Green Commute Initiative is the industry-leading and award-winning Cycle to Work Scheme provider with no spend limits and no ownership fees. You can save from 28-47% (depending on your tax rate). Pay monthly through salary sacrifice with no added interest with payment periods ranging from 3 to 60 months. Get any type of cycle through GCI and help reduce congestion and pollution whilst improving your health, fitness and mental wellbeing. When more people cycle for short journeys, everyone wins.
We don’t have an integrated checkout yet so chose your bike and size as usual then email us sales@athertonbikes.com
The scheme is for employees of organisations who choose to support their staff who would like to cycle to work. In summary, for most employees, they would choose a bike and/or accessories from an approved local bike shop or manufacturer, subject to a spend limit agreed with the employer. The employer or a finance company then pays the up-front cost, and the employee pays back monthly (or weekly/fortnightly where appropriate) over an agreed period through a salary sacrifice. Because of the salary sacrifice, the employee pays less tax during the payback period, and the employer pays lower NI contributions. To comply with HMRC rules, the employee is hiring and then loaning the bike for the duration of the scheme. At the end of the scheme, the employee can pay £1 to own the bike. Throughout all of this, GCI manages all the paperwork.
How long is the agreement for?
There are two separate agreements: The Salary Sacrifice Agreement is between the employer and employee and covers the repayment for the bike and/or accessories. This can be for any period longer than three months that both parties are happy with. Common terms are 12, 18, 24 months, but it could be for as long as 60 months. The Hire Agreement is between the employee and GCI. There is an initial formal three month hire period followed by a free-of-charge loan until the purchased items are deemed to have no market value.
Can I still get a bike through the scheme if I’m not currently commuting to work, or commute to work only on some days?
MYes, you can. HMRC rules state that the majority of the use of the bike must be for commuting, and this can be over the lifetime of the bike. So if you’re not commuting now but plan to do so in the future, that’s ok.
I am self-employed, can I take part?
Sadly, you will not be able to take part because your tax arrangements are different. You may be able to claim business use for a bike though.
What if GCI goes bust? Do I lose the bike?
As a social enterprise, GCI’s constitution prevents it from incurring debts which means that it cannot go bust and no one else can have any claim on its assets. In today’s retail environment this is a vital safeguard.
