Council employees being paid more than Govt. ‘RRP’ on mileage

The figures were obtained by the Taxpayers’ Alliance which investigated councils across the UK.

Ballymena Borough Council was one of 24 authorities in the province to respond.

They each currently pay staff up to 65p per mile. - The price approved by Revenue and Customs is 40p per mile.

And this equates to councils paying up to 62% more than the recommended amount.

The figures reveal, however, that Ballymena Borough Council continues to pay one of the lowest NI amounts in staff mileage per annum.

In 2008-2009 the bill was £73,371 (when it paid 58.70p/mile), rising to £81,020 in 2009 to 2010 (when it paid 60.1p/mile). The Ballymena authority’s mileage rate for 2010-11 is 65p/mile.

Belfast City Council paid the highest amount in staff mileage, last year, at £495,758.

The next highest payment was made by Armagh City Council which paid £398,379 in the same period, while Coleraine Council’s mileage bill was third-highest at £313,566.

The Taxpayers’ Alliance also said a significant number of councils could not provide mileage data.

Northern Ireland Local Government Association vice-president Arnold Hatch accused the Taxpayer’s Alliance of “nit-picking” because people were “only doing their job”.

“If you take the cost of running a vehicle, including maintenance et cetera, even to change a set of tyres, is £400,” he said.

“They don’t get paid for taking their car to work, for example. They are not making money. Anybody getting 65p has to report that on their income tax return and it would be subject to tax.”