Yesterday morning, we made our way to County Hall to talk with workers taking part in industrial action.
The IW Council want to remove a car allowance that is paid to council workers who have to use their cars to carry out their work for the council.
Those affected include staff in children services; social workers; planning department; highways; occupational therapy and education.
Previously an annual amount of either £795 (for cars up to 999 cc) and £906 (over 1000cc) per annum was paid to these council staff on a monthly basis to cover wear and tear to the car, the need for business insurances, etc. They also received a mileage rate of 33.6p and 37.1p per mile respectively.
Unison tell us that the council has changed contracts and in place of the previous monthly payment, are proposing to scrap the allowance for anyone not claiming over 6,000 miles per annum and replace it with a slight increase on the mileage rate.
The new rates will be 42.9p per mile and 47.7p respectively.
Mark Chiverton from Unison told us that the Isle of Wight council is the only council in the UK that isn’t paying ‘essential car user allowance,’ while requiring people to use their cars for their council work.
The response from those who will be affected is to withdraw the use of their personal cars for council business. They will use the bus or cars hired by the council to carry out their work.
Here’s the interview we did with Mark Chiverton today
[audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/mark-chiverton-iwc-car-payment-march.mp3]
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