Inside the deprived market town kept moving by Motability cars

“You can [tell] from the cars people are using whether they're on the scheme or not,” according to Steph Lake, community engagement and partnerships manager at Beyond Housing in Redcar.

Lake, who has personal experience of using the Motability scheme, added: “We have sheltered accommodation schemes and a lot of our customers living on those schemes do use the Motability service.”

The North East is a mobility hotspot. The taxpayer-funded scheme enables claimants of certain disability benefits to lease brand new cars that are exchanged every three years, with the cost covered by part or all of their benefit payments.

At a single dealership in Stockton-on-Tees, the majority of its business is mobility-related.

Stephen Latham, the commercial manager of the National Franchise Dealers' Association, said where Motability leases make up the majority of business, they tend to be located in deprived areas.

“There's high dependency in certain areas where there is high level of benefit requirement,” he said.

Of the 316 local authorities in England (excluding the Isles of Scilly), Stockton-on-Tees is ranked 50th most income-deprived, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

Locals are cautious of walking through certain areas, meaning cars are not just a form of transport but a vital tool in helping people feel safe.

Most of the vehicles available via Motability require an advance payment, which can range from a few hundred pounds to thousands.

This particular cost is set to increase by £400 on average from July when government reforms, which include VAT, on advance payments come into effect.

Disability rights campaigners have raised concerns that some people may be excluded from the scheme as a result.

Lake's son, Jake Chapman, 23, who has cerebral palsy and considerable anxiety about using public transport due to his disability, said it would be “worrying” if her son did not have access to Motability.

“We certainly would not be able to afford what we have right now,” she said. The pair have a Mustang Mach-E, which Chapman chose.

“We live in quite a rural location, so the car is our lifeline to wherever we're going,” she added. “The public transport links are hourly but they're not amazing.”

Chapman said having the car means he can easily get around and see people. He also hopes to learn to drive one day, something that will be made possible through the use of an adapted car leased via Motability.

The North East is a motor manufacturing hub, heavily supported by Motability Operations.

The latest available data from Motability Operations shows that the share of jobs supported by the scheme is highest in the North East where it accounted for 0.34 per cent of the region's total employment in 2022-23.

The jobs are supported both directly at Motability Operations and across firms involved in the supply, maintenance and insurance of the fleet such as KwikFit and the RAC.

Sheldon Cockburn, commercial director at Simon Bailes car dealership in Stockton-on-Tees, said: “It's a huge part of our business.

“Peugeot leans heavily towards Motability in terms of its new car registrations every year. It could be as high as representing 70 per cent of our new car registrations every year.”

In January alone, Cockburn said of all the customers obtaining new cars, around 60 percent would do so through the Motability scheme.

Cockburn believes benefit density is the most important factor behind the high prevalence of Motability users, as well as poor public transport infrastructure.

Stockton residents talk of waiting long periods for buses, to then find they circle villages before moving along their routes, extending journey times and making arriving to destinations on time impossible.

For some disabled people in the area, public transport can be entirely inaccessible.

“The [Motability] brand tends to be strongest where eligibility is higher… where people rely more heavily on cars than they could on public transport,” Cockburn said.

He added: “Our Northallerton site – it's an older population, but quite an affluent one, where the Stockton-on-Tees site is, not that I'm being disparaging anyway, it's far less so, and is actually probably the opposite end of the spectrum.

“I'm not saying that goes directly hand in hand, but we do see a far higher level of claimants in our Stockton site, and therefore a higher level of mobility registrations than we do at a more affluent, less claimant heavy business or area like Northallerton.”

Motability is not just a boost for business, it's also credited with keeping benefit claimants in work.

Sarah McPhie, chief executive officer of Citizens Advice Stockton, said she would “absolutely” say the scheme is helping disabled people stay employed.

“If you're living with a disability and if the barrier to being able to access the workforce is being able to access employment through transport, if that is then taken away from you then it's life-changing,” she said. “You lose your independence, you lose your opportunity to work.”

In recent years there has been a huge backlash against the taxpayer-funded scheme and its users.

McPhie, who said the majority of Citizens Advice Stockton's clients are seeking benefit and welfare support, said: “I think there's a slight misconception around benefits and accessing benefits. It's actually really complex.”

The Government has stopped short of scrapping the scheme but it has already taken action to remove premium car brands such as BMW, Audi and Mercedes Benz. Further reforms, that include adding VAT to advance payments and insurance premium tax which will increase the cost of a lease on the scheme, will be implemented from July 2026.

On the streets of Stockton, locals are divided over the changes.

Steve Dixon, 65, from Eaglescliffe, said Motability scheme users are not “getting anything for nothing”. But he said that “top of the range” vehicles did not need to be available on the scheme.

“You're on benefits for a reason,” he said. “I've worked all my life. I can't afford a top of the range Audi.”

Sasha Wilkinson, 22, said: “It doesn't really matter what brand car it is, if that car's got adaptations that someone needs, it shouldn't matter if it's a BMW, Audi or Citreon.”

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