VIVUP Cycle to Work.

Examples of items that count as cyclists’ safety equipment include:

• cycle helmets which conform to European standard EN 1078
• bells, bulb horns and lights including dynamo packs
• mirrors and mudguards
• cycle clips and dress guards
• panniers, luggage carriers and straps to allow luggage to be safely carried
• child safety seats
• locks and chains to ensure the cycle can be safely secured
• pumps, puncture repair kits, cycle tools kits and tyre sealant to allow for minor repairs
• replacement parts to keep a cycle roadworthy
• adaptations for disability/mobility issues
• reflective clothing or reflective cycle equipment eg. spoke reflectors

Examples of items that do not count as cyclists’ safety equipment include:

• cycle computer, GPS system
• cameras
• waterproof clothing that is not reflective clothing
• cycle training

You can order up to two bicycles through the scheme, but they must both be used for you to commute to work. For example, you may get a train to work and require a bicycle at either end of the train journey, to cycle between your home and place of work. The combined total value cannot exceed the limit set by your employer over 12 months.

It is important that you make suitable provision to safeguard the bicycle. You may take a specialist insurance policy, but it is often easier to add the bicycle to your usual household policy. If the bicycle is stolen, lost or damaged, your salary sacrifice will continue until the end of the agreement and the disposal fee will be deducted.

The bike and/or safety equipment must be used by you only and mainly (over 50% of its usage) for qualifying commuting journeys. Qualifying journeys include business journeys, commuting between your home and workplace, or part of those journeys, or for journeys between one workplace and another. There is no requirement for you to keep a record of work journeys, but if you do not use the bike and/or safety equipment mainly for qualifying journeys, you may lose the benefit of the tax exemption. The bike and/or safety equipment can also be used for recreational purposes.

The bicycle and/or safety equipment value cannot exceed the limit set by your employer and no top ups are permitted on the scheme. 

SME HCI Ltd (Vivup) own the bike and will contact you at the end of the scheme to detail your
options which, under a separate agreement, could include:

• Extending the hire period with no additional payments
  
  
• Taking ownership for fair market value.
  
  
• Returning the bike – if you decide not to keep the bike SME HCI Ltd (Vivup) will arrange for it
  to be collected from you and recycled.

The cycle to work scheme is the loan of a bike for the period of 12 months and you make your monthly payments back to your employer.

At the end of the scheme, there is a payable disposal fee on the scheme which is 10% of the value of your bike +VAT (12%) and this is taken from your net pay. The term disposal fee can be confusing but it is not a charge to collect and dispose of your bike but relates to the scheme itself and is a disposal of an asset exiting from the loan period of the scheme (indeed HMRC refer to this as “Disposal” so we remain consistent with that terminology). 

The disposal fee is then transferred to end of scheme options you have which is why you received the email to ask which option you wish to proceed with; to either return the bike and your disposal fee will be used for us to arrange collection of your bike and disposal, extending your loan period for a longer length of time which reduces the disposal value percentage over time, or you can pay the remaining disposal value left on the bike at the end of the 1 year.

The HMRC table (below) which demonstrates the acceptable disposal value as a percentage of original price including VAT which makes schemes compliant.