Is Cycle to Work Scheme mandatory?

[isee]

I was toying with the idea of cycling in to work but just found out that my company is not part of the cycle to work scheme.
This surprised me as the company has more than one thousand employees and is a leader in its field.
I suspect it may be in part some snobbish (we are too successful to care about an odd hundered pounds saving) mentality and I am at a stage of my life where I am trying to stop being wasteful with the money i earn, so if there is a free £20 on teh floor, I pick it up.

To summarise: I want to take advantage of cycle to work scheme, my company is not part of such scheme. Is it mandatory to participate in such scheme if an employee wants to take advantage of it or do I stop being anal and just go out and buy a bike?

cheers!

[Mr E]

Nope

[itsnotarace]

Speak to your HR dept, perhaps try and drum up support from your colleagues too

[isee]

itsnotarace said:

Speak to your HR dept, perhaps try and drum up support from your colleagues too

Unfortuantely it's the HR who told me we are not a part of it. And it sounded like they were only too pleased to tell me that we weren't.
My colleagues wouldn't be seen dead on a bicycle I am afraid.

Oh well, that's all I wanted to know, will just go out and buy one then.

cheers

[itsnotarace]

There's plenty of places doing 0% finance on bikes at the moment, that would probably be the next best thing

[isee]

itsnotarace said:

There's plenty of places doing 0% finance on bikes at the moment, that would probably be the next best thing

Cool, thanks. I was looking for the saving in taxes rather than the spreading of payments.

anyone able to recommend a cheapo hybrid bike for a heavyish 6 foot man?
Haven't cycled for at least 10 years but always enjoyed it as a kid.

[madbadger]

Company I work for has around 30000 employees, and we are not on it.

The reason given by HR is that there are some employees who are unable to cycle to work due to cycling restrictions on some parts of some plants (would maybe affect a few hundred people at most) so the scheme cannot be offered to everyone, so isn't there for anyone.

[Allblackdup]

Am i right in saying with the cycle to work scheme you're in effect hiring a bike, but after a certain time, say 18months, you then own it outright?

I've just been exploring a scheme with my employers and found they introduced one last year, but as a trial basis they're operating the sign up to the scheme for only a month. Basically they're doing it again this year starting tomorrow. All agreements then have to be signed off by the 16th May and the company they use are doing some roadshows around the various company buildings next week. I guess i can ask all my questions then, but i've found out i'm expected to use the bike on 50% of my journeys to work. How do they manage this?, or do they?

For those who's employers run the scheme, can you shed more info on it please? I'm curious before i go and buy a bike whether its worth doing it this way.

[was8v]

Allblackdup said:

Am i right in saying with the cycle to work scheme you're in effect hiring a bike, but after a certain time, say 18months, you then own it outright?

I've just been exploring a scheme with my employers and found they introduced one last year, but as a trial basis they're operating the sign up to the scheme for only a month. Basically they're doing it again this year starting tomorrow. All agreements then have to be signed off by the 16th May and the company they use are doing some roadshows around the various company buildings next week. I guess i can ask all my questions then, but i've found out i'm expected to use the bike on 50% of my journeys to work. How do they manage this?, or do they?

For those who's employers run the scheme, can you shed more info on it please? I'm curious before i go and buy a bike whether its worth doing it this way.

Yeah, they give you a voucher worth up to 1000 to spend on bikes/ accessories at participating bike shops.

You then pay that 1000 back over 3 years, taken out of your wage before tax.

The company "own" the bike for the 3 years, then you buy it off them for a nominal amount at the end (fiver).

Theres no requirement to actually cycle to work at all. Some mates have bought mountain bikes just used at the weekend.

Edited by was8v on Wednesday 14th April 15:14

[DrTre]

I've asked about this. Does the company have to front the grand (or however much) at the start then?

[ad551]

DrTre said:

I've asked about this. Does the company have to front the grand (or however much) at the start then?

Yep. The employee will have been to a bike shop and received a written quote for what they want to buy, which they submit to the cycle scheme operator. The company then pays the cycle scheme operator for a voucher which is given to the employee to pay for the bike.

The amount the company has paid is then split into 12 and deducted from that employee's pre-tax salary every month.

At the end of the 12 months the company technically owns the bike, so the employee needs to pay a nominal amount in order for ownership to transfer to them.

[Nick_F]

You don't have to use the bike to travel to work 50% of the time. By signing-up to the scheme you are, in effect, asserting that more than 50% of the use to which the bike is put - during the year under which it is part of the scheme - will be for journeys to work or part thereof.

[djone101]

DrTre said:

I've asked about this. Does the company have to front the grand (or however much) at the start then?

Not necessarily - there are companies who will finance the bikes for the employer (I'm going through the pain of trying to convince our board at present) this reduces the savings to the employee (down from 50% to 44% in my case) - but does avoid the employer having to lay out cash. I'm hoping this will help convince them... their main gripe now is the added HR/Payroll admin side. I spoke to a very helpful chap at Cycle Solutions.

[Justayellowbadge]

djone101 said:

DrTre said:

I've asked about this. Does the company have to front the grand (or however much) at the start then?

Not necessarily - there are companies who will finance the bikes for the employer (I'm going through the pain of trying to convince our board at present) this reduces the savings to the employee (down from 50% to 44% in my case) - but does avoid the employer having to lay out cash. I'm hoping this will help convince them... their main gripe now is the added HR/Payroll admin side. I spoke to a very helpful chap at Cycle Solutions.

Balanced by the reduction in employer's NI contributions.

[Si 330]

Different companies set different criteria.
In my last company you could go to any bike shop and select any bike up to £1000 + vat. We then just emailed HR with a model number and the shops address a few weeks later you go to the shop to collect your new bike. They didn't set a criteria on when and how often you used the bike for work. The repayments were taken over 12months or less your choice.
There was a few people that used the scheme and the only time they cycled was during the tube strike.

[Allblackdup]

Thanks for all the info guys, its really helpful.

Just to add my employers use Cycle solutions for their scheme as well.

[Truckosaurus]

I think my employers must be the countries most lenient members of the cyclescheme... We can spend upto £1500 as the company has all the necessary finance and credit licences through its normal business practices, we just have to let them know the amount of vouchers we want (no need to detail what you're spending it on) and it seems that if my payslip for this month is to be believed there isn't a final value payment to be made.

[anonymous-user]

was8v said:

You then pay that 1000 back over 3 years, taken out of your wage before tax.

The company "own" the bike for the 3 years, then you buy it off them for a nominal amount at the end (fiver).

This bit must vary as my scheme (and most i've seen) are paid back over a year, and then bought at the end of the year.

[DrMekon]

Truckosaurus said:

I think my employers must be the countries most lenient members of the cyclescheme... We can spend upto £1500 as the company has all the necessary finance and credit licences through its normal business practices, we just have to let them know the amount of vouchers we want (no need to detail what you're spending it on) and it seems that if my payslip for this month is to be believed there isn't a final value payment to be made.

£2000 here, but have to do the cyclescheme quote thing. Allowed more that one bike out of that £2K tho'. Seen an effect in the bike sheds, with lots of poorly locked new bling arriving on a regular basis. The local junkies must be delighted.

[mackie1]

I've just done it for the second time. Limited to a £1000 voucher but that's still a saving of ~£500 on a £1600 bike. Now to order the badboy!