WITH all UK governments now advocating an end to Covid work from home guidance, can a salary sacrifice car scheme can play a role in supporting workers make a safe return to the office?
EV leasing and fleet management specialist, Fleet Evolution believes that cheaper-to-run EVs, provided through salary sacrifice, can support workers who may be deterred by higher transport costs and the continued risk of infection from making a return to full-time office working.
Work from home guidance will scrapped from 27 January in England, from 28 January in Wales and from January 31 in Scotland, allowing people to return to workplaces again. Big banks, advertising firms and insurers are amongst those who have announced full-scale plans to return to the office.
However, hybrid working – with some days in the office and some working from home – has become commonplace across the country during the pandemic. Latest figures suggest that 37% of UK adults did at least some work from home in 2020, up from 27% the previous year.
And, in the last week of November 2021, seven in 10 travelled to work at least once, while, in the same week, one in seven said they had been working at home and travelling to work.
“It’s clear that hybrid working is here to stay,” said Fleet Evolution founder and managing director, Andrew Leech, “with employees spending some days in the office and some working from home.
“But there are clearly misgivings amongst some workers regarding the safety aspects of commuting to the office, with train and bus passenger numbers down significantly on pre-pandemic levels.
“Our view is that safer forms of transport, which are both cost and environmentally friendly, can play a role in providing an anxiety-free means of commuting for workers who are going into the office.
“This is where we think an electric car can play a role. Non-polluting and very cost and tax friendly when provided through a salary sacrifice car scheme, they are ideal for returning office workers who don’t want to risk a daily commute on a crowded bus or train.”
Leech said that an EV, provided under salary sacrifice, could cut fuel bills by up 80% at a time when pump prices were at record levels across the country. The RAC Fuel Watch service this week put the average price of a gallon of unleaded at a 10-year high of 145.82p while diesel was an average 149.18p.
“Our figures show that an electric car which travels 10,000 miles a year has transport costs of under £20 per month. And there is none of the fuel supply anxiety that we saw last year with an EV, while the range on most, if not all, modern EVs is more than adequate for the daily commute on a single charge.
“Workplace chargers can allow employees to recharge at no cost to them while at the office. To try and help businesses make charging more widely available, we are currently offering free installation of two-port chargers at the office car park of any customer with more than five of our cars on their fleet.
“That way, employees without the opportunity for home charging can charge their vehicles whenever they go into the office and help make charging easier and more accessible,” he said.
Leech also said that EVs could deliver financial cost savings in the region of 35-40% over conventional ICE models which would also support the return to work for employees looking to cut costs.
“An EV acquired under a corporate salary sacrifice scheme is extremely cost and tax efficient given the current Benefit-in-Kind tax regime of 1% this tax year and 2% next, which is highly advantageous for electric cars.
“Typically, all maintenance, road tax, business insurance and breakdown cover costs are included within the monthly cost, which is deducted from the employee’s gross salary. This creates savings in income tax and National Insurance Contributions which can be significant.
“And, not only are EV salary sacrifice schemes extremely beneficial for the employee, they bring multiple benefits to the employer, including national insurance savings, reduced grey fleet risk and a marked reduction in carbon footprint,” he added
