UKH

Hello,

I have been asked to look into the 'Cycle 2 Work' scheme for our school academy trust and was hoping that the good people of UKC would help me with this. I would love to hear  of peoples experiences ; either as an employee using the scheme, or an employer setting up and managing it.

Many thanks 

Jim

I used it many moons ago for my MTB. Simple to use, but a bit of a faff with the various provisos at the time (after x years you either pay y amount or extend for a further z years).

Yes there's a tax saving, but you're buying a bike at full RRP, and if you're not completely clueless (I was at the time) you can probably get a much better deal on a higher spec model from last years range.

Obviously the above doesn't apply this year with the shortage of bikes due to lockdown, but next year you could probably get a really good bike, (with a Cockerpoo thrown in for free), from someone who's got fed up of both.

I used it back in the UK a few years ago. We were forced to use Halfords, but we could choose bikes that were in the sale, and add lots of accessories too. I even got a Garmin.

Unfortunately I left the UK 6 months into the repayments, so lost out on many of the tax savings I'd hoped to make.

My understanding is that there are a few providers of the cycle to work scheme, each of which ties the user into a certain selection of stores. For example, I'd made my mind up on getting a Calibre bike from Go Outdoors, but our work scheme does not have them as an available store so I didn't bother with the scheme.

If you're wanting to offer your recipients the widest selection of bikes, it's worth comparing the different providers to see what they offer. I don't know how much their administration costs to your organisation differ.

I think there is a potential National Insurance contribution saving for the employer, so a small benefit the them, as well as the employees.

The Green Commute Initiative is worth a look - very straightforward from both the employer and employee point of view. The big benefit is no £1000 limit:

https://www.greencommuteinitiative.uk/

I bought my current MTB through my employer, a local authority, scheme. They have set up their own which an academy could easily do. The LA paid the bike, the limit was £4k i think, after I had located a supplier for the bike of my choice. The bike shop gave 10% off the RRP on a new Trek Remedy. I paid a smallish amount over 18 months then a fair value payment at the end.  I ended up paying about £1500 for a brand new £2300 mountain bike which was great. You don't take ownership until you make the final fair value payment.

Unless the administrators forget about that part.....It made mine a bargain, but that was some time ago

I'm going back over 10 years so this might be out of date. When we set ours up you didn't have to go with an existing scheme provider, so limit staff buying form Halfords etc. As a result we actually specified 5 or 6 local bike shops that staff could purchase from. I don't think we had to do this, but it was part of our rationale of supporting local independents. It was more hassle, my memory was that it wouldn't have been worth the hassle if fewer than a dozen staff had made use of the scheme.  

I bought a new MTB early last year through cyclescheme.co.uk - very easy process from my perspective and could buy from/ support a helpful local bike shop too. The £1000 limit didn't apply (I think that excluded e-bikes so has been lifted/ removed?). I asked my (education sector) employer to sign up to the scheme - which they did fairly quickly and I can't believe it was that time consuming or difficult otherwise they wouldn't have done it. I finish paying the 12 monthly instalments for the bike next month so haven't got to the final payment yet but will go for the 'own it later' option - this means I pay a 7% deposit (of the purchase price) and get to keep the bike for another three years. After that the scheme keep the deposit and the bike is mine.

It does cost the bike shops to belong to the schemes so if you were a cash buyer then you could probably negotiate on the new bike price - and as others have said buying in the autumn is often the way to save but there don't seem to be many new bikes available now when shops are normally well stocked so unlikely to be much choice later in the year. For me it was a no-brainer and I will have saved around £375 on a £1500 bike (more if you're a higher rate tax payer!!)

For me it was a push I needed to get into cycling so that reason it's definitely worth it.

I used it two years ago. Straight forward enough to use and helpful if local bike shops can be used as well. The tax savings aren't amazing unless you are a higher rate tax payer so the best way to think of it is like an interest free loan.

Two years on and a more serious cyclist I think the discounts on a sale are better (as someone else said) however I might use the scheme again for extras like a cycling computer.

Given the shortage of cheaper bikes right now I would encourage anyone to buy sooner rather than later. 

I was underwhelmed with ours.  I spotted a bike on sale in Evans, but by the time the paperwork and approval went through, the bike was no longer on sale so I had to pay full price. What annoyed me more was that they say there is a final payment of between 3 and 7% of the value of the bike.  I ended up taking out the maximum amount, which was £1K at the time, so you would expect the final repayment to be at the lower end. However, I was hit with the full 7% (£70), with no recourse to complain or argue.   

All in all, I didn't save that much, it took 3 or 4 weeks at the start to get the bike and there was no accountability for the final payment

It looks like the 3% applies to bikes under £500. There's a calculator here that shows exactly what the savings are (including final 'own it later' payment) https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/how-it-works (use the advanced calculator and it breaks the cost down). On a £1000 bike you would still save £250 -although that's spread over 12 months so you only notice being about £20 a month better off in your payslip