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28 Aug 2024

The Bira Conference - hosted by ACT's parent company - will take place on Wednesday 16th October at One Great George Street, London.

28 Aug 2024

A Norwich cycle shop is offering commuters the chance to turn their regular pedal bikes into high tech e-bikes.

28 Aug 2024

The transport secretary Louise Haigh has been urged to turn her recent statement that she wants ‘unprecedented levels’ of investment in cycling into firm spending commitments in the...

12 Aug 2024

The shortlisted nominees for the BikeBiz Awards 2024, in association with Push have been announced.

12 Aug 2024

Austrian kid's bike brand, Woom has entered the UK market. Having had success in 30 other countries and sales of over 1 million units, Woom bikes will be distributed by UK trade partners online...

12 Aug 2024

Leading magazine Cycling Weekly has put dozens of helmets to the test and has rounded up what it thinks are the best of the bunch right.

30 Jul 2024

More than £17.5m for the first phase of a major new sustainable transport scheme has been announced by Liverpool City Region's mayor Steve Rotheram.

30 Jul 2024

The widespread popularity of e-bikes and e-scooters means "it is a bit of a wild west out there" in terms of safety, an electric bike shop owner has told the BBC.

30 Jul 2024

A bill announced in the King’s Speech that would address the potential fire risks associated with e-bikes and lithium-ion batteries, has been welcomed.

30 Jul 2024

The new government are being urged to end the previous culture war-based approach to active travel and start investing properly in safe bike routes.
 

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Co-chair of the Walking and Cycling Parliamentary Group says Cycle to Work scheme

Posted on in Business News , Cycles News

Fabian Hamilton MP, co-chair of the Walking and Cycling All-Party Parliamentary Group, has said that the Cycle to Work scheme "must be reformed".

Cycle lane

Last week, Mr Hamilton met with ACT representatives and heard the concerns retailers had with the Cycle to Work scheme.

Among these concerns were suggestions that the scheme was overly complicated, inconsistent and out of date. However, the chief concern was the fact that individual bike shops were forced to bear the heavy administrative costs of the scheme, whilst third-party providers made healthy profits.

Now, in a statement published on Global Cycling Network, Mr  Hamilton has stated that he too believes the Cycle to Work scheme needs to be reformed:

"The current schemes must be reformed so that small businesses are able to take part without operating at a loss. The intermediaries, that are often large corporations, are raking in the profits while small cycling manufacturers and shops suffer."

The intermediaries in Cycle to Work schemes are private businesses that facilitate the scheme for employers.

These providers buy bicycles from bike shops on behalf of participants in the scheme, then rent the bikes to the participants. The administrative cost of this transaction is high, and at the moment, it is lumped almost entirely on the individual bike shops.

The scheme might need reform, but Mr Hamilton makes clear that schemes of this kind are a good thing, saying:

"Schemes that promote cycling are vital to public health and tackling the climate emergency."

Indeed, he sees the bicycle industry as a key part of the "new industrial strategy" that the Labour party is campaigning for at the upcoming general election. He concludes by saying:

"Cycling businesses are integral to this [strategy] and we will make it as easy as possible for them to do business in the UK."

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