Cycle to work - no payments taken

Ollieda

Hi all,

I purchased a bike under cycle to work last May. Monthly payments should have been about £50 per month. No payments were taken the first month which I guessed was just a delay in getting things set up. 12 months later and still no payments have been taken despite me having mentioned it to work on a few occasions. I've spoken to someone else and it looks like it's the same story for them.

Now I guess many of you are thinking "woohoo, free bike!" but having read through the hire agreement my understanding is that the 12 months starts from the date of first payment - effectively I've not even started my hire agreement then!

I'd be happy to just keep the status-quo and keep on riding but I've been thinking of leaving within the next 6 months and am slightly concerned that when my employers look into things they might finally, properly, realise their mistake and try to get their money back - charging me for the whole 12 months in my final pay cheque.

Anyone have any experience of a similar situation? Are they able to charge me all in one go? Or is the bike now considered paid up (minus the one off end payment)? Can they chase me for payments after I leave? If I actually stay and apply fora new C2W bike will I get refused because the old one is't done, or in fact get charged for 2?

slowbike

I hope you put the money away that would've been taken on the C2W scheme ... as a "just in case" ...

jamesco

Ollieda wrote:

Anyone have any experience of a similar situation? Are they able to charge me all in one go? Or is the bike now considered paid up (minus the one off end payment)? Can they chase me for payments after I leave? If I actually stay and apply fora new C2W bike will I get refused because the old one is't done, or in fact get charged for 2?

Yep, I had a four month period of no billing. I didn't notice, to be honest, but when a new office manager joined she did.

I didn't want the scheme period to go on for a second longer than necessary and offered to pay the lot in a lump sum. As it happened I was also in the wrong tax bracket and got a whopping refund simultaneously, so the aggregated bike payments didn't hurt.

The accountants said I could have just made the missing payments in additional monthly installments and I suspect this will be the case for you, too. Whether or not your employer can chase you for it, I don't know, but as it's a tax matter and you won't be hurt by paying I think you're best just to pay up.

The Rookie

If they try and run the scheme past 18 months you can stop them doing so.
"If a salary sacrifice arrangement is to be in place for longer than 18 months an employee has the right to terminate that arrangement early at any point after the first 18 months has expired."

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... idance.pdf

So it depends on exactly what your agreement says they can deduct, if they can only deduct equal monthly payments then if they leave it long enough you could just had the bike back at the 18 months and walk away and had a cheap 18m rental!

tincaman

Depending on your wage slip, the amount is taken from your gross pay, so it may not even appear on your deductions at all. Thats what happened to me before I noticed. Check an old slip to check your gross, see if there is a difference

redvee

My C2W deduction is a negative payment in the same box as gross pay, overtime and pension payment.