C2W scheme voucher limit

andyh01

Hi all looking for a new bike on the C2W scheme, ones I like are over £1000, my employer will allow me to put too (but I don't get the tax saving) and they self administrate, they buy for employee and just deduct from salary.
Reading the rules, the £1k limit seems to be due to old credit licencing rules, which I think is now out of date? Anyone know if the C2W voucher are limited to just £1k or can it be for higher amount?

xixang

It's limited to £1k. Something to do with the consumer credit act or something. IME Most shops won't allow you to put extra to or fudge the price to get a better bike down to £1k. I found one shop that would but the rest said it was too big a risk if they got caught and struck off the approved list, and c2w makes up quite a big chunk of their business. In fact several actually changed an admin fee for selling via c2w. I ended up getting a better deal by paying cash

Source: I'm involved in th admin process at my workplace plus trying to get a £1k+ bike. Ymmv

super_davo

Correct, £1000 is the limit of credit associated to C2W not the tax relief. If your company has a credit licence you can go much higher.
My company didn't want to know about getting said licence, which is hardly surprising because there wouldn't be massive demand beyond me!
What I did instead was stick in my own money into a C2W purchase so I could get a £1500 bike; depends on whether the shop will let you. Obviously that extra isn't tax free, but it made quite a difference to the bike I could buy. Wasn't worried about the process at end of hire as I've done C2W many times at my company and know the drill.
I've also got a C2W voucher for accessories in a different year; was able to get a new groupset and clothes with it. Evans allow you to do that, and were great with the whole thing, price matching Wiggle for the groupset. Can do wheels too. So if you're prepared to wait, buy the frame you want this year with 105, and upgrade to a shiny new Dura Ace 9100 next year!

andyh01

The thing is the reading I've done suggests this was when the office of fair trading was responsible for C2W and they said it fell under the credit act and so a group C2W scheme wide licence was issued by the office of fair trade to facilitate the C2W scheme, up to £1k which came into force in 2010 and was valid for 5 yrs and has now expired. The OFT now has been disbanded and is under the Financial conduct authority (FCA)
I can not find anywhere the new up to date CCL or the updated policy guidance on the this from the FCA. I also work for a company who are regulated by the FCA and I believe also offer extended credit so should have a CCL anyway as well as carrying out credit checks on employees but no one seems to know if we do actually have the ccl and if so what limit and whether it'll cover the C2W. I am also led to believe the FCA for the purpose of C2W no longer class this as consumer credit (which would make more sense as employee not external)

super_davo

What scheme is it you're using?

I checked on Cycleschemes website and it states this:

"What is the maximum certificate value employees can select through the scheme?

Employers can implement Cycle to Work schemes with a maximum certificate value of £1,000 inc. VAT.

Employers who have the appropriate Consumer Credit Authorisation can allow employees to request Certificates of a higher value.

If an employer wishes to increase the maximum Certificate value, they can apply for Consumer Credit Authorisation from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

For further details on how to obtain authorisation or to determine which category is required, please click here http://www.fca.org.uk/firms/firm-types/ ... it-interim. ( and said link no longer works!)

Cycle 2 Work (ie Halfords) doesn't say it anywhere near as clearly but also states a £1000 limit.

All of this suggests that if the regulations have changed, the schemes are playing catch up. I'd ping your provider a mail and see what they say.

andyh01

I also thing the regs have changed I just find anywhere clarifying whether the CCL is still needed!

My new employer self administrate - They will buy the bike directly from employee choosing on a company credit card no voucher or anything issued to employee I place order they pay then employer deducts payments on salary sacrifice.

I understand it's ran by the financial director who I have spoken to (as a new employee on probation I didn't really want to correct him without solid evidence) he thinks the scheme as whole is limited to £1k and I explained just the ccl, I now apparently need to speak to another director to get info on the ccl which again I don't really want to do, so I'm hoping it's been completely removed and as you say scheme providers are still playing catch up.

The other question is then does this mean employer gets to claim back the VAT?.... hmmmm Wonder if they'd pass it on to employee...