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Has anyone in the NHS whose trust uses Cycle Solutions or similar approached their HR/Finance to do a one off order for a bike over the grand threshold from https://greencommuteinitiative.uk/ ?
I'm considering a cheaper than normal YT and yes I will be using it for riding to work on. One person I've asked had no idea but has been asked a few times already.
They took 6 months before coming back to me with an answer of no... You realise that the government raised the bike to work scheme
threshold to unlimited recently so they can remain with their current provider and give you a voucher for a larger amount than a grand? I think it became effective the middle of August. My trust is dithering whether they are going to put a local cap on the amount you can borrow which is crap when they have schemes for salary sacrifice for diesel cars and iphones/imacs/tvs in place with no cap that I can see..
I'm annoyed as I plan to get a bike ASAP, but not until they decide what they are doing.. Good luck sorting your situation!
There are issues with the £1k limit thing:
https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/cycle-to-work-scheme-any-price
Ours is still a £1k cap and I like YTs.
Watching this as we've put GCI in last week as we have no existing scheme.
I am interested to know what people have managed to get get on it - a £15k Santa Cruz feels like it's not really 'in the spirit of the law' but would £5k be beyond the realms of possibility?
I am interested to know what people have managed to get get on it – a £15k Santa Cruz feels like it’s not really ‘in the spirit of the law’ but would £5k be beyond the realms of possibility?
Some discussion on here earlier in the year and a couple of lads had gone fairly large, so I'd say it was well within the realms of possiblity. The most sensible application of the scheme from a certain perspective - there is no limit and you save the most money.
It's incumbent on us to set an example - most expensive bikes on the scheme will be electric shoppers that make cyclists a laughing stock. If we show up to work on something good - a pivot firebird 29er, say, then it adds some credibility to the initiative.
I think the GCI is potentially unlawful but that’s their problem rather than any of ours, although there is a risk that it puts your employer in breach of the consumer credit act.
I think the GCI is potentially unlawful but that’s their problem rather than any of ours, although there is a risk that it puts your employer in breach of the consumer credit act.
Like any tax evasion the problem is always the taxpayers not the schemes. "My accountant said it was legit" gets you nothing. Even GCI are at pains to point that out that all they have is a letter from an accounting firm saying it looks ok. But that wouldn't carry any weight with hmrc.
But, the treasury have since come out and said it's within the original rules so it's fine. The £1k limit only applied to the need for a consumer credit licence and wasn't part of the scheme itself. GCI found a way arround that by getting a licence so the companies don't have to. Now that the treasury have said it's allowed a lot of schemes are doing the same.
Companies don't have to offer it though. There's still risks to them if you leave early you have to pay it back so they may be reluctant to let you go higher incase they have to chase you for it.
With the £1000 limit can you pay the bike shop/retailer the difference separately?
Probably depends on your Trust.
Ours did have quite a good, sensible scheme that recognised that £1k isn't really enough for a lot of riders and had a scheme that used its credit license to allow purchases to £2.5k.
Unfortunately they negotiated a deal with a new company for the rest of the employee benefits who demanded control of the bike scheme too - and dropped it right back to £1k and a single supplier who absolutely won't allow 'top ups'. We may have one of the few 'strictly by the book' C2W schemes in the country now.
With the £1000 limit can you pay the bike shop/retailer the difference separately?
yer they fiddle it, they'll supply an invoice for bike x at £1000 but you've bought bike y for £whatever
Spoon, it’s not tax law that worries me, it’s the consumer credit regulations. If you look at the link I posted earlier, the roll out of the increased limit had been delayed.
The reason for this is that the new guidance suggests that employees might need a consumer broker licence in order to partner with people like GCI.
I don’t understand the legality of the GCI model. They say they are the party providing the consumer credit (and they are licensed so are not reliant on the £1k max exemption), but under their scheme they are immediately repaid by the employer and so aren’t taking any consumer credit risk. How can you say you’re providing consumer credit if you’re not the party that’s exposed to the risk? It all feels highly artificial to me.