Public sector staff are being left thousands of pounds out of pocket because ministers have failed to update national mileage rates, according to a new UNISON report.
Research by the union and the RAC found that staff who need to drive for work, including district nurses, care staff, housing officers and local government employees, are up to £6,000 a year worse off because the current 45p rate has not changed in over a decade.
According to the report, HM Revenue and Custom should increase the allowance to 63.4p a mile based on increased motoring costs and inflation.
The financial ‘mileage gap’ means public sector workers are effectively subsidising their employers for their work-related journeys, the report says.
UNISON general secretary Christina McAnea said: ‘Mileage rates are woefully out of date. No one should pay a penalty effectively for doing their job, least of all those providing vital services.
‘Petrol prices have skyrocketed. Care workers, nurses and other frontline employees can barely make their incomes stretch to cover the basics, let alone the costs of using their vehicles for work.
‘The government must tackle low pay now, not threaten to hold public sector wages down. Essential staff shouldn't be out of pocket for going to work. A failure to act now risks worsening the already dire staffing crisis.’
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