“The Green Commute Initiative proposes that they are able to offer a higher certificate limit than £1,000 without an employer having Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) approval. The Cycle to Work Alliance (Cyclescheme, CycleSolutions, Evans, and Halfords) uniformly disagree as this does not comply with the Department for Transport’s scheme guidance, and FCA regulations. In terms of The Green Commute Initiative, Cyclescheme and the Cycle to Work Alliance have put together an official statement, please see below.

Official statement:
“The Cycle to Work Alliance supports any efforts to grow cycling participation in the UK, and is currently engaged with the Government to understand how the scheme can be simplified to drive wider participation. The growth of electric bikes is one of the live topics on our agenda which we are exploring with the Department for Transport.

For a number of years, members of the Cycle to Work Alliance have operated cycle to work schemes based on the same core principles, which we are confident complies with guidance from the Department for Transport, HM Revenue and Customs and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Until members of the Cycle to Work Alliance have a better understanding of how alternative models of providing the scheme operate, we cannot comment on their compliance or offer such a scheme to our clients.”

Unfortunately, we’re not looking to set up an alternative scheme with another provider or The Green Commute Initiative. However, we have heard unofficially that there may be some progress this year with HMRC extending the upper limit for cycle to work schemes i.e. over £1,000, without the requirement for FCA approval for an extension to the upper limit. Therefore we will be watching this with interest.”

Hi David,

Thank you for your comment. We have passed this on to the Reward team, who will get back to you this afternoon.

Best Wishes
The Internal Communications Team