Free bus passes for over-60 workers ‘barking’

Taxpayers are footing a £34 million annual bill to fund free bus passes for over-60s who are still working, MSPs have been told.

The policy was branded “barking” and “dead-weight expenditure”, with calls for a widespread overhaul of the free benefits which Scots enjoy, including free personal care and tuition fees, amid concerns over their cost.

MSPs have been told they should review the extent of universal free services, which also include prescription charges, every five years to ensure the public is getting value for money.

Scotland already faces an £870m annual bill to pay for free personal and nursing care, eye tests, concessionary travel and prescriptions. But this is set to soar, as the number of over-60s increases by 50 per cent in the next 20 years. The number of over-75s will double.

Holyrood’s finance committee is holding an inquiry into the affordability of these schemes in the longer term as budgets cuts start to bite.

Auditor general Robert Black said it was time to get “down and dirty” over the detail of the figures.

“The cost of providing free transport to people who are 60 or over and still in employment is £34m or so,” he told MSPs.

“That’s dead-weight expenditure if ever there was – in other words, expenditure which the taxpayer is paying out which is probably unnecessary. I don’t think anyone who is in full-time employment, or in employment, should feel they have an entitlement to travel free to work.”

Professor Jim Gallagher, a former top civil servant, said: “It’s barking frankly that we’re sending 60-year-old judges of my acquaintance who are paid £140,000 a year, plus a generous pension, clutching a bus pass.”

Professor David Bell of Stirling University said MSPs should review the system of free universal services every five years, to ensure they are viable.

SCOTT MACNAB