One for Human Resources types / Employment Law specialists

[Alfa_75_Steve]

Just been reading my revised company car policy.

It says that 'in order to support costs savings throughout the business, we will no longer be offering private fuel benefit from April 2009'

In my opinion that is a fairly major change to my benefits package and shouldn't have been introduced without consultation and the offer of a 'buy out'.

Would I have a case to raise with my HR dept. about this? - or is it not really worth bothering with?

I usually kick off about stuff like this, but as I age, I've learned that sometimes it is better to say nothing.

[miniman]

Well, how much money's worth of personal fuel have you had in the last year? If you do virtually no private miles, then it's probably not worth a fuss. But if you do 10k at 25mpg, that's somewhere around £1800 worth of fuel - which I would say is a pretty big pay drop.

[Bee_Jay]

I would kick off about that, it is a cut to your benefits package and you should be remunerated as such.

You get taxed on it at the moment, so that will go, but the amount you are being taxed on would be a reasonable guide... (though it includes business miles too in that amount).

For me with my Range Rover it would mean a lot to me if they took it away, I do 10k miles a year at 17mpg on Super Unleaded on my fuel card, which means about £3k/year - I'd be making a case if they cut that, I would want a pay rise of £5k to compensate...

[Alfa_75_Steve]

miniman said:

Well, how much money's worth of personal fuel have you had in the last year? If you do virtually no private miles, then it's probably not worth a fuss. But if you do 10k at 25mpg, that's somewhere around £1800 worth of fuel - which I would say is a pretty big pay drop.

Good point - varies between half a tank and a full tank a month, which is sod all, really.

But I don't like companies messing about with terms and conditions without asking first....

If the financial climate was better, I'd probably make noises, but given that we really do need to save money from various places, I'll keep quiet.