The Cycle to Work Scheme has helped millions of people choose a healthier, greener way to travel while boosting local economies and supporting jobs.

It is for employers to decide whether and how to provide cycles for their workforce under the Cycle to Work Scheme. Any scheme must operate within rules set by HM Revenue and Customs, HM Treasury and the Financial Conduct Authority.

Non-structural tax reliefs - GOV.UK

The Government keeps all taxes under review as part of the policy making process. The Chancellor will announce any changes to the tax system at fiscal events in the usual way.

The Cycle to Work Scheme is made available as a Benefit in Kind and uses the tax exemption for the employer-provision of cycles and associated safety equipment. The scheme was introduced in 1999 to to encourage employees to commute by bicycle by offering a tax-efficient route to access relevant equipment.

HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) commissioned independent research to evaluate the effectiveness of the Cycle to Work Scheme, alongside carrying out economic research on the bicycle market’s implications for the scheme’s success. The evaluation and the economic research were published in April 2025.

Officials from this Department regularly meet with their counterparts from the other parts of the UK, including the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, to compare notes on how each is approaching a wide range of active travel issues. The Department’s officials would be happy to explore this topic with their counterparts in the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland, but in practice nearly all of the ways of improving access to cycles for those people in Northern Ireland who are unable to use the cycle to work scheme would be devolved matters for the Northern Ireland government.

HMRC has commissioned an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Cycle to Work scheme and will publish its findings in due course.

The government keeps all taxes under review.

The Cycle to Work Scheme is a salary sacrifice scheme and any changes to it would be a matter for His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. The Department continues to have conversations with HMRC regarding the scheme, but has had no such discussions with the Department for Infrastructure in Northern Ireland.

The Cycle to Work scheme is a benefit-in-kind provided by employers to their employees. A benefit-in-kind is a form of non-cash remuneration provided by employers to their employees. Income tax and National Insurance contribution relief is provided on the scheme to both employers and their employees via salary sacrifice arrangements. The scheme is accessed via salary sacrifice, meaning that those not in employment are not able to access the scheme.

Employees earning at or near the National Minimum Wage (NMW) cannot access salary sacrifice if the arrangement will take their contractual salary below the relevant NMW rate. The Government is not currently considering changing the NMW legislation to apply to an employee’s salary after deductions have been made for salary sacrifice. Although employees on or near the NMW cannot access the tax deduction on the price of a bike via salary sacrifice, they can still lease a bike from their employer and repay the value of the bike from their net pay over many months, interest-free.

The transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is crucial to decarbonising transport and will support growth and productivity across the UK. There are now more than 1 million EVs on our roads. The government has committed to phasing out new cars that rely solely on internal combustion engines by 2030, and that from 2035 all new cars and vans sold in the UK will be zero emission.

Salary sacrifice schemes are not generally permitted in the public sector. This is because salary sacrifice arrangements mean employees and employers pay less income tax and National Insurance on remuneration and do not, therefore represent best value for the exchequer and UK taxpayers as a whole.

However, many public sector employees can and do make use of existing schemes that will likely be accessible to all staff, such as Cycle to Work. Employers are also encouraged to consider other options for encouraging the use of zero emission vehicles in their workforce.

The Cycle to Work scheme is a benefit-in-kind provided by employers to their employees. A benefit-in-kind is a form of non-cash remuneration provided by employers to their employees. Income tax and National Insurance contribution relief is provided on the scheme to both employers and their employees via salary sacrifice arrangements.

Employees earning at or near the National Minimum Wage (NMW) cannot access salary sacrifice if the arrangement will take their contractual salary below the relevant NMW rate. The Government is not currently considering changing the NMW legislation to apply to an employee’s salary after deductions have been made for salary sacrifice.

HMRC has commissioned an evaluation of the effectiveness of the Cycle to Work scheme and will publish its findings in due course.

