The Cycle to Work Scheme
The Cycle to Work Scheme is a great benefit to customers who have employers enlightened enough to offer this.
It can reduce the cost of a bike by up to 42% depending on the tax bracket that you are in and the cost can be spread over 12 months or more. It works by your employer paying for the bike (or a portion of it) and you repay your employer out of your gross pay. Until recently the amount the employer could contribute was limited to £1,000 but normally the employee can top up the difference. However, recently this £1000 limit has been lifted, which is especially helpful for e-bike of course. It is up to the employer to decide if they will increase the limit so this is a question you should ask them when applying for the scheme.
We work with many Scheme providers, but we recommend Green Commute Initiative as a Cycle to Work Scheme provider. They have relatively low commission rates and provide an efficient service
It works like this:
- Find out if your employer offers this scheme or one like it
- Visit our shop and choose a bike that you would like. If needed, we will give you a quote that you can give to your employer.
- You will be issued with a certificate.
- Bring your certificate to the shop with your ID and we will give you the bike and any other accessories that you add into the package.
- You will pay the cost of the bike in instalments out of your gross salary, thereby saving on the tax and national insurance, making a saving of between 32% and 42% of the cost of the bike.
- After the repayment period your employer can sell the bike to you. This can often be for a nominal amount but could be 7% of the value of the bike.
Example
Bike Cost of £999. Your tax rate is 20% and Employee’s National Insurance rate of 12%. Repayment period 24 months
Monthly payments : £41.62 out of gross salary. The net cost to the employee is £28.30 per month or £697.32 in total. This represents a saving of £319.68 – or 32% of the cost.
As noted above the limit of £1000 has now been removed by the government but you should ask your employer if they now allow a higher limit.
Finally please note that there is a saving to your employer as well as they do not need to pay Employer’s National Insurance on the cost of the bike.
Please note: we reserve the right to add a surcharge onto the cost of the bike, in order to reduce the impact on us from the charge by the cycle-to-work scheme provider. Some scheme providers can take 10% or more of the purchase price from us.
Any questions please ask… 01483 808765.