Cycle to work scheme??

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weely

Well-Known Member
I currently work for The coop ( now must be called cooperative!!) and having spoke to my branch manager about the scheme, he came back to me and just said 'we dont do it'.

Im just wondering why a so called 'Green' company doesnt bother its arse to do this for its 100 000 employees?

does anyone on here work for the coop or can anyone tell me how to put pressure on the fat cats at the top??

I want a new bike!!!!!
 
OP
OP
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weely

Well-Known Member
I dont think its my managers fault as he is small fry I need to go much higher up but its hard to find out who to go to.

I wonder if my union could help??
 

Chrisc

Guru
Location
Huddersfield
We can't have it at work either. The government changed the rules in November so that the scheme has to be available to every employee, even if they only work one hour a year for the company, effectively rendering it dead in the water. C2W schemes are closing hand over fist.
 

Norm

Guest
Chrisc said:
The government changed the rules in November so that the scheme has to be available to every employee, even if they only work one hour a year for the company, effectively rendering it dead in the water.
That still isn't a change in the rules, it's always been a fundamental part of getting the tax relief.
 

Mille

New Member
Location
Stone
Chrisc said:
The government changed the rules in November so that the scheme has to be available to every employee, even if they only work one hour a year for the company,

How would that work? you wouldn't be earning enought to be able to make the salary sacrifice :laugh:
 

Chrisc

Guru
Location
Huddersfield
Mille said:
How would that work? you wouldn't be earning enought to be able to make the salary sacrifice :wacko:

Exactly...our hr dept told me that they were all set but in Nov there were a new set of rules brought in that effectively stopped them from implementing it. Prior to Nov there were allowances made for people on low hours or low pay to be left out of the scheme, these allowances were removed last year.
A cynic may draw the conclusion that the govt want the scheme ended...

Ah well, I'm happier having paid for my own bike, tis mine not theirs! :biggrin:
 

Norm

Guest
Chrisc said:
A cynic may draw the conclusion that the govt want the scheme ended...
*draws breath*
There were no new rules brought in last November. That is how the rules have always been written!
 
Location
Edinburgh
Sorry Norm, did you just say that there have not been any changes to the rules last November. Just need to know.:thumbsup:
 
Location
Edinburgh
What I am curious about is what will happen later this year when my 3 year (yup, we have to wait 3 years) arrangement ends. At the end of this period I will have sacrificed salary (before tax) to just below the value of the letter of collection I used to get the bike plus a few extras. The value of the bike itself at the time I collected it may well have been less than the amount I have sacrificed.

Now if my provider say that they need a fair market value for the final purchase, I am, in all probability, going to decline the offer and tell them to collect their bike at their expense from my property. I may even suggest that I will start charging a fair market value for storage until they do collect it.
 
Location
Edinburgh
It depend on the scheme and who the provider is and your HR department. For us it is 3 years, but reading on here it seems that 1 year is fairly common
 

Norm

Guest
User76 said:
Oh, if only we had someone around who knew anything about this scheme:biggrin:
trashcat_410.jpg


:biggrin::laugh::laugh:

As Touche says, it's up to the individual scheme. The longer the better, possibly, if they do start enforcing the regulations as they were always written :smile: as the bike's value will be reduced.
 

Mick

New Member
My employer re-introduced the scheme for the start of this tax year - they last offered it a couple of years ago and I guess they figured that there'd not be sufficient interest to run it every year.

Back to the discussion, the critical requirements seem to be that it is available to all but the monthly "salary sacrifice" for any employee cannot exceed their gross monthly salary. So, if in example an employee earned a gross £12 per year, the largest amount they could spend in the scheme would be £12 but, important to note, technically they would not be excluded from the scheme. Take it up (politely and using a well structured argument) with your Human Remains Director on the main Board of Management. It's too late for the current tax year but they could be persuaded to do something in time for next April.

As to the final "purchase payment", I believe these tend to be 5-10% of the original purchase price but your employer cannot advise this in advance as it would then be deemed a hire-purchase scheme which would not qualify for tax-relief - in fact, the interest-free loan would probably be deemed a benefit in kind and therefore taxable!
 

mcshroom

Bionic Subsonic
I know my employer's advice notice always said "fair market value" for the bike, and in previous years that has meant 5% although they could always change it for this year.

The DfT even say that "typically [the price to purchase] would be offered at substantially less than the original value of the equipment."

Full guidance document can be found here: -
http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/cycling/cycletoworkguidance/pdf/518054/
 
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