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Am I right in thinking the £1000 limit has been scraped? Reason why I’m asking is after a quick Google I’m under the impression that it has but the guy in accounts at my workplace is adamant it still is a 1k limit. The bike I was looking at, a Planet X Hurricane sram force is on offer atm at £1900 and was looking at getting one. The thing is I can’t understand why he’s being arsey about it. It’s not as if it’s coming out of his own pocket and I’ll be paying it back anyway.
Your company is perfectly within their rights to keep the £1k limit if they wish to.
It's down to whatever your company has as their limit, the scheme has no limit now, but companies have an agreement with the scheme that may have a limit, a lot of companies haven't changed over to get a new limit, so yours could be one of those, stuck with a £1000 limit.
It has been scrapped, but it’s up to the organisation you work for as to how much you’re allowed to borrow. Ours is now £3k
Depends on your company. Afaik it's still easier to do £1000 so that's what a lot do
I think it depends on your company. Mine has gone up to £6000
£10k at my place...
I was surprised, but I have two roadie directors that commute to work.
The company can set the limit, as I think they stump up the cash in the first instance...
£3,500 to cope with leccy bikes here !
Always surprises me how many bikes you see priced at just over 1 or 2 or 3k. You'd think bike companies would price them at 1p below any possible c2w scheme limit.
Ask your employer if they would be willing to increase the limit
The guy said the reason why was because we don’t have a consumer credit licence so can’t go over the 1k mark. However am I right in thinking that if you go through one of the schemes they have the credit license so the limit isn’t an issue? Up to now he hasn’t used any of the various schemes for any workers who have got a bike through work because, in his words, they take a cut for not doing anything. Yes he’s a tight arse, that’s why he’s in accounts 😂
My employer has only recently increased the limit from £1k to £3k, however, they also now do plans over 12,18 & 24 months. Previously, it was £1k limit over 12 months only.
My employer is incredible for the stuff they give us as benefits, and have lots of people earning enough to REALLY take advantage of it (despite not needing to, if you catch my drift)
Our limit’s a grand. 😭
If they won't increase the limit, you can just pay the difference over £1000.
If they won’t increase the limit, you can just pay the difference over £1000.
Not advisable though. And a lot of shops won’t allow it.
If they won’t increase the limit, you can just pay the difference over £1000.
I was actually told by a shop that it was illegal to pay extra when I wanted a dearer bike.
Thing is, you can still easily buy an adequate bike to cycle to work on for £1k (or less).
Do you really want him to unpick your request any further and discover you have no intention of riding the £3k gravel sled (That technically belongs to the company until you pay the final settlement fee) to work?
I had to hassle my previous place for weeks until they finally agreed to go to £3000 limit (up from £1000). Then they refused point blank to allow any other retailer anyway (had to be through Halfords and because the scheme was being delivered through one of those dreadful Workplace Perks companies, they weren't interested in trying to be helpful. I tried to get them to go to Green Commute Initiative but nope, it had to be thise scheme, no other employee benefits allowed.
My current place is even worse, £2000 limit and again it's through a third party and they won't budge on the specifics.
The limit is up to the company now but they're within their rights to stick to the original £1000.
Thing is, you can still easily buy an adequate bike to cycle to work on for £1k (or less).
But that grand hasn’t increased with inflation though, since the schemes inception. Plus a lot of the schemes are just cycle schemes, what you do with the bike isn’t specified
hing is, you can still easily buy an adequate bike to cycle to work on for £1k (or less).
for e-bikes I'd disagree somewhat. 2k, yes, but most stuff under a grand is trash
Scrapped, I sold a 10k colnago on the ctws but he was the only employee in his company so he and his accountant set the limit.
Your company can set whatever limit they like
Mine is also £1k through Halfords.
Same reason, they already have some sort of consumer credit approval for their business and a separate one would be needed for c2w and it would conflict apparently 🙁
Slight hijack, does it have to be ridden to work ever?
Just got an offer for a new job and one of the perks is cycle 2 work...but I'm home based with a company ev for all site work.
what you do with the bike isn’t specified
Strongly implied by the term "cycle to work"...
The scheme was originally intended to help people on lower wages access a better quality bike to get to work on without having to stump up typically unaffordable sums in one hit or take on credit with an interest rate...
It's become a tax dodge/0% loan scheme for the middle-classes to put another shiny toy in the garage...
Scrapped, I sold a 10k colnago on the ctws but he was the only employee in his company so he and his accountant set the limit.
Your company can set whatever limit they like
Mmmm, what bike for the 35 metre commute to the garden office ? 😉
Slight hijack, does it have to be ridden to work ever?
There's no check on it if that's what you mean... 😉
The scheme was originally intended to help people on lower wages access a better quality bike to get to work on without having to stump up typically unaffordable sums in one hit or take on credit with an interest rate…
Although as a lower rate taxpayer, you can't save as much as a higher rate taxpayer could even though the higher rate payer is more likely to be able to afford the bike outright in the first place...
Slight hijack, does it have to be ridden to work ever?
It says bike to be used more for work than personal use but how they check this I do not know
I supposed it could be argued that every bike ride would be from home to my office...
Strongly implied by the term “cycle to work”…
that’s the name of one scheme/provider. There are many.
The scheme was originally intended to help people on lower wages access a better quality bike to get to work on without having to stump up typically unaffordable sums in one hit or take on credit with an interest rate…
but not the lowest wages, as you still have to earn minimum wage AFTER your deductions have been made.
Your company is perfectly within their rights to keep the £1k limit if they wish to.
