Bike 2 Work questions

[Amanda P]

My employer is considering setting up one of these schemes - you know the ones, where employees get a bike tax-free by leasing it over three years or whatever. The likes of Halfords, Evans etc. run schemes where they do all the paperwork for you and provide the bikes.

Trouble is, my employer is foot-dragging appallingly. The worst of it is, that this is a government scheme, and my employer is a government department. One that would like to be seen to have faultless green credentials, moreover.

What I want to know is:

Have you been involved in setting up a scheme like this, from the employers point of view?
How long did it take to set up?
What sort of uptake do you get?
Are there any catches?
Are there any advantages or disadvantages of opting into one of the bike retailers' schemes rather than going it alone?
Anyone come to the end of the lease period and not been allowed to buy or keep the bike?

What can we do to encourage my employer to pull its collective finger out?

If you have any experience of these sorts of schemes at all, I'd like to hear about it.

Oh yes, and can anyone point me to a website other than those of bike retailers that sets out what government department thought it up and promoted it?

 

[LordoftheTeapot]

http://www.bikeforall.net/content/cycle_to_work_scheme.php

 

[bonj2]

Find out what the current sticking point is, get to know who needs to do what and why they're not doing it.

 

[Cycling Naturalist]

My employer is considering setting up one of these schemes - you know the ones, where employees get a bike tax-free by leasing it over three years or whatever. The likes of Halfords, Evans etc. run schemes where they do all the paperwork for you and provide the bikes.

Trouble is, my employer is foot-dragging appallingly. The worst of it is, that this is a government scheme, and my employer is a government department. One that would like to be seen to have faultless green credentials, moreover.

What I want to know is:

Have you been involved in setting up a scheme like this, from the employers point of view?
How long did it take to set up?
What sort of uptake do you get?
Are there any catches?
Are there any advantages or disadvantages of opting into one of the bike retailers' schemes rather than going it alone?
Anyone come to the end of the lease period and not been allowed to buy or keep the bike?

What can we do to encourage my employer to pull its collective finger out?

If you have any experience of these sorts of schemes at all, I'd like to hear about it.

Oh yes, and can anyone point me to a website other than those of bike retailers that sets out what government department thought it up and promoted it?

I'm an employer and we run a scheme for me - as I'm the regular commuter. Basically, the bikes are treated for tax purposes as any other purchase of capital equipment like computers, so you get the VAT back and the writing down allowances. There's no element of benefit in kind, so the employee does not pay any extra tax. Servicing, bit and pieces and commuter clothing are income items and set against tax in the year of purchase.

It's very simple, but employers don't like it because they see it as messy to operate and potentially leading to arguments - "Why's he got a better bike than me."

 

[Amanda P]

Teapot (m'lord) - that's exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.

(Just one sugar, please; ta).

 

[johnr]

Which government department? I ask because I work for NHS Direct and it looks like they might be going to set one up. I came on line today to flag it up for anyone else who may be affected/know someone/be related to someone etc. I won't go over the same ground as my post, but I think the critical thing is to get it onto the agenda/desk of someone who is senior enough to pass it back down the structure to whichever manager in payroll will be responsible for pressing the button on the computer, so that the deductions/tax etc are taken out properly.

 

[sjb]

Hi

I work for the Environment Agency (government AND extremely sensitive about the green credentials of the scheme operator) and we have just run the scheme using Cyclescheme (http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/). They use a network of LBS and claim to be able to source any bike you want through a local shop.

It took a while to get the vouchers through but otherwise was very smooth to run and I'm thoroughly enjoying my Giant SCR2.0, especially the 10 minutes quicker commute!

If your HR dept want to speak to someone in the Environment Agency, tell them to contact the Employee benefits team.

Good luck!