Fleet operators would have breathed a sigh of relief immediately after the Chancellor delivered his budget on the 16th March, but the joy may have been short lived.
With the reduction in Personal Independent Payments being scrapped, and along with it projected savings of £4.4billion, the Chancellor will be looking for other revenue streams to fill this hole.
Following the Budget, Paul Johnson the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies placed more pressure on the Chancellor to act soon, saying of fuel duties that “One must begin to wonder whether these duties will ever rise again, especially given current low oil prices.”
“Given that the harm created by driving in terms of increased congestion is rising, as is the harm from carbon emissions created by using petrol, we might also be worried by the economic and environmental cost of continuing with this policy.”
This leads analysts to believe that the Chancellor will have little choice but once again look at raising fuel duties in the Autumn statement before it becomes an impossible task and this revenue stream dries up for good.
Fleet operators wanting to keep their fuel costs at a minimum should look to Expense Reduction Analysts to undertake a review of their fuel spend before any prices are put into effect.