FEATURE


A new lease of life for cycle to work?


One in four adult bike sales are made via the Cycle to Work scheme, which, despite its ups and downs over the years, is enjoying a resurgence in interest following subtle evolutions. Mark Sutton explores the past, present and future, looking for clues as to the next chapter…


W


here to start with a subject like the Cycle to Work scheme? Arguably, there has been no greater ‘Marmite’ subject in the bike retail sector. Over the years, we have seen a steady transition from the totally bike


retail-focused tool with a £1,000 spend cap to one that can now be used even on bike share schemes and that no longer has any cap other than that imposed by sometimes nervy employers. After all these years, it remains controversial. If not for the fact that the scheme has ebbed further away from the lowest earners, as national minimum wage rates have risen,


36 | October 2025


then it’s the commission rates, a long-time bugbear of the margin-squeezed bike retailer. Introduced as part of the UK Government Finance Act in 1999, the overriding objective was to promote healthier journeys to work and to steadily stack the associated benefits, from reduced congestion through to lowered pollution. Now, if we consider that the Cycle to Work scheme, at the time of writing, is, according to the Cycle to Work Alliance, back to accounting for a quite astonishing one in four bike sales, that is, despite the aforementioned quarrels and


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