Cycle to work scheme

[Ian H]

We have one at work and as far as I understood it you can spend up to £1000 on a bike and equipment and they take the money from your wage before you get taxed, affectiveky saving the average earner 24%.

Great!! I went to the bike shop, picked out a bike at £999 and asked work for instructions on how to get the bike. I wasn't happy with the reply.

If your a tramp and dig holes you get £400

If your a boss and don't get dirty you get £600

If your a top boss and do **** all you get the full £1000.

I said that's not fair and was told "The cycle to work scheme has a limit because of the tax benefit and amount allowed to be deducted, it has nothing to do with the company"

Is that right or am I being discriminated against for being a 'lesser' employee?

I know a couple of friends that have it at work and it's £1000 accross the board.

 

[Ian H]

They are using www.cyclescheme.co.uk if that makes any difference.

 

[Brigadier]

"If your a tramp and dig holes you get £400

If your a boss and don't get dirty you get £600

If your a top boss and do **** all you get the full £1000."

Absolutely spot on: you don't want the grafters getting too knackered to work now, do you?

 

[Doggit]

But there's nothing on that site that suggests there are tiers for different types of worker, so where did they get that notion from. It's no skin off the companies nose as to how much the bike costs, and they can apply for a higher limit than the normal £1000 if they want to.

 

[motorbiking]

Its about how much tax you pay on your gross income - the more tax you pay the better the deal. If you pay 45% tax then you have to earn £1800 to buy a £1000 bike if you pay 23% then you have to earn £1300. So the savings are higher for a higher tax payer because they pay more tax.


I did it for my dads bike a few years ago. The only problem is you have to pay an ownership fee at the end, but for me its still meant I could get him a £1200 bike for 600. You may find the monthly payments a help too.

The problem with the scheme is that the retailer has to pay the scheme commission, so you can't normally haggle anything off. Plus you can't get a decent bike for £1000, but then if its just something to run about and have some fun on - its fine.

You also save NI and VAT, so its better than the numbers above - If you earn less than £12,000 a year then you won't save anything.

 

[Ian H]

I can't see anything either.

I like the monthly payments and tax saving so I'm keen to get one. I can buy a £2000 bike and pay the difference.

 

[transam]

Jeez two grand for a push bike

 

[Brigadier]

I can't see anything either.

I like the monthly payments and tax saving so I'm keen to get one. I can buy a £2000 bike and pay the difference.

Whatever you do, make sure you actually use the bloody thing!

Friend of mine, who lives in Solihull and works in central Birmingham, bent my ear for months about cycle to work scheme, and all the research he was doing in the bike to get.
He eventually settled on a posh Cannondale. And kitted himself out in all the Lycra.

How far is it, then?, I asked him.

"About a mile each way.", he replied.

What he was actually doing, was cycling the few hundred yards to the train station, and getting the train in and back.

Plank!

 

[^woody^]

Looks like the only ones that win are those that have set up that business to take advantage of the scheme and employers/employees.

 

[Ian H]

I'll use it but not for work. My 2 boys are bike mad so I'll be going out with them.

The youngest one has just got his first full suspension bike, it's a small ladies, ideal size for him but we are going to paint it in a more manly colour.

Look at the lasted DIYNOT advert:

 

[IWalkLikeHimaMartian]

The adverts are tailored to pick up on words that you use, interests that you have, etc. So we could all see different adverts.
That is cookies for you.
I suppose I will be getting adverts on cakes now.

 

[motorbiking]

I think its ok to top up a 100 or so, but doubling the money on a bike that isn't yours until the end of the scheme isn't smart.

I'm currently shopping for bikes too as my MTB and road bikes got nicked in the summer. I got a good deal from the insurance, but its not easy finding similar bikes used. I've still got my TT, so MTB is the priority. Been looking at Whyte's and Yetis

 

[Doggit]

Its about how much tax you pay on your gross income - the more tax you pay the better the deal. If you pay 45% tax then you have to earn £1800 to buy a £1000 bike if you pay 23% then you have to earn £1300. So the savings are higher for a higher tax payer because they pay more tax.

Having read the website, I'm not sure it works that way. In essence, you buy a bike for £1000, and that money gets deducted from your salary so you don't pay any tax or NI on the £1000. If you are a standard rate taxpayer, then you save 32% of £1000 (20% tax, and 12% NI), but if you are a higher rate taxpayer, then you save 52% of £1000, and if you are a top tier taxpayer, then you'd save 57% on the £1000. But as you say, the savings only apply if you are paying tax and NI in the first place.

I can buy a £2000 bike and pay the difference.

It looks as though your company can apply for credit finance status (or something) and that allows a higher limit, so you wouldn't have to pay the difference. Just not sure how much it might cost them to do that.

But I assume that you have a company van, so that might negate the option of "cycling to work scheme", unless you can show the van is kept at the depot, and you have to travel there to get it each day.

 

[EFLImpudence]

I can buy a £2000 bike and pay the difference.

If you didn't, you could have two or three weeks off.

 

[motorbiking]

if he did and rode it 3 times a week, he might live 10 years longer