Cycle to Work Scheme - Setup Assistance

[lejogger]

Good afternoon all, I hope you're well.

By way of background, the organisation I work for has run a cycle to work scheme for over ten years, however when we went into 'lockdown' in 2020 a combination of factors led to the scheme being temporarily parked.

Due to another combination of other factors, we're now planning to start it up again and I'm looking for feedback on:

• Which suppliers are good/recommended (looking for a balance of access/availability for staff working over a large geographical patch, supporting local businesses where possible, being an attractive proposition for all budgets and both beginner & veteran cyclists)
• What sorts of financial limits you set for both individuals and the organisation as a whole (if any)
• How is the transfer of ownership handled in order to both mitigate the employee having to pay a large lump sum, and the organisation having to 'retain ownership' for many years, keeping track of corresponding employee details until the residual value fully depreciates.
• Which department in your organisation administers the scheme (i.e. HR/Finance etc.)
• Anything else that is particularly good about how schemes at your company are run

And anything else you think might be helpful.

Many thanks

 

[Elybazza61]

Best and most reliable for us in the shop are Cyclescheme;

https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk

It does help for us that the University and Addenbrookes hospital use it so turn-around is really quick.

 

[si_c]

The last two NHS organisations I've worked for have both used Vivup for handling the Cycle to Work scheme, it seems to work quite well and they don't just have to do C2W they also do a range of services, but I've only ever bothered with the latter.

From the perspective of a user it's worked really well, my LBS (Birkenhead Cycles) supports the scheme, and I've been quite happy with it. From the point of view of ownership, they emailed me at the end of the scheme to let me know that unless I wanted to do otherwise they would extend the loan for a year at which point the bike would become mine. I didn't have to do anything further and so my employer didn't need to retain ownership either.

I have no idea which department is in charge of management - as a CSU we have a large payroll/HR department which handles that sort of thing on behalf of multiple organisations.

In terms of limits, at present I think there is no limit on our scheme, but I'm not 100% sure.

 

[kynikos]

We’re partnered with Green Commute Initiative who have over 1,300 local bike shops registered with them so there’s bound to be a shop nearby where your staff can purchase a bike and accessories.
It's a social enterprise so ticks another box.
Administration is very easy including end of scheme arrangement which GCI do directly with the employee.
We have no limits - recently funded two bikes for one individual (winter and summer, which is apparently OK) at a cost of almost £9k.

 

[Supersuperleeds]

We’re partnered with Green Commute Initiative who have over 1,300 local bike shops registered with them so there’s bound to be a shop nearby where your staff can purchase a bike and accessories.
It's a social enterprise so ticks another box.
Administration is very easy including end of scheme arrangement which GCI do directly with the employee.
We have no limits - recently funded two bikes for one individual (winter and summer, which is apparently OK) at a cost of almost £9k.

Thanks for this. Our work scheme, we currently run ourselves and since we don't have a credit licence are limited to £1,000. I had been tasked to find a way to get around this as we have a few people wanting to spend £2,000 - £3,000 and this looks like it ticks all the boxes.

 

[GeekDadZoid]

I agree with GCI as a good choice. For the bike shop they only charge 5% commission which I understand is the lowest of the providers plus they have in my experience been very fast and efficient.

My accounts and payroll departments have commented on how easy it was too.