My employer has decided to “terminate my contract”, but I have at least 8 months left on my ride to work scheme.

Is it likely:

a) I keep the bike and tell them to spin?
b) They deduct the full amount from my termination pay packet?
c) A black government van with darkened windows turns up and wrestles my shiney Genesis out of my locked shed.
d) The tax man send me a big bill
e) None of the above?

S

Not sure id its the same with every company but with mine you have to pay for the bike out of your last salary plus the last “admin” payment.

When I ‘went’ they forgot about it in the offer – my solicitor wrote to them and they wrote it off!!

Was the best £800 I got out of them!

I doubt they can take it out of your last paycheck

In theory the bike belongs to them and you are renting it from them until the final payment so you should return the bike to them.

In practice I bet tehy simply forget. keep the bike and say nowt

deductions cannot be made to your paycheck without your consent

You probably consented to the deduction from your last paycheck in your BTW scheme contract…

That’s what happened with mine.

stevomcd – Member
You probably consented to the deduction from your last paycheck in your BTW scheme contract…

Wot he said.

In practice? Who knows.

Worry about it later! Maybe get a bike for nowt or chuck it back at the HR and be on your merry way

Hmmmmm

Interesting point about the deduction from last paycheck

I wonder if it is in the contract that they can extract it form your lat paycheck

i doubt it as the bike belongs to the company and you are paying a monthly fee to use it but i don’t know for sure

TandemJeremy – Member
Hmmmmm

Interesting point about the deduction from last paycheck

I wonder if it is in the contract that they can extract it form your lat paycheck

i doubt it as the bike belongs to the company and you are paying a monthly fee to use it but i don’t know for sure

But you have agreed a contract with them. I know that this is how it worked at my last place of employment and I have seen it written into other contracts. There is then the question of what happens to the bike – e.g. do they offer it to you at a special (taxable) cost?

Like I said – much will depend on the HR department involved and what they want to do.

Mate of mine had exactly this situation, was charged the remaining rental payments plus £20 final payment, that came out of his final salary payment. The situation was covered in the initial agreement that was signed.

From the cyclescheme FAQ

“Once signed, the Hire Agreement is non-cancellable following a cooling-off period of 7 working days following collection of the goods. This means that if an employee leaves or is made redundant from their employment during the hire period they are obliged to pay the remaining salary sacrifice amount in full from net pay i.e. without any tax exemptions. “

so that’s Cyclescheme’s angle on it, other schemes may have different policies I guess.

B

The B2W contract is that you are responsible for completion of the outstanding payments (so if you’ve made 2 payments you, in theory, will have the remaining 10 deducted from your final payment). This is of course down at the end of the day down to the employer. Some may well simply right it off as part of your deal. They are not obliged to do so though. That is why, in my last job that had B2W scheme, i didn’t go for it. I was unhappy with the job and knew that one way or another I wouldn’t last 12 months and could not afford the irsk that they would take the full amount out of my final payment.

Hmmm, its not a mutual parting of the ways shall we say and it has already been mentioned, HR person said verbally she would write it off but when I am pressing them for a written conformation of their verbal intent they have been remarkably quiet. Suspect they are planning to deduct it from final settlement.

That said I am seeing legal folks on Tuesday and that will certainly be included in any settlement now that I know the official stand on it.

Cheers

S

scotabroad – Member
Hmmm, its not a mutual parting of the ways shall we say and it has already been mentioned, HR person said verbally she would write it off

Which means that you’ll be liable for tax on the current market value of the bike.

it falls apart

As druidh says it’s not so much what they company is prepared to do, they can write off the remaining hire period if they want, it’s the fact you’ll be liable to tax on remaining value of the bike unless it forms part of your redundancy settle (assuming they can pay you off in kind). It’s one of the aspects of the scheme which is pretty unfair tbh. DIfferent if you choose to leave but if they ‘let you go’ it feels a bit like rubbing salt into the wound.

Aye its a b***er right enough, I only took the scheme on because I saw it as a neat way to get a good deal on a bike and it looks like I wil be paying full price anyway 😐

Well I never, just got confirmation they are writing it off!! A small silver lining in a big dark cloud of severance 🙂

This is an extract from the actual Cyclescheme contract that I’ve just taken out:

8.0 Leaving your employment
8.1 This Agreement is a 18 month agreement. However if you leave your
employment you will no longer be able to benefit from the tax exemption
under this Agreement. Therefore if your employment with the Employer
ceases for any reason during the 18 month period you will be required to
pay a termination fee to the Employer (the “Termination Fee”). For the
avoidance of doubt the Termination Fee will not exceed a value equal to
the outstanding monthly salary reductions but there will also be an
additional sum, equating to the fair market value as described in
paragraph 2.6 above. The Termination Fee will be collected by the
Employer from any remaining net salary payments i.e. you will not
benefit from any tax exemption. Should this not be possible for any
reason, or the outstanding liabilities exceed any remaining net salary
payments, the Employer will require settlement of any outstanding
liabilities within 14 days of leaving your employment.