BASW disappointed at UK Government’s apathy towards uprating the mileage allowance rate

BASW England and SASW recently wrote to the UK Chancellor urging him to deliver a ‘fair and reasonable’ increase in the non-taxable mileage allowance rate for social workers and social care staff.

Most local authorities in England and Scotland only allow social workers to claim back the non-taxable mileage rate of 45p/mile for work purposes, a rate which has remained unchanged since 2011. 

Given that social workers have faced a lost decade for pay growth in the UK labour market while also experiencing a 20% rise in the cost of fuel in the past five years alone, it’s high time the approved mileage allowance was uprated to a fairer level.

BASW England and SASW are therefore calling for the non-taxable allowance to be raised to 60p/mile. 

This increase would not only provide more adequate cover for work travel costs for current social workers, but also help to attract people to the profession at a time when it faces a serious recruitment and retention crisis UK-wide. This was the case set out by BASW England and SASW to the UK Government which you can read here.

However, in response, the Secretary to the Treasury, Gareth Davies MP gave little indication that the UK Government would agree to an increase anytime soon. 

His letter to BASW England National Director, Maris Stratulis and SASW National Director, Alison Bavidge said that the UK Government would “continue to keep the AMAP rate under review” but ultimately shifted the responsibility onto employers to pay above the AMAP rate. You can read the full response on the link below.

The bottom line is that it simply isn’t sustainable to keep expecting social workers to absorb the impact of rising costs to do their job. It is unfair, punitive and wrong. Ministers have the powers to address this issue now by uprating the approved mileage allowance payment, and they need to step up to the plate. 

BASW UK will therefore be writing to the UK Treasury to make raising the non-taxable mileage allowance rate for social workers and social care staff one of our priority asks for the Chancellor’s upcoming Autumn Statement. We will keep members informed of our submission in due course.