The Cycle to Work scheme is a benefit-in-kind provided by employers to their employees. A benefit-in-kind is a form of non-cash remuneration provided by employers to their employees. Income tax and National Insurance contribution relief is provided on the scheme to both employers and their employees via salary sacrifice arrangements. As a result, the scheme is not open to the self-employed, who are not eligible for salary sacrifice.

The government considers all tax changes in the round at fiscal events. The government stands by the commitment made not to increase tax on working people, including income tax, national insurance and VAT

The government is not going to speculate on tax changes ahead of the Budget on 30th October.

HM Treasury has not made any such assessment.

The Department for Transport has not made any such assessment.

The Department regularly promotes the cycle to work scheme, and in 2019 revised the scheme’s guidance so as to make it simpler for employers to offer it to their employees.

The Department previously commissioned Business in the Community and Sustrans to publish best practice guidance for employers and local authorities, highlighting how employers can enable more of their staff to cycle to work using the scheme.

Officials from this Department and HM Revenue & Customs are in regular contact on the scheme, and the Department regularly meets with the Cycle to Work Alliance in order to identify further opportunities to increase take-up of the scheme.

The Government has committed over £2 billion of investment in cycling and walking during this Parliament to deliver on the commitments made in the ‘Gear Change’ walking and cycling strategy. This set out the Government’s vision for cycling and walking to be the natural first choice for many journeys, with the ambition that half of all short journeys in towns and cities will be walked or cycled by 2030. In line with this vision, the Department for Transport continues to publicise guidance for businesses, large and small, on the different ways they can promote cycling and walking, including the Cycle to Work Scheme.

It is encouraging that there has been an increased uptake of the Cycle to Work Scheme, particularly amongst key workers, over the last few years. Government officials are currently undertaking a programme of research to better understand the success of the Cycle to Work Scheme, including motivations for employees joining the Scheme. Any changes to the Scheme will be considered following this programme.

Cycling to work can reduce the costs of commuting whilst improving physical and mental health for employees and can help reduce carbon emissions. The Cycle to Work scheme enables people do this more cost effectively and in 2019 the Department revised the guidance on the scheme to make it simpler for employers to offer it to their employees.

The Department regularly promotes the Cycle to Work Scheme and has previously commissioned Business in the Community and Sustrans to publish best practice guidance for employers and local authorities highlighting how employers can enable more of their staff to cycle to work using the scheme. The Department and HMRC are in regular contact on these and other issues and the Department regularly meets with the Cycle to Work Alliance to identify opportunities to further increase take up of the scheme.

Cycling to work can reduce the costs of commuting whilst improving physical and mental health for employees and can help reduce carbon emissions. The Cycle to Work scheme enables people do this more cost effectively and in 2019 the Department revised the guidance on the scheme to make it simpler for employers to offer it to their employees.

The Department regularly promotes the Cycle to Work Scheme and has previously commissioned Business in the Community and Sustrans to publish best practice guidance for employers and local authorities highlighting how employers can enable more of their staff to cycle to work using the scheme. The Department and HMRC are in regular contact on these and other issues and the Department regularly meets with the Cycle to Work Alliance to identify opportunities to further increase take up of the scheme.

Last year the Department commissioned Business in the Community to produce best practice guidance for employers on how to enable more of their staff to cycle or walk to work. This is available at https://www.bitc.org.uk/toolkit/active-travel-getting-people-back-to-work-safely/.

In 2019 the Department also revised the guidance on the Cycle to Work scheme to make it simpler for employers to offer a salary sacrifice arrangement to their employees to hire cycles and cycle safety equipment or to hire a cycle to them under an employer loan scheme.

In 2019 the Department for Transport revised the guidance on this scheme to make it simpler for employers to offer it to their employees. The guidance makes clear that if a salary sacrifice agreement would put an employee’s salary below the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage, there are various options available to the employer. These include offering the employee a longer than usual hire period, or hiring a cycle to them under an employer loan scheme. The Department has no current plans to make any further changes to the Cycle to Work scheme.