Another Fat cat charity boss !

Is questionable whether this is a charity in the true sense, even though one part of the business is registered as such. It’s about time less questionable enterprises were given charity status. Another I’d remove from that category are private schools.

I found (and lost) a list giving the top charity bosses salaries. Its stopped me giving to big charities altogether. I now only give to small local ones.

Should a (so called) charity funded by the tax payer be allowed to hoard £billions ? This is clearly not a charity at all but a very wealthy business .

I dont give to big charities (with the exception of Cancer Research) any longer either Nfk as I think we are seeing this kind of thing more and more.

Just to be clear, Motabity isn’t a charity which people donate to.
It’s only ‘taxpayer-funded’ in the sense that people who get higher rate disability benefit are entitled to use it.
“The Scheme is open to anyone who receives the Higher Rate Mobility Component of Disability Living Allowance, the Enhanced Mobility Component of Personal Independence Payment or the War Pensioners' Mobility Supplement. As of April 2018, the amount payable for HRDLA or the Enhanced Mobility rate of PIP and WPMS is £59.75 per week.[4] Those wishing to lease through Motability must have at least twelve months' award length remaining when they apply. The Care Component of DLA cannot be used to fund a vehicle through the scheme” from Wikipedia.
People in receipt of benefits are just as entitled to choose what to spend their money on as anyone else.
You could equally well argue that football players’ salaries are taxpayer-funded, because taxpayers choose to go and watch football matches.

I’m not in anyway justifying this CEO’s salary or lifestyle, but it seems to me that Motability was originally founded with good intentions, but it’s just a company. To call the CEO a ‘fat-cat charity boss’ and use his lifestyle to have a swipe at charities in general, isn’t fair to genuine charities.

Thank you for comprehensive breakdown of Motability JaneA but I don’t recall ever saying it was a charity that anyone donated to in the traditional way, as they do other charities. I said that this is a Tax payer funded “charity” so we almost all contribute towards this man (and a few of his colleagues ) very large salaries, bonuses and luxury lifestyles.

I fail to see any connection whatsoever between someone choosing to spend their money on watching football (what a weird suggestion) and our taxes being handed over to this operation. Unless of course you are just deliberately nit picking my perfectly genuine post.

Gilly the title of your thread is ‘another Fat cat charity boss’.
That suggested to me you were having a go at bosses of charities.
Just because a company, or a school, has charitable status doesn’t mean it’s a charity in the usual sense of an organisation to which people make private donations. Motability isn’t like that. It’s a business.
That’s all I’m saying.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/amp/business-46470079

MP Frank Field has branded this as obscene and there is to be a public enquiry. Quite right too.

JaneA there are lots of very greedy “fat cat” charity bosses ( just google them there are plenty) creaming hundreds of thousands of pounds from the top . Money generously given by you or I in the hope that it goes to good use. Some of it does of course but not until after the fat cat has had hit or her cream !

It seems to me that the way (big) charities are run now is on a business model. Presumably this is to maximise their fund-raising, but along the way it also antagonises supporters.

I’m not sure what your argument is to be honest Jane Motability operations Ltd is an extremely rich public limited company running a charity raking in £2billion of tax payers money every year . Something smells very fishy .

Charities are BIG business. This salary/bonus and possibly other perks?? seem ridiculous

I agree, Gillybob. As a tax payer, I want to know how Motability has become so lucrative as a business. I know from personal experience that the Motobility scheme is a very generous one for recipients but for it to be extremely rich on top of this is a concern. It may well have been started with good intentions but some scrutiny is now required.

That really is totally unacceptable.

I usually give to Crisis at Christmas, but have had second thoughts this year - I am thinking of doing a Tesco order and getting it delivered to one of two local charities that feed the homeless - all run by volunteers, so no fat cat salaries.

Jane that’s exactly the point was making. There are charities who rely on fund raising and others who really should not be accorded the benefits that having charity status brings.

The distinction is important.

I don't understand that either Parsley apart from the ridiculous salary scale they apparently have millions in the bank. How can this be? I agree close scrutiny is essential.

Unfortunately in a market force led society, to get the best person for the job they have to be paid the "going" rate.

Morality does not play a part in business and these large charities are run like large corporations nowadays.

I do not support any of the large nation/world wide charities, preferring local small ones, were you can see the difference made, these are often run by volunteers who only claim for expenses they have incurred.

I am a bit iffy about motability cars. I only know two people who have them and one has a well to do husband and a hefty personal pension herself and could easily afford a car herself. Her husband drives her at the moment and her car is not used. The other person gave her mother her car and took taxis . She once said how expensive taxis were from her mother's house and I asked if her mother could drive . She then told me that her mother had a car bought for her daughter's benefit but was not prepared to drive her about.

Were it not for Save the Children setting up field hospitals and recruiting nurses and doctors worldwide the last Ebola outbreak would not have been contained and dealt with.

The World Health Organisation was a complete farce.

The skills and strategic planning was completely lacking in the WHO. Luckily that charity and it’s ‘fat cat boss’ acted professionally and effectively our who knows what the consequences for us might have been.

In s global fight against potential pandemics we need these big charities with their resources, experience and know how.

But not the likes of Motability

A lot of people seem to think that motability cars are given away for free. They are NOT. As Janea said earlier the individuals pay for them out of their disability allowance. they lease the cars for 3 years, they never own them.
As for the lady who gave hers to her mother ..that is completely illegal. Motability cars should only be used while the disabled person is in them or for their benefit.The lady mentioned could have used her mobility component to pay for taxis. No way could she have given her car to anyone.

There has just been a piece on Radio 4 on You & Yours about Motability.
It was an interview with a woman from the National Audit Office which has just conducted an enquiry into Motibility.

She said that motability customers are able to lease their cars 44% cheaper through Motability than from other organisations. That has to be good news for disabled people. As Kathsue says, eligibility is limited to certain disability benefit claimants.
In the report, Motability was criticised a) for its over-generous bonuses which came about through people meeting targets that were too easy to achieve and b)for their long-term forecasting of the value of their used cars (which they re-sell) which affected their balance sheet & progitability. My eyes glaze over when anything to do with accounting appears, but that was the gist of it.

I think it's a very complicated issue. It's only fair that disabled people are given every help and support possible and if this is maximised by giving charitable status to a company which enables that support to be provided, so be it.

On the other hand, Motability's charitable status perhaps gives it an unfair advantage over other companies leasing cars to the public, and it in no way justifies giving executives bonuses that they haven't earned and don't deserve.

Motobility Chairman Mike Betts has resigned.

Very well outlined by janeainsworth !

I volunteer for Cats Protection (fund raising) but that money all goes to the local branch and is used for food, litter, vets bills, etc, for any cats being fostered in our area before they are adopted. We have several charity shops in the city but only two fund our local branch - profit from the others goes to Head Office - so I make a point of only donating to the two local shops. And, finally, I volunteer at a community garden and help raise money for them to buy seeds, compost, etc, but nobody is paid - everyone is a volunteer - and the finances are presented by our Treasurer every month. That's the way to do it when you don't have a lot of spare cash but want to help out charities. NfkDumpling and Gillybob have got it right ... go local.