If you use X or read the right-wing press, you will probably be aware that there has been a campaign against Motability for several months. Though founded in misinformation, it has built up increasing momentum, tapping into the resentment felt by ordinary people who are struggling with the cost of living and looking for someone to blame. For many disabled people, however, the announcement in last week’s budget about impending changes to the scheme came out of the blue, and it has sent a shockwave through the community.
The myths about Motability
The attacks on Motability hinge on the myth that it makes vehicles available for free, and that they’re available to people with minor disabilities which don’t affect their mobility. These things are simply not true.
Welfare payments for disabled people (Adult Disability Payment in Scotland, and Personal Independence Payment in England, Wales and Northern Ireland) come in two blocks: funding for care, and funding to tackle mobility problems. According to their needs, people can be awarded just one, or both, with different levels to account for the different amounts of help they might need. The Motability scheme is only open to people in receipt of the highest level of mobility-related benefit. In most cases, all the benefit must be given up in exchange for either a vehicle or a powered wheelchair, through Motability. People who need both have to find the money for one of them by themselves.
Many disabled people need adaptations made to cars before they can use them – anything from adjusting the controls to work around limb impairments, to removing the driving seat so that a wheelchair can fit into that space. They need to pay for these themselves. Obviously, it’s very difficult for people who need adaptations like this to make use of other options like renting vehicles.
Labour now plans to change the Motability scheme so that its users don’t have the option of making additional payments to access ‘luxury’ vehicles through it. What this means in practice is that it will be very difficult, if not impossible, for the most severely disabled people to get vehicles big enough for their wheelchairs and other essential equipment they might need.
Ongoing political attacks on disabled people
Rachel Reeves has denied that the changes to Motability were inspired by the online or newspaper campaigns. She has also insisted that disabled people welcome the changes, despite criticism from multiple disabled people’s organisations. The changes follow the government’s attempts to enact sweeping cuts to disability benefits, which resulted in a public outcry. Although cuts did take place, with impacts which will become more severe over time, they did not end up going as far as the government wanted. The government anticipates that the Motability cuts could save the Treasury as much as £1bn per year, though this does not account for the loss of tax revenue likely to result from disabled people losing access to work as a result of the changes.
What is a ‘British made’ car?
One way in which the government hopes to make further gains out of the changes is by restricting Motability to ‘British cars’. Although this may make a catchy soundbite, and will will undoubtedly please the right, it’s not at all clear what it means. Some manufacturers based in the UK do their manufacturing overseas. Others manufacture vehicles here but depend heavily on imported parts. Meanwhile, the UK is a major manufacturer of parts then shipped overseas, and the Treasury might actually benefit more if Motability users choose vehicles made by foreign companies rather than by UK manufacturers.
The impact on disabled people
For many disabled people, using public transport is difficult or impossible. Many minor train stations are still inaccessible for wheelchair users or people with significant walking difficulties. Bus stops can be difficult to reach and may not offer anywhere to sit while waiting, plus there’s no guarantee of being able to physically access the bus when it comes. The old-fashioned attitude that disabled people can wait to be collected in minibuses for access to things like hospital appointments implies that they have no right to normal social lives and takes no account of the need to commute to and from work. This makes cars essential for significant numbers of people – but because disabled people still earn less than others, they are often impossible to buy.
Further restricting the cars available through Motability, as the government plans, will make it impossible for many disabled people currently in work to stay there, making them and their families worse off and also increasing the welfare bill. By decreasing people’s ability to get out and about, it will also make it harder for them to access regular medical check-ups and accessible exercise facilities, which is likely to increase long term costs for the NHS.
For a government which wants to be seen to make tough decisions, disabled people may be a tempting target, but in the end, attacking Motability will hurt everyone.
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