Mmm. In the same way as the company is within their rights to do various other pointless things that needlessly disadvantage their staff and increase the likelihood of employees pissing off and finding somehere less shit to work.
I had an argument with someone at our company about why it was fine for me to hire a £115,000 Mercedes AMG for five years out of my pre tax salary but not ok for me to hire a £4 grand bike on C2W
I had an argument with someone at our company about why it was fine for me to hire a £115,000 Mercedes AMG for five years out of my pre tax salary but not ok for me to hire a £4 grand bike on C2W
The Merc wouldn't cost your company anything upfront and all the liability will rest with you. That's not the case for the cycle to work schemes I've seen. They either require the company to pay up front or borrow the money themselves, before gradually reclaiming the money from the employee.
Don't forget the company get a benefit too.
The B2W cost out of you wage is a 'salary sacrifice'. The company save paying employer National Insurance on that 'sacrificed' amount.
(Depending on pension scheme and how administered they may also make some savings there too).
My experience was my old Co, that on the whole were pretty good at looking after staff, just had zero interest in cycling so only allowed £1k and only from Halfrauds. Which = shiiite squared.
Strangely, after a reverse takeover about 4 years ago the company that inherited the Co in the reverse takeover were total kerhuubts as far as their contemptuous treatment of staff. Except actually did B2W properly with a £2.5k limit and could use any bike shop or nearly all online too.
(I got a new road bike at £2.5k just before Covid happened, stuck it out there through Covid, then when the bike was securely mine I ****ed off somewhere else where I am appreciated... with many clients following me with work to do 🙂)
Ours is through Caboodle. £1000 limit, you have to have an order quote specifing exactly which bike, model, colour, frame number, etc, they then take a month or so authorise the voucher. The shop is expected to hold the bike until the voucher turns up.
Complete shambles.
£10k!!! - can I buy a car on this scheme, and use it once a week to drive to work while I cycle the rest for of the week?
Those with Halfords vouchers… it’s worth doing a bit of research and shopping about. Other places take Halfords C2W vouchers, e.g. Sonder. Not sure how it works but I just have them the voucher code and it sailed through.
The way the schemes work had changed. In 2019 the gov changed the rules such that it's allowable for companies to sub out the hire element to a third party. In doing so the requirements for FCA licensing for agreements over 1k passes to the schemes. So... If your company goes via a scheme, there's a good chance it's now able to go over 1k. It may still be that Not all schemes are set up to do this, but all the bug guys are. If your company does it itself then it's still 1k without a credit licence.
Biketart also take Halfords vouchers, although I did have to top up the sale price to the RRP.
my work uses the Halfords scheme. You can spend the voucher at Halfords, Tredz or a large number of independents.
Some independents charge a percentage to take the voucher (as it costs them).
But either way, this opens up lots of avenues.
If you speak nicely to the independents, many of them are happy for you to top up your voucher with cash, even tho technically this shouldn't be allowed.
It doesnt have to be spent on a bike. It can be parts. If your current bike is un-rideable as it only has Fox 36's on it, by all means, get the latest 38's to make it safe to be seen on 🙂
I know people who have bought downhill bikes on the scheme. No one checks what you buy. No one checks whether you ride it to work.
In fact, there is nothing really stopping you from buying a bike and selling it tomorrow. Obviously the small print and 'rules' say you cant do much of the above, but as mentioned, no one checks.
It doesnt have to be spent on a bike. It can be parts. If your current bike is un-rideable as it only has Fox 36’s on it, by all means, get the latest 38’s to make it safe to be seen on
My scheme excludes frames and forks, but anything else is fair game.
Those with Halfords vouchers… it’s worth doing a bit of research and shopping about. Other places take Halfords C2W vouchers, e.g. Sonder. Not sure how it works but I just have them the voucher code and it sailed through.
+1.
Our scheme is subbed out to 'Caboodle technology' who also manage childcare vouchers and some other benefits.
The limit is currently 2.5k, and although the voucher has Halfords printed on it you can use it elsewhere.
I'm half way through paying for a £1700 bike from Dolan with my current voucher.
FWIW - Dolan were great through this process, very easy to deal with.
For info CRC and Wiggle are stopping accepting vouchers from 27th November until 2023 in case anyone was thinking of ordering from them. I got a voucher last week and they made it really difficult to order so I gave up in the end yesterday and used Tredz instead. With Tredz you just put your voucher details in at checkout so it made it really simple. Hopefully CRC/Wiggle are updating from the manual order process to a more automated system like Tredz have.
https://cycletowork.wiggle.co.uk/
Nothing very exciting! Some waterproof winter boots, waterproof, some other clothing etc. Actual stuff that is used for a commute!
Given the choice (ahem) of which scheme one's company should join, what would it be? I seem to remember from a previous discussion on the schemes themselves rather than the concept, that one stood out as offering the particpant the best 'value'.
My company used a scheme which had a £1k limit for quite a while. i used it a couple of times for bikes sub £1k and other small stuff. When I looked at buying bought a pricier bike i realized it was limited to £1k and, as it was YT i was buying from, I needed to use a specific scheme with a higher limit (used GCI). I just spoke to our accountant who simply bought the voucher from them to swap for the bike - there was a pretty basic form to complete too. It seems to me there isn't any tax/legal reason to prevent you from spending more than £1k. Might just be your finance department are being tight/difficult. Could be they are reluctant to essentially lend you the full price of the bike as it does come up as an outstanding debt on their balance sheets wuntill paid off.