SOLUTIONS LAB


THE


Steve Edgell MD, CYCLE SOLUTIONS


Challenge: Promoting personal and corporate wellbeing


C2W promotes health and company wealth


Cycle to work (C2W) scheme provider, Cycle Solutions’ MD Steve Edgell spoke to Zoya Malik about how the scheme is saving commuters over £37 million annually, benefitting companies with NI savings and contributing to a healthier environment and workforce


Zoya: What have been take-up rates by SMEs for the cycle to work scheme since you began your business? Steve: These depend largely on the type of organisation. We have worked with SMEs recently who have achieved take-up rates as high as 12.5%, but we would always look to achieve around 6% of the workforce. We often find that SMEs have an easier


flow of information allowing the tailored scheme marketing that we provide to get in front of the employees. This helps to make everyone aware of the positive benefits of the scheme, improving take-up rates.


Zoya: How much is an individual saving in the UK cycling to work? Steve: Immediately an employee taking advantage of the scheme would save 32% to 42% on the cost of the bike and commuter accessories alone, dependent on which income tax bracket they fall into. Beyond this they could see big savings


on the costs of their commute. A recent BBC analysis found that some urban commuters pay up to a fifth of their salary on season tickets. But, by switching to a pedal-power they have the freedom


to either ditch their existing transport method entirely, or split their commute between public transport and the bike to help manage these costs.


Zoya: What are the tax breaks for a company opting into the scheme for employees? Steve: A company choosing to offer the Cycle to Work scheme will benefit from National Insurance savings at 13.8% of the package value – so for every £1,000 package that an employee takes, the business will save £138. It’s in the interest of the business to work


with us to get the message out to all of their employees, as the more people who choose to take advantage of the scheme savings, the more the business benefits.


Zoya: What would encourage more people to cycle into work? Steve: A lot of people have a view of cycling as high intensity and requiring great exertion meaning that without showering facilities in work they are not able to choose to commute this way. In fact, it’s all down to the individual’s


commute and their riding style. A leisurely riding pace would be no more strenuous than walking to work but allows greater distances to be travelled, so you can arrive at work ready to start your day. Electric bikes require even less exertion, and help slower cyclists keep up with traffic flow and tackle hills, so the proliferation of e-bikes would also encourage more to cycle to work. These are becoming more affordable all the time.


Zoya: What more needs to be done on the regulatory side for greater buy-in? Steve: The biggest barrier that we encounter is the £1,000 scheme limit. Electric bikes are booming in popularity, they allow riders to travel further, with less effort and would open up the option of a cycling commute to a much broader demographic. The current scheme cap of £1,000 means that only a handful of these types of bikes are available through the scheme and, with more and more manufacturers offering electric models, this is where the biggest win could be made.


Zoya: How is the scheme helping the environment? Steve: Obviously, people choosing to cycle to work instead of taking the car has a positive environmental impact. It’s estimated that a five-mile commute by bike instead of a car would save 178kg of CO2


– and also burn over 2,000


calories for the rider – per year. So for an organisation of 400 employees with an uptake rate of 6%, that could tally up to a grand total of 4,272kg of CO2


offset each


year. The European Cyclists Federation speculates that if all of Europe cycled as often as Denmark the overall emissions would reduce by a quarter.


24 SME MAGAZINE


www.smeweb.com


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