anyone had any experience in using Cycle Solutions to run it?
And what would you look for in a company who did this?
Our place are considering using them...they appear to be the same as any other one, but i havent got a clue. And what happens after the initial 12 months?
cheers
I was asked to look into this a little while back - after the hire period you get the option to take ownership for a fixed % that represents the 'market value'.
Doing a few sums:
If the company bought the bikes up front rather than arranged finance through someone running a scheme:
12 month hire period for a bike costing £1000;
Higher rate tax payer would pay £580 + final payment of £250 = £830 total. A saving of £170 or 17%
Lower rate tax payer would pay £680 + final payment of £250 = £930 total. A saving of £70 or 7%!
So weirdly the more you can afford the bike in the first place the less you pay! We decided it wasn't worth the hassle of setting up in the end...
Looking at that you could get a sale bike and 0% finance saving 30%
its the 'final payment' bit that needs investigation
cyclesolutions seem to manage this (for a nominal payment)
The final payment % is set by HMRC who probably clocked that it was becoming rather too good a bargain...
[url= http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/employers/employer-updates/hmrc-update ]http://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/employers/employer-updates/hmrc-update[/url]
Why would you want a company like Cycle Solutions to run it for you?
It's a very simple scheme to administer, plenty of sample hire agreements online.
- Company buys bike
- Company deducts agreed amount from employees pay for a fixed period (technically you reduce the employees contractual pay by an agreed amount, it's not actually a deduction)
- Company either agrees to continue allowing employee to use bike (usually for no cost) after hire period ends, or can transfer ownership (with or without a final payment). If no final payment is made, employee will be liable for tax on the "benefit in kind" - so 20% of e.g. £250 in the example above for a basic rate taxpayer.
It's a very good deal for employees, and a good deal for employers too - you get to offer your workforce a benefit that doesn't cost you anything and in fact saves you some Employer's NIC costs. But there's really no reason to have a company run it for you. If you really want someone, Cyclescheme are one of the best IMHO.
because its a very big company and the payroll and admin implications mount up quite significantly when you attempt to provide bikes for whatever percentage of the ~100k employees who may take up the chance
if we can keep it simple (and easy to manage) then its more likely to be approved
(if they decide to do it and dont work out i've been discussing it with internet experts)
Why would you want a company to do it at all? Its a piece of ****
That's not really something I can ask our HR department...think they might just laugh at me (and you)
Answers are always better than questions ...just telling em it's a piece of piss won't really wash 🙂