in one was to, purely for example, get a bike on the cycle to work scheme and then leave the relevant job just a short while later, what would be the options and procedure for keeping the bike, if that was possible? and what costs would be incurred?

No set rules, but remember that the bike remains the property of your employer until the lease agreement is terminated. You might simply be asked to make a lump sum payment – they may decide to take it back.

i left about 9 months into a 12 month agreement. They deducted the remaining amount from my final paycheck.

if you don’t want to pay for it, then i guess you could just give it back. It is theirs under the rules of the agreement.

in fact even at the end of the agreement, its theirs unless they agree to sell it to you for ‘fair market value’.

well in the “hypothetical” example i’m thinking of, the “person in question” might like to get a cheap bike and would be happy to purchase it at the end of the job so as to have a bike to use for commuting afterwards!

If it’s Cyclescheme the costs levied for leaving the scheme early are detailed in the agreement IIRC.

It’s up to your employer.

You’re only renting the bike after all.

Normally you can see if you can buy it from HR after a year of rent where they sometimes deduct what you’re payed.

Bike to work isn’t so great as you don’t own the bike but you actull rent it and i’s totally up to your employer

For cheap bike use and long term work it is a bargain.

It’s normally written into the paperwork that if you decide to leave the employer then the remainder of the repayments will be deducted from your final salary.

It’s normally written into the paperwork that if you decide to leave the employer then the remainder of the repayments will be deducted from your final salary.

That’s what happened to me, with the bonus that they never got to ask for a settlement payment.

That was the least of the HR department’s worries when they were in the midst of a massive redundancy process, tbh.

The problem is the balance owing will be taken from your net salary.
Therefore, you loose the tax advantage on the outstanding amount.

so do you mean, coleman, that the net saving is effectively negated by doing it that way?

Yes, I’m afraid the taxman treats it as a ‘benefit in kind’ which will be taxable.

ah, i had never really considered that it worked like that. how disappointing.

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.
It’s actually even worse as the final payment may be viewed as a termination fee and should
also cover the fair market value of the goods in order to transfer legal ownership from the employer to the employee.

alright, alright coleman, you’ve had your fun. that’s enough! 😡

🙂

(thanks!)