Cycle to Works Schemes

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Sun 8 Jul 2018 12:50
Cycle to Works Schemes - Chris M

Not strictly motoring, but maybe some Backroomers have experience of Cycle to Work schemes. Looking for information from an employers view mainly, but any feedback would be welcome.

My son cycles to work. About 3 miles which door to door takes the same time by bike or car. He needs a new bike and having spoken to his MD, his employer is happy to set up a C2W scheme for him (only one other colleague cycles at present). For those that don't know, the scheme is salary sacrifice so the benefit for him is he saves tax and NI (32%) and the employer saves NI plus polishes their green / healthy lifestyle credentials.

The MD has told him to find out what he needs to do to set the scheme up. There are a number of scheme providers so the question is, are any better than the others? I'm thinking from the admin side as my son doesn't want to land his boss with a nightmare of red tape and issues to sort. And of course, one that is straightforward for my son to get his voucher.

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Sun 8 Jul 2018 13:03
Cycle to Works Schemes - badbusdriver

No idea, but surely a cycling forum like bikeradar would be a better place to find out?. Also, ask at a local bike shop, preferably not Halfords (i know some branches are good, but there are far too many stories of Halfords bike staff having no idea what they are on about, including my own).

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Sun 8 Jul 2018 13:41
Cycle to Works Schemes - Chris M

Son has looked at a few forums (not sure whether bikeradar was one of them) but nothing from an employers view point. I was hoping we may have a few business or HR people here.

Regarding Halfords, they would say their own scheme is best, so a waste of time going there. Other retailers also run their own.

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Sun 8 Jul 2018 13:35
Cycle to Works Schemes - Mike H

I worked for a small charity with only 8 employees before I retired, and round about 2008 one of my colleagues wanted to get a new bike under the CTW scheme. I was the office manager (and personnel manager, finance manager etc) and I had to set it up, dealing with it right through to PAYE. Even for our small organisation it was pretty straightforward, but I'm afraid it was too long ago to remember the details. What I do remember is that the employee had a free choice of cycle, and once she'd decided, I just filled in the paperwork.

If you do a search on "setting up a cycle to work scheme" you'll find plenty of info.

HTH

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Sun 8 Jul 2018 13:43
Cycle to Works Schemes - Chris M

Thanks Mike. Helpful to know it was straightforward.

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Sun 8 Jul 2018 15:53
Cycle to Works Schemes - Bromptonaut

www.cyclechat.net/ would be my starting point.

Guidance for employers form .gov website:

www.gov.uk/government/publications/cycle-to-work-s...e

Edited by Bromptonaut on 08/07/2018 at 15:54

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Sun 8 Jul 2018 15:53
Cycle to Works Schemes - tourantass
We had the scheme at work..however worked out cheaper to purchase a bike at a discount online bike shop and just take the small interest charge over a couple of months.....my understanding also was that you dont actualy own the bike its still technicaly owned by your employer,
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Sun 8 Jul 2018 16:10
Cycle to Works Schemes - Bromptonaut
We had the scheme at work..however worked out cheaper to purchase a bike at a discount online bike shop and just take the small interest charge over a couple of months.....my understanding also was that you dont actualy own the bike its still technicaly owned by your employer,

The employer leases the bike to you. Once the initial lease period is up he still owns it but can sell it to you.

When C2W first started it was commonplace for the sale price to be equal to a 13th month of rental. Around 2009/10 HMRC decided that such sales, which for quality bikes like a £800+ Brompton obviously represented a fraction of the real value, were a benefit in kind and taxable. To 'simplify' the operation and save people having to get valuations they introduced a table (pdf on gov website) setting out market value as a % of original sale price. This gives a residual value for an 18month old £500+ bike of 21% - pretty generous considering what a nearly new Brompton goes for on Ebay. It declines to nil after 6 years.

Most people I know just carry on riding the bike but it could be a problem if you left and the employer turned pernickity.

Thinking about on that basis my Brompton still belongs to my former employer - a large government department. At the end of the lease in 2010 I just continued to use it for my daily commute. When I was made redundant and paid off with an unreduced pension in late 2013 neither I nor the employer thought to mention the bike. I doubt anybody cares now.

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Sun 8 Jul 2018 17:41
Cycle to Works Schemes - Chris M

Interesting Brompt. My son is looking at an £850 bike over 1 year as he is near the start of his career and can't see being at this employer longer term. Paying 25% to keep the bike if he leaves, negates most of the savings and doesn't seem worth the effort. Of course, he could end up staying with the one employer like his 'ol man for 37 years :-)

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