Cycle2work scheme

sjmc

Looking at opening up a bike shop and providing a cycle2work scheme but do not want to use a third party provider. Does anyone know how to set the scheme up as an independant?

Regards
sjmc

sketchley

Yes nothing for you to worry about. The employer admins the scheme not you although they may use a third party (e.g cycle scheme) to administer for them but this is not necessary. All the employer needs to do is buy the bike and accessories from you direct then sort it out internally. You can help with this by providing sample forms for the employer / employee to download and fill out. You can look at planet-x website as an example. My firm has it's own forms and is self administered, when an employee has chosen their bike from any shop the company simply purchases it with company credit card and the employee fills out the forms which are then signed. Simple really and I struggle to see what Cycle Scheme or other actually add.

Another option is to register with Cycle Scheme, what happens then is that someone will come in with cycle scheme voucher paid for by their company and buy the bike with it, you then get money from cycle scheme but they do take a fee 10% IIRC. That's why some shops like planet-x pass this charge on to customer if using cycle scheme. There is no reason why you cannot do both as planet-x do.

Evans use a slightly different model but it works the same way as cycle scheme with evans providing a voucher to use in store that the company pre-pays, I think halfords do the same. You could go down this route as well but I really don't see the point just have the business pay direct for the bike rather than a voucher.

Topaxci

Pretty much the same here. I am responsible for the scheme at my company.
We will buy a bike direct from any bike shop who'll give our employee a quote. We get the agreement documents signed before we purchase the bike (just so they can't pull out at the last minute and leave us with a bike we don't want)

Only people we won't deal with are online only companies. Until they stop insisting they will only dispatch to credit card address (that's went you can get hold of someone) it will stay that way. We cover six counties and makes a logistical nightmare.

I would say your main issue is getting people to come to you in the first place. Once they're in the door you could have forms/posters etc... to let people know and raise awareness.
Beyond that you may have some joy getting some publicity up at local firms who run thier own scheme and have a big employee base, or offering them a 'special deal'.

We take on about 15 new bikes every month through the scheme so there is plenty of demand out there.