E-Bike To Work Scheme

Anyone 18 or over who is in UK PAYE employment as long as their employer agrees to participate in the scheme.

Your employer buys a voucher which entitles you to the hire of a bike of your choice directly from the scheme. Our scheme is administered by the Green Commute Initiative. Because they’re authorised by the FCA there is no £1,000 limit. The cost of the voucher is the same as the bike so for a £1,500 bike the voucher is £1,500.

You repay the cost of the voucher by sacrificing a part of your gross (before tax & NI) salary. This means you save the tax and NI that you would pay if you bought the bike from your net (after tax) pay. Your employer also saves 15.05% employer’s NI. So it’s worth them doing it.

Standard rate taxpayers will normally save 33.25% on the cost of the bike & higher rate taxpayers 43.25. Savings can be up to 48.25% (for additional rate tax payer). In addition employers will generally save 15.05% employer's National Insurance Contributions.

As an example, on a £3,000 bike the employee's gross salary is reduced by £250 per month. As this is a reduction in the gross salary the net amount equates to just £167 per month for a basic rate taxpayer or £142 for a higher rate taxpayer. The net cost over a twelve month period is therefore £2,004 (standard rate) or £1,704 (higher rate). This means a saving of £996 (standard rate) or £1,296 (higher rate). In addition the employer saves £451 in employer's National Insurance Contributions.

This does not charge a ‘sting-in-the-tail’ exit fee, unlike other schemes which charge up to 7% of the full value of the bike. This scheme ensures you get the full benefit of the tax-break from HMRC. After the free of charge five-year loan period, there is a nominal £1 fee to transfer title ownership over to you. 

GCI only charges the £1 so that it can demonstrate to HMRC when the transaction took place to protect you from any claim from them.

No! You are free to use the bike to cycle to work on any given day. All HMRC rules stipulate is that the majority of journeys using the bike are for cycling to and from work. Neither employers nor employees are expected to keep detailed records of the use of the bike.

The employee is responsible for the maintenance and safekeeping of the bike and under the agreement the employee must continue to make the hire payments for the hire period. It is therefore recommended that the employee takes out their own insurance.

The agreement stipulates that you have to make the remaining payments outstanding under the agreement at the time the employment ends. These payments will be for the full amount of the outstanding rentals & won't enjoy the tax benefits.

There are no limits to the cost of the electric bike together with related safety equipment and accessories that can be purchased under the scheme. Under HMRC rules some accessories (GPS, Cycle Computers and Car Racks) can't be purchased under the scheme however they can be purchased separately by the employee and used with the electric bike.