We believe in volunteering for all, but we know times are tough for volunteers.
The cost-of-living crisis is having a major impact on recruitment and retention of unpaid drivers, with many people no longer able to afford to be part of helping to deliver the amazing work of Community Transport due to soaring motoring costs.
This’s why CTA has been leading a campaign calling for the UK Government to conduct an urgent, fair and transparent review of the Approved Mileage Allowance Payment (AMAP), which delivers a fully funded uplift.
The AMAP sets the the ceiling rate at which volunteer drivers can be reimbursed without any impact on their tax obligations or benefit entitlements. The AMAP rate of 45p per mile was last reviewed in 2012. Since then, motoring costs (including fuel, insurance, equipment and repairs) have increased by over 44%. An uplift is long overdue. No volunteer should be left out of pocket.
Although the AMAP rate is not a legal obligation, an uplift could increase costs for Community Transport operators. We recognise that this is an area of concern. We’re therefore also calling for all grants and contracts from government, councils or other funders to reflect the real costs of motoring in 2023, including any AMAP uplift for all Community Transport volunteers. An AMAP uplift must be properly and fully resourced.
Over many months, we’ve been working hard to engage with MP and UK Ministers and their officials, as well as key stakeholders and supporters, to gather data and evidence, raise awareness of the issue in the media and build support for our call for a fair deal for volunteers, as well as fair funding for organisations.
We’ve assembled a coalition of 10 leading voluntary sector organisations across the UK who back our campaign:
Communities 1st
Volunteer Now (NI)
National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO)
Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO)
Scottish Volunteering Forum
Volunteer Scotland
Volunteering Matters
Royal Voluntary Service
Wales Council for Voluntary Action
We’ve met with MP, Ministers and civil servants, we’ve submitted formal representations to HM Treasury for the 2024 Spring Budget, 2023 Autumn Budget, 2023 Spring Budget and the 2022 Autumn Budget and we’ve produced other resources like this summary briefing for MPs.
We’re proud to have secured support from so many – not only from CTA members and our coalition partners, but also from dozens of MPs from all parties in a Westminster Hall debate, as well as from the Welsh Government in the Senedd.
Thank you to all of you who filled in our questionnaire and wrote to your local MP’s, we have been getting the responses back over the last few weeks and it really helps to feed into our campaign to get an updated view of the government’s position. It was pleasing to see the call for a review of the AMAP rate for volunteer drivers was raised in a parliamentary debate recently off the back of one of our members writing to their MP.
If you haven’t had the chance to write to your local MP and would like to please find the template document here.
Make sure you keep us up to date with any responses you get or share how this is impacting your service by emailing comms@ctauk.org. For any media or press enquiries, contact us on media@ctauk.org.
Insurance
The rising cost of insurance is a major concern for our campaign and a major barrier to volunteering. But we’re also hearing from many voluntary organisations across the Community Transport sector and beyond of volunteer drivers struggling to secure or keep insurance.
The Association of British Insurers have advice on how to tell your insurer and a list of insurers who do not charge extra for volunteer driving.
For information on everything from getting insurance and managing expenses to maintaining health and safety, take a look at NCVO’s guide for volunteer drivers.