The Department for Work and Pensions has already beaten aggressive targets for cutting road transport emissions in 2010 in a major review of business mileage.

The campaign by the DWP has included a focus on so-called grey fleet – private cars used on business journeys – and has shown how a focus on this area can have a dramatic impact on overall emissions targets and provide savings at the same time.

The improvement has been so significant that DWP CO₂ emissions from travel have already surpassed their 2010/11 road vehicles target.

Overall, total road travel carbon emissions are down 30% and overall road mileage has been slashed by 20% to 55 million miles.

This achievement compares to a Government target for all departments to reduce carbon emissions from road vehicles by 15% by 2010/11, relative to 2005/2006.

However, the savings have also opened the door to cost savings worth millions of pounds.

Before the changes, DWP drivers were using an estimated 2 million gallons of fuel a year (emitting the equivalent of 23,000 tonnes of CO₂) and transport was costing up to £60 million a year.

The decrease that enabled DWP to access the savings was achieved in part by a dramatic fall in grey fleet mileage, which has been slashed by 40% in two years, from 46 million miles in 2006/2007 to 27 million miles in 2008/2009.

If employees were reimbursed at the Government’s Approved Mileage Allowance Rate of 40 pence per mile, the saving would be equivalent to £7.6 million a year.

Click on the photo for an explanation of grey fleet

Grey fleet became a focus for attention when the DWP carried out a mileage review, which showed that in 2006/07, the Department travelled almost 70 million business miles, including mileage in official vehicles, lease, hire and private vehicles.

An independent review pointed out that the mileage level was enough for staff to travel around the world every 40 minutes, even though 80% of travel was for internal meetings.

As a result, the DWP introduced a clear planning hierarchy that prioritises different methods of transport and encourages alternatives.

A focus on audio or video conferencing has led to a tripling of use in the past three years, while restrictions on grey fleet recommend a total daily limit for journeys at 100 miles, and an annual limit of 1,000 miles.

This emphasises the expectation that employee-owned vehicles should be used as a last resort and for short journeys only, in favour of more cost effective fleet or hire cars.

Introduction of the scheme was supported by a number of roadshows for staff across the country, including focused campaigns to encourage use of videoconferencing, public transport and pool or hire cars.

A spokesman for DWP said: “These measures have enabled us to reduce the grey fleet considerably over the last few years.”

Key success criteria – how DWP is making it work

Communication
DWP has taken a number of steps to communicate the new travel policies to its staff and to embed them into the organisation.

Control measures
The Department has used a number of control measures to ensure adherence to the new policies, limiting mileage in grey fleet vehicles and requiring sign off for journeys by managers.

Further information

The issue of grey fleet is so significant in the public sector that the Office of Government Commerce has carried out significant research into best practice in this sector. It has prepared a number of guides on grey fleet best practice for the public sector.

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