cycle to work scheme ?
dcab
Posts: 255
a few of the lads at work are interested in the ctw scheme ? but the company will not sign up ! is there any alternative to ctw?
veritas vos liberabit
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C2W is run by your company, I don't know if there is any way of getting round this. Big retailers like Halfords, Edinburgh bike etc. run their own versions but the core of the scheme is the contract by which the company buys you a bike and you pay for it by salary sacrifice (usually over 12 or 18 months).
The only downsides for the company are the cashflow issue of buying your bike up front (some of the retailers' schemes include credit facilities to ease this, usually with not-very-generous credit terms) and a bit of admin time - not a lot really, especially if they go with a retailer's scheme. They also benefit by saving a bit of money on employers' NI contributions.
The only solution is to keep encouraging and campaigning, big up the benefits and point out how minimal the drawbacks are, how you do this depends on who you work for and what they're like. We found that our biggest difficulty was the suspiciousness of the board that there was some hidden agenda or catch to the scheme - didn't take too long to persuade them.0 -
There are other schemes but your work still has to sign up to it.
The premise if that your work buys the bike which you then lease back. I believe there are benefits to the business as well in terms of reduce NI payments. It might be worth investigating that and promoting benefits to your work.0 -
I'm purchasing a bike throught he c2w scheme, the way things are shaping up though it on't be long before I have no work to cycle to.
:roll: Tail end Charlie
The above post may contain traces of sarcasm or/and bullsh*t.0 -
there are downsides - I wouldn't get overly upset if you can't get C2W. This time of year you can shop round for bargains - where as a lot of shops won't to C2W on anything but RRP - then there is the final transfer payment (typically 5%)0
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The shops have to pay a fee to the scheme provider for each bike they sell through it.0
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This is true of most of the schemes - but you don't have to use one of the commercial schemes, you can set up one of of your own - the only legal requirement is that the employer buys the bike. Most of the schemes use some kind of voucher for the employer to go, but there's no reason why the boss can't give you a lift down to your LBS in his Merc & pay in used fivers.Aspman77 wrote:The shops have to pay a fee to the scheme provider for each bike they sell through it.0 -
I have gone through the C2W scheme and ended up administering the scheme myself. The scheme providers charge the bike shop 10% to administer the scheme which is simply an issue of a lease agreement and a voucher. If your buying a £1000 bike, then thats £100 for the scheme provider for doing a bit of paper pushing.bike being out of stock.
Downsides for a business running a cycle scheme are:
1) The obvious cashflow issue when having to first buy the bikes which can be significant if there is a large take up.
2) Administering of the scheme
3) Hassle if an employee leaves the company
These downsides may sound small but for a small business they can be enough for the owners to decline scheme.
I have a small business so in the end I decided to administer the scheme myself which meant that the LBS was not charged 10% and instead I was able to negotiate that and more off the price of the bike and kit.Still suffering with wind0 -
As a matter of interest, do you know what the final transfer payment will be up front - or could you be in for a nasty surprise at the end of the term? 5% for a one year (or is it 18 month?) old road bike doesn't really sound like fair market value to me.. How does this work in practice?0
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yes there is an alternative, it's the sales, though the good ones are coming to an end0
