The company providing cars to hundreds of thousands of disabled people across the UK is cracking down on abuse of the Motability scheme.
Motability Operations is under pressure to tackle fraudulent use of the vehicles, which are leased in exchange for disability benefits money.
There is increasing concern that the system – aimed at helping disabled people get around – is being taken advantage of by benefits claimants and their friends and family.
The i Paper last week revealed that the company removed vehicles from 11,000 people in the past three years, rising from 2,488 cases of misuse in 2022 to 5,300 such cases in 2024.
There have been reports of young people boasting about their motability vehicle on social media and suggesting it was easy to get one – with one balaclava-wearing TikTok user explaining how he got his £31,000 car for “essentially free”.
As Motability Operations steps up its monitoring and reviews some of its rules, we took a closer look at the different ways people exploit the system.
People claiming personal independence payments (PIP) are eligible for a Motability car, so long as they get the “enhanced” mobility rate of this disability benefit, which is worth £77 a week.
Claimants are allowed to have three people on the insurance. It means that two appointed friends, family members or carers can drive the car, so long as they are helping the disabled claimant with their needs.
Personal use of Motability cars by these assistance drivers is one reason claimants are being expelled from the scheme.
The i Paper understands that the company recently removed a benefits claimant after its tracking system discovered the car was being used to travel between his son’s home and his son’s place of work.
The car was also used to drive between the son’s home and his grandchild’s school each day.
Motability Operations has been able to identify such misuse because of data recorded from tracking devices. The company tells people upfront if a tracker is being installed.
The devices are fitted onto a vehicle if the company decides the arrangements come with higher risk of possible misuse, such as if none of the claimant’s appointed drivers live at their home.
Motability chief executive Andrew Miller has said the company is looking again at the number of people allowed to use each car, reviewing whether it is being “too generous” with the insurance rules.
Benefits fraud
It is the Government that decides whether someone’s condition merits the enhanced mobility rate of PIP. And it is the Government that decides whether someone should no longer get the disability benefit.
However, Motability Operations has relationships with UK police forces through a “memorandum of understanding”. The company works with officers to probe possible misuse and can help trigger benefits fraud investigations.
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There have been some Motability car users who been taken to court and jailed.
Ann Hooper, a Motability user, was sentenced to nine months in prison in 2021 for fraudulently claiming £33,000 in disability benefits for herself and two sons.
Surveillance footage showed her walking around a supermarket in Devon, despite having claimed to be “too disabled to move”. One son was one spotted weightlifting at a gym, despite her claim he needed a wheelchair.
Linda Hoey, another Motability car user, was given a suspended jail term of 18 months in 2017 after falsely claiming £65,000 in disability benefits. She was photographed snorkelling while on holiday in the Maldives despite claiming she could barely walk.
Using a Motability car to run a business like a taxi or delivery service is another reason people are removed.
The i Paper understands the company’s tracking devices have been used to discover late-night runs from 11pm and 6am.
Motability Operations has said it wanted to increase use of tracking devices to tackle misuse problems.
Its chief executive said greater monitoring could be used to counter some of the “valid” claims that people are “using the scheme in not the way it’s intended”.
Sub-leasing, lending and selling
Disabled users sign a lease agreement to get access to a Motability vehicle.
They hand over most or all of their £300 monthly mobility benefits, along with an advance payment of anywhere between £499 and £8,000, depending on the car’s price.
Lending the car to someone not on the insurance, sub-leasing it, or selling it on, are all forbidden and will see disabled claimants stripped of access.
Motability Operations can remove people from the scheme if they are found to be using a car to commit any criminal act – not only benefits fraud.
Driving without insurance or driving while you’re banned is also in violation of the lease agreement.
Leases can also be terminated if people are found not taking good care of a car. The company can also send users the bill for any repairs.
Couple Ann and Bernard McDonagh were last year convicted over shoplifting and “dine and dash” theft offences, driving away from restaurants without paying the bill. Ann, jailed for 12 months, was found to have made off in a blue Ford Transit van obtained under the Motability scheme after one of her shoplifting trips.
Criticisms and defence of the scheme
Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice has claimed that the Motability scheme has been “hijacked” by “freeloaders”.
Recent reports have claimed that some young people are boasting about their motability car on social media. But benefits experts have said it was understandable that people celebrate their new vehicles if entitled to them.
One TikTok influencer, wearing a red balaclava, produced videos in which he claimed to get a £31,000 car for “essentially free”. But his account has been taken down.
There is also evidence of “rage-baiting” on social media, where some apparently able-bodied people pretend to get a Motability car to “get a rise out of people”.
One young man claimed on TikTok that the Government had “bought him” a £34,000 car because of his autism. The i Paper understands that Motability Operations looked into the video and discovered he had been rejected for a car since he was not eligible.
There has also been criticism that some are using the scheme to get luxury models such as Mercedes Benz and BMWs worth over £50,000.
But higher up-front payments of up to £8,000 are needed for the most expensive cars. Motability has said only 7 per cent of its stock are premium vehicles.
A spokesperson from Motability Operations said the “life-changing” scheme now helped 815,000 people, giving them “the freedom to get to work, school, medical appointments, and live independently”.
They said the growth in misuse reflected the rise in the number of Britons getting disability benefits, with the PIP claimant count expanding from 2.8 million to 3.7 million since 2022.
The spokesperson added: “Misuse of the scheme is unacceptable. When concerns are raised – whether by our own teams or from external sources – we investigate thoroughly and take appropriate action.
“We’re strengthening our approach to tackling abuse, including working closely with national policing bodies to investigate allegations of fraud or malpractice.”
TikTok has been approached for comment.
‘It’s a lifeline – I wouldn’t manage with my car’
Yolanda Barker, a 52-year-old from Kent, has a Motability car which has been specially adapted for her wheelchair.
Yolanda Barker from Kent has multiple sclerosis and relies on PIP and ESA benefits (Photo: Supplied)She has secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (MS), suffering from pain all over her body, serious fatigue and brain fog. Because of poor eyesight, she relies on her husband to drive her around.
She receives around £600 a month in PIP. Just over £300, the mobility part of her benefit, goes to the lease for her Peugeot. She also had to pay around £4,000 up front.
“It’s a lifeline – we couldn’t afford a car otherwise,” said Barker. “It’s so important to get to appointments, for therapies, to get to voluntary work I do. I don’t know how people like me would manage without their car.”
She added: “I think we should praise Motability for catching people out if they are misusing it. But it’s a small proportion of people. There are clear rules in place to deal with it.”
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