- For most purchases we recommend you ask your employer to set up an internal Cycle to Work Scheme for your workplace. It is simple, free, and avoids paying any fees.
- For purchases over £1,000 we recommend the Green Commute Initiative because unlike other schemes they have no £1,000 limit, they can offer finance to the employer to cover the cost of the bike, and they only charge a 5% commission fee.
- We can also accept vouchers from many popular cycle scheme providers – see the list. They charge a commission between 10% and 15%, and we cannot afford to absorb this cost for you – if we did we would make a loss on the sale. (We do not make any extra money on the purchase, the fee simply covers the commission that these companies charge us).
Example Savings
For a basic rate taxpayer using the Green Commute Initiative*:
| Normal price of bike | £500 |
| plus cycle to work scheme fee**: | + £25 |
| plus end-of-hire fee***: | + £1 |
| minus your tax savings: | – £169 |
| Total cost | = £357 |
| net monthly salary sacrifice: | £29.75 (over 12 months) |
| saving compared to normal price: | 28% |
** All third party cycle scheme providers charge a fee which we pass on to you. However, the tax savings available more than compensate for this cost – see the above example. Most schemes charge a 10% fee. The Halfords Cycle2Work, FairCare and SMEHCI fees are 15% so we recommend using a different scheme if you have the choice. The Green Commute Initiative’s fee is only 5%, so we recommend using them if your employer is able to do so. If you would like to avoid the fees altogether, just ask your employer to set up an internal Cycle to Work scheme – see above. *** Most employers have to charge an end-of-hire fee to transfer the ownership of the bike into your name once your monthly payments have finished. The older the bike the lower this fee, so we suggest deferring this payment for 3 years. For example, see www.cyclescheme.co.uk/help/endo-of-hire-process-video