UCL’s Cycle Scheme has been running since 2018. Since then, more than 1,650 staff have used the scheme to get a bike and save money. In 2022 the scheme expanded to include bike rental to help staff pay for their annual subscription fees for Santander cycles, Brompton, Buzzbike and Swapfiets and spread the cost over 12 months via salary sacrifice.
How does it work?
If you’d like to own a bike you can select any make/model of bike up to a value of £5,000 through independent bike shops taking part in this scheme. The bike is paid for via a ’salary sacrifice scheme’, where employees can forgo a fixed amount of their gross salary each month in exchange for a non-cash benefit (in this case, purchasing a bike). As the cost of the bike is deducted from the gross salary, rather than net, this allows the employee to benefit from income tax and NI relief.The scheme also works the same for bike rental subscriptions in London, e.g. with Buzzbike, etc.
