New travel policy which includes 15p mileage rate pays off for district council

Aylesbury Vale District Council has saved £90,000 and halved emissions thanks to a new travel policy which includes paying low mileage rates to staff using private vehicles.
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It now has eight environmentally-friendly pool cars and pays staff claiming mileage for private vehicles just 15p mileage to encourage their use.

The policy was introduced at the end of 2014, in partnership with Enterprise, and all aspects of employee mobility were reviewed during the planning stages.

The council said the policy provides employees with alternative options to reclaiming mileage on private vehicles.

For example, eight rental pool cars, sourced through Enterprise Car Club, are now provided for employees making short journeys, along with Enterprise Rent-A-Car daily hire cars for longer journeys.

These have replaced the council’s previous fleet of vehicles ‘as a less expensive and more environmentally friendly option, which ensures that low-emission car club vehicles are used more frequently’.

Staff members who prefer to use their own vehicles for work are expected to complete regular checks including vehicular maintenance and condition, insurance and driving licence status, as well as personal health and fitness levels.

The council’s mileage reimbursement allowance has also been set at a low 15p per mile, to encourage employees to use the pool cars, three of which are electric.

The new initiatives have also allowed the council to reintroduce a 50% subsidy on four local bus routes.

Alan Asbury, sustainability and energy manager at AVDC, said: “Our new travel policy was based on an in-depth understanding of how our drivers behaved and their needs in terms of mobility.

“Enterprise helped us to analyse where, how often and why staff were travelling, which was vital if we wanted them to do it more efficiently.

“Using a car club has helped us save tens of thousands of pounds, and Enterprise has also helped us to work with our employees to understand the aims of the programme and demonstrate what we are trying to achieve.

“It has been highly successful and we’ve now been invited to speak with other public and private sector organisations to show them what we did and how we did it.”