When Sharon and I looked into this we calculated that we would be worse off as any Tax free deductions could effect our employers contributions to our pension schemes.
That's interesting (not that it affects me personally because we have a different cycle scheme and I'm not buying a bike at the moment) - I'd have thought that pension contributions would be calculated on total gross salary before any salary sacrifice schemes. If that's not the case, then it would affect things like childcare vouchers as well.
It's been around for a number of years. Sadly relatively few employers offer it (I tried to get HR to take part at both Misys and Axiom, and neither were prepared to participate). I believe my current employer does offer it, but by then it was too late and I had bought a new bike.
Both Symbian and Nokia have run this scheme (Cycle2Work) but in both cases they run it for one month every six months (so two opportunities to sign up per year) ...
... under Symbian it was administered by Halfords, which meant you either had to have a Halfords bicycle, or they could order in specially, at retail price.
The downside to that was that it was a hassle to get them to do the order, and you got an effective 30% or so off retail, which you can almost certainly do as well by shopping around or online ... and Halfords had a poor reputation for being able to set up a bicycle properly.
And the other problem with the scheme is that if you leave during the repayment period, you have to pay the remaining amount *including tax*
So, say you've worked out you're going to save around 35% off the total price and you pick a bicycle (and accessories, such as helmet, lock, hi-viz jacket etc. which are all allowed as part of your salary sacrifice) to a total of £1,000. The schemes I've been offered take that out of your salary over the period of 18 months ... so about £56/month ... because that comes out of your salary before tax and national insurance, your take home pay only drops by about £36 (so over the 18 months you get £650 less in take home but have a £1,000 bicycle).
Now, after six months, you leave the company (new job, made redundant etc.) and at that point you've paid around £216. There's still 2/3rds of the contract left, so you now owe 2/3rds of the original price (which was £1,000 remember) or £666. For a total price of £882.
If you'd bought the bicycle yourself and managed to find a 30% discount on the internet or from your local bicycle shop, you'd have paid £666 ...
... which is the reason i didn't sign up for the scheme last year, just in case.
In the Cambridge office, and under Nokia, we're not tied in to Halfords, so it's a much more attractive scheme ...
oh, and legally, the bicycle remains the property of the cycle scheme for the duration of the scheme, who will sell you the bike at the end for a small fee (one I just looked at want 5% of the original value, so that's another £50 you have to provide) ... but it is still your responsibility to prevent it being stolen and you have to provide your own insurance ... and bicycles do get stolen in places like London and Cambridge (and pretty much anywhere else) http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article714937.ece
It's a great scheme; several people in our office have used it to buy a bike to cycle to and from their mainline train station. It all helps to ease tube congestion and raise fitness levels.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Saved her quite a bit of money!
no subject
no subject
no subject
(Or, for the same effect, allow a bike that you use for getting to and from your workplace to be a tax-deductible business expense.)
no subject
no subject
... under Symbian it was administered by Halfords, which meant you either had to have a Halfords bicycle, or they could order in specially, at retail price.
The downside to that was that it was a hassle to get them to do the order, and you got an effective 30% or so off retail, which you can almost certainly do as well by shopping around or online ... and Halfords had a poor reputation for being able to set up a bicycle properly.
And the other problem with the scheme is that if you leave during the repayment period, you have to pay the remaining amount *including tax*
So, say you've worked out you're going to save around 35% off the total price and you pick a bicycle (and accessories, such as helmet, lock, hi-viz jacket etc. which are all allowed as part of your salary sacrifice) to a total of £1,000. The schemes I've been offered take that out of your salary over the period of 18 months ... so about £56/month ... because that comes out of your salary before tax and national insurance, your take home pay only drops by about £36 (so over the 18 months you get £650 less in take home but have a £1,000 bicycle).
Now, after six months, you leave the company (new job, made redundant etc.) and at that point you've paid around £216. There's still 2/3rds of the contract left, so you now owe 2/3rds of the original price (which was £1,000 remember) or £666. For a total price of £882.
If you'd bought the bicycle yourself and managed to find a 30% discount on the internet or from your local bicycle shop, you'd have paid £666 ...
... which is the reason i didn't sign up for the scheme last year, just in case.
In the Cambridge office, and under Nokia, we're not tied in to Halfords, so it's a much more attractive scheme ...
oh, and legally, the bicycle remains the property of the cycle scheme for the duration of the scheme, who will sell you the bike at the end for a small fee (one I just looked at want 5% of the original value, so that's another £50 you have to provide) ... but it is still your responsibility to prevent it being stolen and you have to provide your own insurance ... and bicycles do get stolen in places like London and Cambridge (and pretty much anywhere else)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article714937.ece
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject