anyone else taken up the ride to work scheme ?

[appy]

basically as a firefighter were going to be able to get a bike on this scheme.
and for anyone thats not heard of it we dont pay tax, vat etc and the bikes basically cost half price, the money is taken out of your wages over 12 months so its also interest free.

if so what bike did you get and how much did it cost in total ?

i was thinking of getting something around the £800 retail mark so should cost me £400 ish give or take so any recommendations ?

[Nick_F]

I read a thread somewhere about C2W from a firefighter whose line manager was expecting him to keep a log of all journeys in order to proove that he qualified for the scheme...

Which is entirely unnecessary under HMRC rules.

I picked up a Rock Lobster Tig Team SL, full XT build, from Merlin via Halfords. Had to come via Halfords as my employer uses their scheme.

This meant that the bike was 'list price', I couldn;t take advantage of any offers that Merlin were running, but I did get £100 in free accessories plus a year's servicing/maintenance from Halfords thrown in.

It all went pretty smoothly, save tha the branch of Halfords to which I had the bike delivered didn't realise what it was, and didn't look in the box for ten days after it turned up.

[shirt]

i want to, but HR say they can't be bothered spending the time administering it. must be all those redundancies they're busy with!

does anyone know if any retailers do all the legwork for you?

[shirt]

waht does it entail exactly? if its just form filling and having them sign it off then i might annoy them until they cave in.

[Nick_F]

Salary Sacrifice; there's no more to it than there is to nursery vouchers etc. Planet-X/On-One used to have a DIY guide to the scheme on their site, not sure if it's still there, but it's emphatically not a complicated thing to do.

[shirt]

they ran the BT computer scam, sorry scheme, but don't want to do this, despite the vast majority of the 4000+ workforce living within 5 miles and the promotion of a healthy workforce.

[OllieWinchester]

Do you think the NHS do this? I've just started as an emergency call taker and reckon that when we move to the new site in approximately one month it will be a perfect distance to cycle to and from.

[skudupnorth]

My company has just started it so i got myself a Specialized Sirrus hybrid to share the garage with the Rockhopper mountain bike.£29 a month for 18 months and one off payment at the end to keep the bike OR change to a later spec bike when the 18 months is up...might do both ! We do not have to log anything and i have used the mountain bike this week because slick tyres and snow do not mix hence a few battle scars already on the hybrid !

[sjg]

OllieWinchester said:

Do you think the NHS do this? I've just started as an emergency call taker and reckon that when we move to the new site in approximately one month it will be a perfect distance to cycle to and from.

Some do - however the NHS doesn't pay VAT (likewise if you worked at a charity) so you won't make a saving on that part of the purchase.

[P-Jay]

I had one over three years ago now. Got me started in the whole MTB thing again. I work for RBS and with ours you have to get a bike from Halfords, but they can get just about anything these days. We have to have ours over 3 years, but £1000 voucher cost me about £15 a month.

Not sure if we'll be able to do it this year, or if i'll still have a job to sign up, or in fact if there will be an RBS to work for, ha ha.

[mk1fan]

Nick_F said:

I read a thread somewhere about C2W from a firefighter whose line manager was expecting him to keep a log of all journeys in order to proove that he qualified for the scheme...

I think that this would be more to do with the public auditing of the Fire Service rather than HMRC rules. It's ok for Joe Public to take 'advantage' of the schemes but woe betide any 'Public Servant' who does.

There's plenty of info on here about the various schemes. A forum search should provide all the info you need. Plenty here on the scheme too - www.singletrackworld.com - although the archived stuff was lost after the site was hacked before Christmas. Still worth a forum search though.

[appy]

for anyone who wants their work to get on this scheme this link might help

http://www.faircarebenefits.co.uk/cycle-to-work-sc...

[Fetchez la vache]

What proof do you have to give that you actually do use it for work?
I'd have to get my company to join and it seems alot of fuss if I don't actually ride to work!

[shirt]

i'd imagine no proof required unless you're HR dept. is full of those sorts of people.

[Nick_F]

Absolutely no proof at all required by HMRC.

[pdV6]

Nick_F said:

Absolutely no proof at all required by HMRC.

I'd say it was more like "no proof ever asked for by HMRC" as one of the stipulations of the scheme is that the bike should be used for at least a part of most journeys to work.

[pdV6]

sjg said:

OllieWinchester said:

Do you think the NHS do this? I've just started as an emergency call taker and reckon that when we move to the new site in approximately one month it will be a perfect distance to cycle to and from.

Some do - however the NHS doesn't pay VAT (likewise if you worked at a charity) so you won't make a saving on that part of the purchase.

However, as a private individual you would pay VAT outside the scheme if you wanted to buy a bike, so to you it's still the same saving.

[ol' dirty]

appy said:

basically as a firefighter were going to be able to get a bike on this scheme.
and for anyone thats not heard of it we dont pay tax, vat etc and the bikes basically cost half price, the money is taken out of your wages over 12 months so its also interest free.

if so what bike did you get and how much did it cost in total ?

i was thinking of getting something around the £800 retail mark so should cost me £400 ish give or take so any recommendations ?

I set up the scheme for our company & I purchased a bike on the scheme for myself.


First step is making sure your company is registered


You are limited to £1000- unless your company has some sort of licence- which costs around £750 so I doubt it anyway.


You get a quote from one of the registered bike retailers on the scheme- Halfords for one

Then you give the quote to your line manager- he sends off the quote to Cycle Scheme
http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/

They will send out the credit agreement- which you sign to say you pay back the loan(for your companys benefit)

Then, your company will pay for the bike in full- & claim the VAT back if necessary (NA in your case)

CS will issue a Purchase Voucher for your bike

You then arrange to collect the bike from the shop.


Payment wise- you payback over a term defined by your employer- IIRC min/max (cant remember which) is 12months

You then make further savings on Income Tax & NI as you wages are technically anything up to £83.30 lower than before.

I made a saving of about £120 on a £370 bike.


HTH


Cheers Ben


Oh, and at the end of the loan- you can buy the bike off your employer for a nominal fee (cant remember how much but it is stipulated by HMRC- IIRC 5% of the original purchase price?)

Edited by ol' dirty on Thursday 5th February 14:14

Edited by ol' dirty on Thursday 5th February 14:18

Edited by ol' dirty on Thursday 5th February 14:43

[ol' dirty]

pdV6 said:

Nick_F said:

Absolutely no proof at all required by HMRC.

I'd say it was more like "no proof ever asked for by HMRC" as one of the stipulations of the scheme is that the bike should be used for at least a part of most journeys to work.

It says Cycle scheme- not Cycle to work scheme.

If you read it- it does say you don't have to use it for commuting, it's meant to be a scheme to get people out of cars & onto bikes for journeys, that would have originally been made by car.


ETA- it does say that you have to use it for 50% of the journeys- i'm sure that was'nt there when we purchased the bikes

Oh well, sadle sore it is

Edited by ol' dirty on Thursday 5th February 14:20

FAQ's here
http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/employee,faqs.htm

Edited by ol' dirty on Thursday 5th February 14:29

[Nick_F]

At least 50% of the journeys for which the bike is used should be journeys to or from work; that's not the same thing as cycling to work at least half the time.