Dudley Council pay out £8m mileage costs to staff in move branded 'disgraceful'
Cash-strapped Dudley Council has paid out more than £8 million in mileage costs to staff over the past five years – paying out 10p more per mile than the recommended amount.
Last year alone the council could have paid out around £200,000 more than it needed to.
The authority has been paying its workers 55p per mile, even though the mileage payment suggested by the Government's Revenue and Customs department is just 45p per mile.
Between January and December last year, the council paid over £1.2m in mileage expenses, although if it had stuck to the recommended rate that bill could have instead been £981,800.
The rate is 55p per mile for the first 8,500 miles and 13.7p per mile thereafter. If all the claims last year were at the 55p rate the council would have paid out an extra £218,200.
The figures follow the council's plans to raise council tax by nearly four per cent announced last November, which hopes to raise an additional £4m a year.
Councillor Bill Etheridge said: "At a time when Dudley Council has constantly been moaning about the lack of resources they have and the amounts of cuts to essential front line services that they've made, it's disgraceful to hear about these figures."
Councillor John Martin, cabinet member said: "We've scrapped user allowances, including those for bosses, and introduced a single mileage rate for all claims for essential work related travel.
"Further savings of around 20 per cent are anticipated in essential work travel mileage costs in the 2017/18 financial year."
