Community Nurses More Worried About Their Travel Costs Than Their Workload, UK

Main Category: Nursing / Midwifery
Article Date: 25 Feb 2008 - 1:00 PDT

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A survey carried out by the Community District Nursing Association (CDNA) has found that Nurses are being routinely left out of pocket when using their own cars to visit patients. Almost every Nurse questioned, 96.1%, expressed their concern about the cost of using their own vehicle for work and the short-fall between the cost of fuel and the amount they are reimbursed.

In the survey of members across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, Nurses claimed to be more concerned about their car costs than their workload.

Fuel costs have increased by an average of 14% each year between January 2006 and January 2008, and this month saw petrol prices rise to 104p. The majority of CDNA members use their own cars to visit patients and have no realistic alternative open to them. Many are funding their employment out of their own pocket by hundreds of pounds each year and are effectively subsidising the running of the National Health Service.

The situation could be set to get even worse, when Chancellor Alastair Darling announces changes to the way in which any employee can claim back their expenses for running a car for work in his Budget on 12th March.

The HMRC's Authorised Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) are under review and may be reduced in a misguided effort to encourage staff to driver fewer miles. The CDNA is concerned that members will be penalised even further just because of where their patients live and that the AMAPs rates, set back in April 2002 when petrol was 75p a litre, are long overdue for an increase.

Chair of the CDNA, Rowena Smith, comments: "Our members have been concerned for some time that their motoring costs are not being met by their expenses. This survey shows just how bad the situation has become. While we support any reasonable effort to reduce carbon emissions, it must not be done at the expense of nurses or their patients. Nurses along with many other British workers cannot simply change the way they use their cars for work - it is built into their contract and penalising them for not having a company car is nothing short of a stealth tax on employment."

- Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) allow employees to reclaim the costs of business travel in their own vehicles. The current rates were set in 2002 at 40 pence per mile for the first 10,000 business miles per year and 25 pence per mile thereafter. The AA estimates that between 3 and 5 million employees use their own cars for work.

- The 2007 Budget Report announced that 'ahead of the Pre-Budget Report, the Government will consider the case for changing the structure of AMAPs to align the tax/NICs treatment and to ensure that rates and thresholds are set at an appropriate level to promote environmentally friendly business travel'. The October Pre-Budget Report however did not contain any changes to AMAPs, instead it announced 'In advance of the Budget, the Government will continue to consider the representations received from industry'.

- The Community and District Nursing Association (CDNA) is a TUC & STUC affiliated union representing thousands of members, UK wide. The CDNA is the only specialised independent union and association that solely represents community and district nurses.

- Individual nurse case studies relating to personal car use for work are available from the CDNA.

Community & District Nursing Association

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