BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars removed from Motability scheme

BMW and Mercedes-Benz cars will be removed from the Motability scheme with immediate effect.

Motability Operations, which runs the vehicle leasing scheme designed to help people with disabilities, said that the “premium brand vehicles” would be withdrawn after it emerged that 85 per cent of claimants make additional payments to get better cars.

Audi, Lexus, and Alfa Romeo vehicles have also been removed.

The scheme allows disability benefit claimants to exchange their mobility allowance for a lease on a new car. Cars acquired through the scheme are exempt from VAT and insurance premium tax.

The scheme currently leases about 300,000 vehicles a year, of which only 10 per cent are wheelchair-adapted cars. Speaking earlier this month Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, said that she would be “comfortable” with removing “really high-end cars” from the scheme.

There have previously been calls for it to have stricter rules to stop a surge in claims from people with mental health problems. Eligibility is a decision for ministers and is being reviewed as part of the Stephen Timms personal independence payments review, which is due to publish its findings in August next year.

The move came as it emerged that the taxpayers’ bill for a benefit scheme aimed at moving people with disabilities back into the workforce has doubled since the pandemic.

Spending on the government-funded Access to Work scheme, which can offer almost £70,000 a year to individual recipients to fund equipment such as wobble boards, noise-cancelling headphones or services including a personal work coach, jumped to £321 million in the year to March.

Data published by the Department for Work and Pensions showed the bill for the scheme has increased by 22 per cent from the previous year and has more than doubled in its total expenditure before the pandemic, when the bill totalled £154 million.

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Sir Stephen Timms, the minister for social security and disability, previously said the problem was the “huge numbers of people wanting it”, adding that it was a struggle “to keep up with the demand”.

No formal diagnosis required

The initiative is available to anyone who is in work or who has a job interview and lives with a disability or health condition in Britain. It is intended to boost employment among those with a disability or a mental health condition.

No formal diagnosis is needed to qualify and no assessment is required “if a customer knows their support requirements”.

People who are deaf or hard of hearing form the group with the highest expenditure on the scheme, making up 28 per cent of this year’s bill. They were followed by those with mental health conditions and those with difficulty in seeing, both of which accounting for 12 per cent of the spending.

The largest group in receipt of the benefit were those with mental health conditions, who made up 38 per cent of the 61,670 people approved in the past year.

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The next largest group was those with learning disabilities, who made up 11 per cent of the total recipients, followed by those who are deaf or hard of hearing and those who are visually impaired.

A support worker remained the most common service that was approved in the financial year ending March 2025, with 32,370 people receiving one under the scheme. Special aids and equipment were the second most common approval on the scheme, with 22,900 people receiving them.

More than 10,000 customers, or 18 per cent of recipients, had their primary medical condition categorised as “other”, which includes people with neurodiverse conditions such as autism and ADHD.

Wobble boards are sometimes used by people with ADHD who struggle to sit still.

The number of people who had any Access to Work application approved decreased for the first time since the pandemic — down 10 per cent from 68,730 recipients last year.

The government has reduced the funding for the scheme, with applications increasingly facing reductions on renewal. About 74,000 people received an Access to Work payment in the year ending March 2025.

DWP figures show 75 per cent of these claims were made by people in work, while 12 per cent were self-employed and 9 per cent were unemployed. The average payment for each recipient was £4,000.

A DWP spokesman said: “Access to Work supports thousands of sick or disabled people to start or stay in work, but the scheme we inherited is failing employees and employers.

“That’s why we’re working with disabled people and their organisations to improve the scheme, ensuring people have the support, skills and opportunities to move into good, secure jobs as part of our plan for change.”