Employer not interested in Cycle to Work. What S.O.B's

rolf_f

Surely people don't buy single speeds?!! You are supposed to make them from old racers!

Bassjunkieuk

Aidy wrote:

Quit. Work somewhere else.

I like your thinking and if it ever comes to the point where I look for alternative employment (at present I think there is enough career progression to stick with my current employer) I think one of the questions I'll be asking during the interview is if they offer a C2W scheme or something similar :-)

dirk_van_gently

The whole C2W scheme is a cynical initiative.

It looks like a "Green" initiative by the government, but merely plays lip service to the idea.

Take the NHS, you would think massive Gov machine would be in, right?

Well yes and no, parts of the NHS are opted in, and others aren't, so multiple depts doing the same job.

Self employed folk cannot apply.

It needs to be a central gov initiative administered by them, and the vouchers should be valid anywhere, so that local bike shops can benefit.

Just my 2p

Bassjunkieuk

Dirk Van Gently wrote:

The whole C2W scheme is a cynical initiative.

It looks like a "Green" initiative by the government, but merely plays lip service to the idea.

Take the NHS, you would think massive Gov machine would be in, right?

Well yes and no, parts of the NHS are opted in, and others aren't, so multiple depts doing the same job.

Self employed folk cannot apply.

It needs to be a central gov initiative administered by them, and the vouchers should be valid anywhere, so that local bike shops can benefit.

Just my 2p

+1, A voucher based scheme seems a lot more logical. It would give a much wider choice of bikes then allowing each person to pick and choose where to get a bike from. One of my concerns since realizing there is more then one of this type of scheme is getting on one that is accepted to the place I'd like to get my bike. Ordering online could save me money but as I'd certainly be going for the £1K option I want a bike that will last which would mean using an LBS to enable me to be properly fitted and have test rides etc. Also with a voucher you could then hopefully top it up, especially useful as this years bikes seem to have gone up about 10-15% versus the same spec last year!

Clever Pun

My company has stopped it, which is a shame as I was just trying to figure out what new bike I should get

Clever Pun

Rolf F wrote:

Surely people don't buy single speeds?!! You are supposed to make them from old racers!

the OTP market is massive

lost_in_thought

Clever Pun wrote:

My company has stopped it, which is a shame as I was just trying to figure out what new bike I should get

The office manager girl came and found me yesterday to ask what I thought she should upgrade her bike to for a faster model, I responded helpfully and sent her the C2W link... we shall see!

rolf_f

"Clever wrote:

the OTP market is massive

OTP??

Dirk Van Gently wrote:

It needs to be a central gov initiative administered by them, and the vouchers should be valid anywhere, so that local bike shops can benefit.

But they are valid most places and local bike shops do benefit. Some of the schemes only use Halfords but you can't blame the scheme if your employer chooses a crap cycle scheme company.

Mine use Cycle Scheme which does allow pretty much any shop to supply but, it has just changed its policy so you now have to buy a bike - you can't just by safety equipment which is allowed in the B2W schemes. Not very eco friendly but still better than a Halfords only.

lost_in_thought

OTP = off the peg

andy83

i hit a brick wall with trying to get the scheme going then i found out one of the directors husbands was a keen cyclist

told her about it and she said it sounded a great idea and even told me how her husband always gets wiggle boxes and makes him so happy when he cycles. i then asked another director who has a say in stuff with the company. They both said they would try and push it.

i then sent email to company head office and payroll with links to cyclescheme and explained how it would look bad if they didnt take up the scheme as its a governement iniciative

Then xmas eve one of the directors said they went to the boss of the company and pushed it which was a nice boost for xmas for me. in april i got the go ahead to get my bike.

its all about persistance and playing it on thick about benefits etc

it took me 7 months but feel great having new bike now, especially as my other one got nicked

biondino

Chapeau, Andy!

mrchrispy

i left my last place and told them it was because they didnt do nursery or cycle to work vouchers. not true be it may have made them look at it for the guys i left there. good news for me is greater machester dibble are starting up with cyclescheme in a month or so.

the hard part now is deciding which LBS do i spend my grand in?

:roll:

condorman

Imagine the frustration if your employer was the one responsible for policing the scheme but they refused to implement it on the grounds of cost, admin, take-up etc.

JonS123

Having checked my works intranet, I have seen cycle to work is open for applications starting a week Monday - BRING IT ON :D:D

Unless I get other suggestions, think I am going for a Cannondale Badboy 700, which has the bigger wheels as well as disk brakes - all last winter on a wet day I had zero braking after 2 mins of riding due to that black gunk that always appeared on the rims no matter how much I cleaned them.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

There really ought to be a way of getting a tax free bike if your employer refuses to start up a scheme. There are so many of us out there missing out for one reason or another (company cannot afford to buy the bikes in my case, due to dire financial situation)...

Send organising company the relevent details, pay a small admin fee, they contact employer and tell them to deduct so much per month (with your authorised signature for the debit).

We get cheap bike, employer has minimal effort debit (to be treated almost the same as NI contributions and PAYE), organising company gets small token of appreciation for helping us poor souls make use of a government initiative, bike shop gets a sale that might not otherwise happen.

rolf_f

NitrousOxide wrote:

There really ought to be a way of getting a tax free bike if your employer refuses to start up a scheme. There are so many of us out there missing out for one reason or another (company cannot afford to buy the bikes in my case, due to dire financial situation)...

Send organising company the relevent details, pay a small admin fee, they contact employer and tell them to deduct so much per month (with your authorised signature for the debit).

We get cheap bike, employer has minimal effort debit (to be treated almost the same as NI contributions and PAYE), organising company gets small token of appreciation for helping us poor souls make use of a government initiative, bike shop gets a sale that might not otherwise happen.

The company doesn't buy the bikes on the B2W scheme. What you have suggested is pretty much how B2W works anyway. It doesn't cost the company anything but the admin; ultimately, the company has to do something though and if they can't be bothered to do even that then what can you do?

Eau Rouge

Rolf F wrote:

The company doesn't buy the bikes on the B2W scheme.

I'm pretty sure they do. Your employer has to be the one buying the bike, then leasing it to you, otherwise they wouldn't be able to take the repayments from your salary before tax/NI.

I can see that forking out a lump sum for bikes being a hurdle for companies especially in the current climate, even if it results in savings over the year.

rolf_f

Eau Rouge wrote:

I'm pretty sure they do. Your employer has to be the one buying the bike, then leasing it to you, otherwise they wouldn't be able to take the repayments from your salary before tax/NI.

I can see that forking out a lump sum for bikes being a hurdle for companies especially in the current climate, even if it results in savings over the year.

Checked it out - it can work either way - the employer can use finance for the bike. Ultimately though, the employer isn't paying out anymore in the long run since you have to pay for it. Effectively it is a loan on your salary. If the company can't afford that then it might suggest its finances are in a sufficiently dire state as to be a company worth leaving asap!

Donnic

As far as I'm aware, there is a company called Fair Care who will adopt the role of your employer when it comes to the Cycle to Work scheme, I haven't read the entire details of the scheme but it was mentioned to me at work.

According to their website it is only to be used in halfords, but I work at Evans and our manager mentioned that we could take them as well (don't hold me to this, nobody has actually tried to redeem a voucher with our branch yet)

Here is the URL for their website.

http://www.faircare.co.uk/cycle.html