Cycle to work scheme - worth it?

[iwantavuvezela]

Our work has just joined the cycle to work scheme, and I am thinking of buying a bicycle on it to cycle to work on. Can anyone tell me if they have done it, and if this was a good way (financially) to do it. I have looked at some of the examples online - am I right in understanding that some of the money you pay is via what you would have been paying in tax?

It is worth it - you effectively get whatever rate of tax you pay off the bike you want. Iirc, it's £1,000 (if that's still the total allowed) total cost - and our LBS (local bike shop) will include bike accessories up to that value, to get you started.

Halfords and Evans are both in the scheme too.

The only "catch" is that if there is any chance of you being made redundant in the year that you would be paying it off, it would reduce your redundancy payment. Because it works by salary sacrifice, it reduces the salary on which your redundancy payment would be calculated.

If you're a higher rate tax payer, you get a £1,000 bike for £600 so definitely with doing. At the standard tax rate, it's still a £200 saving.

At the end of the hire/loan period I think I paid £60/£80 to keep the bicycle.

Thank you for that prettybird and zampa - sounds like a good deal then.