Taxpayers foot bill for health bosses' top-of-range car perks

TAXPAYERS are paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds on perks subsidising top-of-the-range cars for NHS bosses in Yorkshire – even if they do not use the vehicles for work.

An investigation by the Yorkshire Post has established that scores of senior managers are being paid lump sums to run vehicles or handed the keys to cars leased by their trusts.

One trust last year awarded lucrative car allowances worth 28,000 to six executives who claimed less than 400 between them in mileage.

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The exact scale of individual car packages is complicated but the total worth of deals in the region calculated by the taxman was nearly 350,000 in 2009-10.

The analysis of 40 NHS trusts also found vast differences in claims for transport, with one board being paid 2,000 in travel expenses, while others submitted claims for more than 20 times as much.

Last night unions criticised the scale of perks amid growing controversy over the scale of rewards for top public sector executives.

Figures show directors at Yorkshire Ambulance Service accrued the highest benefits-in-kind under car deals, valued by the taxman as worth more than 30,000, followed by top managers at the regional health authority who declared 29,900 in benefits-in-kind from running lease cars, down from 52,000 the previous year.

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The highest benefit-in-kind for a lease car was 9,100 for NHS Doncaster chief executive Annette Laban, followed by Rotherham Hospital chief executive Brian James, whose deal was worth 8,900. Some 25 board executives had deals worth more than 5,000.

At NHS Rotherham, which pays for health services in the town, six executives were eligible for payments of 4,721 in 2009-10, worth a total of 27,900. Three claimed no business mileage and the remaining three travelled less than 3,000 miles on the roads between them for work.

NHS Bradford and Airedale chief executive Simon Morritt received a lease car valued as a benefit-in-kind of 6,700 but claimed just 30 in mileage and 3,440 on rail travel.

Unison's head of health for Yorkshire, John Cafferty, said front-line staff were already having lease cars taken away due to cuts in spending. Packages for directors should be re-examined as further cutbacks were imposed.

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"Some trusts use these devices as additional packages to attract the 'top talent' but when public services are under such constraints these amounts running into hundreds of thousands of pounds can be better spent on front-line services," he said.

"We have got to have regard to the general state of public finances. We cannot have a manager allowed to keep a lease car at a cost of thousands and at the same time see a low-paid healthcare assistant being laid-off."

NHS chiefs defended the payments, claiming they were vital to attract the highest calibre managers.

Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust said it was a "high performing trust and to achieve this needs high performing leadership and management".

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"Like any other business in the region we aim to attract and retain the best staff, from both the private and public sectors," said a spokeswoman.

A Yorkshire Ambulance spokeswoman said the vehicles were "essential" for its executive team.

"To run our services effectively and ensure we continue to provide high quality care for our patients, they are often required to travel extensively throughout the region to meet staff, who operate from over 100 different locations, and numerous partner organisations," she said.

A NHS Rotherham spokeswoman said: "All directors are eligible to receive either a lease car allowance or to receive an allowance of 4,721 as part of their salary."

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Some directors chose not to claim mileage for short journeys, which was reflected in the low claims.

NHS Bradford and Airedale said its lease car scheme "helped to attract and retain high-quality executive directors within our organisation".

Rail travel costs could also include "necessary travel costs of other members of staff within a director's immediate team". Where no business mileage had been claimed, it did not mean no journeys had been made, only that no claims were submitted.

A regional health authority spokesman said its staff had to attend meetings across Yorkshire.

"Allocation of lease cars is agreed on the basis of value for money tests and is in line with national policy agreements."