 and no longer covers the cost of fuel, let alone insurance and maintenance, said Hillier Hopkins LLP.

Employees can claim 45p for each mile of the first 10,000 miles per year and then 25p per mile over that. But these figures have not kept pace with rising cost of living and of car ownership.

“Given the soaring cost of petrol and increased cost of living, people who rely on their car for work are simply and unfairly being left out of pocket,” said Natasha Heron, tax manager at Hillier Hopkins.

She added: “Previous governments have eroded the tax benefits of company car ownership to such a point that few employers offer company cars as a benefit. Instead, they choose to reimburse staff for the mileage travelled in their personal cars.

Pay and the cost of living

Pay deals highest in 30 years, but outstripped by inflation

‘General strike’ threat looms as unions voice pay demands

Cost of living: real wages fall 2.2% in a year

“The government should as a matter of priority increase the mileage allowance that employees can claim from their employers, and that rate should be reviewed regularly, perhaps every two years. We would recommend that the rate be increased to £0.90 per mile for the next two years.”

She conceded that employers could choose to pay employees more than the current 45p rate but said this was considered a taxable benefit by HMRC and brought with it tax complications for both the employer and the employee.

There was a way round this, Heron said: “If, however, the government were to increase the mileage allowance rate, it would be tax neutral from both the employer and the employee. While this would represent an additional cost for businesses, those costs would be deducted against corporation tax.

“It would be a simple and quick way to help employees who have to rely on their car for work in a more targeted way than simply reducing fuel duty.”

Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance

Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday

OptOut
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Meanwhile, the electric car mileage allowance is at only £0.04 per mile since electricity is not considered fuel by HMRC. However, there is no limit so even after 10,000 miles per year are driven, the rate remains consistent.

Latest HR job opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more human resources jobs

Adam McCulloch

Adam McCulloch first worked for Personnel Today magazine in the early 1990s as a sub editor. He rejoined Personnel Today as a writer in 2017, covering all aspects of HR but with a special interest in diversity, social mobility and industrial relations. He has ventured beyond the HR realm to work as a freelance writer and production editor in sectors including travel (The Guardian), aviation (Flight International), agriculture (Farmers' Weekly), music (Jazzwise), theatre (The Stage) and social work (Community Care). He is also the author of KentWalksNearLondon. Adam first became interested in industrial relations after witnessing an exchange between Arthur Scargill and National Coal Board chairman Ian McGregor in 1984, while working as a temp in facilities at the NCB, carrying extra chairs into a conference room!

previous post
Three in 10 workers’ skill sets not being used to their full potential
next post
Brexit remains an ‘open wound’ for EU employees in the UK

You may also like

How salary sacrifice schemes have sealed the deal...

18 Dec 2024

EV salary sacrifice schemes are now a prime...

2 Dec 2024

Electric car fleets in UK face tariff uncertainty

14 Nov 2024

Real-time reporting of benefits in kind to start...

30 Oct 2024

Salary sacrifice could face ‘crackdown’ in Budget

29 Oct 2024

EV salary sacrifice: the second hand option

3 Oct 2024

Salary sacrifice boosts electric vehicle take-up

9 Sep 2024

Salary sacrifice car schemes: A guide for employers

16 Aug 2024

How to develop an electric vehicle salary sacrifice...

12 Aug 2024

‘My salary sacrifice electric car is saving me...

12 Aug 2024

  • Empowering working parents and productivity during the summer holidays SPONSORED | Businesses play a...Read more
  • AI is here. Your workforce should be ready. SPONSORED | From content creation...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2025

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2025 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • Brightmine
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Free trial
    • Request a quote
  • Webinars
  • Advertise
  • OHW+