How Do Employees Get a Tax-Free Bike for Work?

It’s often much simpler than it sounds. If you’d like to understand how the Cycle to Work scheme works, feel free to visit us or give us a call — we’ll be happy to walk you through the process.

We accept Cycle to Work vouchers from the following providers: Cyclescheme, Green Commute Initiative (www.greencommuteinitiative.uk), Halfords Cycle2Work, NHS/Vivup, Cycle Solutions, Bike 2 Work, Workplace Bikes, and Cycleplus.

We’re happy to accept vouchers from all of the providers listed above. However, if you’re planning to use a voucher to purchase a sale bike, please be aware of the conditions below.

All Cycle to Work providers are independent companies administering schemes on behalf of employers. For providing this service, they deduct a commission fee from the value of your voucher — typically 10% for Cyclescheme and 15% for Halfords Cycle2Work.

This means that although your voucher may be worth £1,000, we only receive £900 from providers charging 10%, or £850 from Halfords, who take 15%.

If you’d like to buy a sale bike using Cyclescheme or a similar provider, we’re unable to offer the sale price and absorb the commission fee, as doing so would mean we make a loss. We can still supply sale items through the scheme, but the commission needs to be covered.

Example (10% commission):

• If a bike is reduced from £2,500 to £2,000 and you want to use Cyclescheme, multiply £2,000 by 1.11 = £2,220.
• You should apply for £2,220 — £2,000 for the bike plus £220 to cover the commission.

Example (15% commission – Halfords):

• For a £2,000 bike, multiply £2,000 by 1.176 = £2,352.
• This amount will appear on your quotation and is what you need to request on your voucher.
• After taking their 15% fee, the provider actually pays us £1,999, meaning our costs are covered and we receive close to the sale price.

We do not profit from this adjustment — the fee simply offsets the commission taken by the scheme providers. They are fully aware that we apply these adjustments to sale items and are happy with the process.

Please note: If you are buying a bike at full RRP, no admin fee will be added. Because the bike isn’t discounted, we can absorb the provider fees in full.

If you are organising a new Cycle to Work scheme for your workplace, we recommend the Green Commute Initiative (www.greencommuteinitiative.uk), a not-for-profit, environmentally focused provider.