This scheme is all well and good if your employer will sign up to it, mine won't.

I cycle to work for my own reasons, not because the government are offering me a bribe, but I don't think it is fair that i cannot benifit from this scheme just because i work for a company that won't sign up.

Bad idea on the repair side of things as most companies will be unable to provide such facilities, thus discouraging them from implementing it.

Also gsk earn billions each year so for them the cost is negligible. How many firms can you think of that during a recession can subsidise bike repairs and have brand new changing facilities? The government should have provided tax relief on changing facilities.

This is the bit that concerns me:-

Business which sign up to this Guarantee must not only operate the salary sacrifice scheme but ALSO provide safe bike storage, decent changing facilities and bike repair "on or near site", plus training, reward and incentive programmes for cycle commuters.

This may make businesses think otherwise, if they've got to provide this. It's maybe fine for the big boys, but may not be as easily done for smaller businesses.

It could kill it for many people before it even starts !

Let's hope not eh !

CumbrianMan - Businesses can choose to sign up for the new guarantee or simply offer the normal Cycle to Work scheme on its own.

I think that providing showers, changing facilities and secure bike parking is essential for any longish commute and I'm lucky that my workplace has those.

What my workplace doesn't have is a good bike route to get to it! The government should do more to put in place better cycle routes (not cycle lanes that make you stop at every single junction and dodge parked cars). There were lots of plans (sustrans etc) a few years ago but i haven't actually seen any completed.

As Catfish says its all very well for those who's employers sign up for the scheme. I work for the NHS and my local Trust pulled out of the scheme last year, this despite a chronic shortage of parking spaces and a drive for a healthy workforce.

Unfortunately as there is no funding or tax brakes from the Government I can see more and more employers pulling out or refusing to join, especially in light of our current financal situations.

I work in a building that has great cycle storage, showers and changing rooms and a specialized concept store in the retail section. we meet all the criteria for this. I have had 2 bikes through the scheme yet the company i work for chose to withdraw from the scheme earlier this year.just when i was eyeing up bike no.3......!!

I work for a small company and when I approached them 2 years ago about getting a bike through the scheme the advice from their accountants was to keep the arrangement as informal as possible. Therefore there is no paperwork except for an email to our accounts lady telling her how much was to be deducted from my pay for a given period.

The accountant's thinking was that by doing it this way there was less likelehood of me having to fill in a tax return (though it wouldn't exactly have been the end of the world).

If you work for a small outfit like I do I think it's worth asking the question of your employer to come to an infirmal arrangement in the same manner. When you start talking about "schemes" and "programmes" and government initiatives" that's when owners of small businesses are gonna start to worry about mounds of paperwork.

Gotta say I'm lucky with the biking to work. Quiet roads most of the way with some decent cycle paths, hot shower when I get there (which nobody else uses) and then a microwave to make me porridge in for breakfast.

I work in retail in a small shop with 7 employees it's in a shopping centre with 85 stores and the shopping centre provide just 4 secure lockable containers for the whole centre. These are allocated on a first four to arrive get them, if you try and leave your container locked overnight to guarantee a space in the morning they cut your lock off. If I'm unlucky then the bike has to go in the back of the shop and then gets in the way as the backroom is exceedingly small. The other option is to leave your bike outside the shopping centre and collect what remains of it (if anything) at the end of the day. I'd love to know how many of these huge shopping malls actually provide secure bike storage for anywhere near the hundreds of employees that work in them?

I worked for a very large company. We had good showers, bike storage and routes to the office. Almost everything the bike commuter wanted, except, they point blank refused to look into the C2W scheme.

I tried twice to convince them it's a good scheme and found at least 12 others in the office who were interested. Nope, nothing doing. I was never informed why it was turned down.

Oh, and we were a Government contracting company.

You lot are negative!

The cycle scheme is hugely positive and although it would be good to make it a legal requirement for firms to sign up, this is unlikely!

There are good ways to approach your work on things like this.....no is not always no..... just find a way for them to say yes!

My old employer (oh THOMSON REUTERS are such a green company....or so they claim) refused to take up the scheme despite having several city centre offices with little or no parking.

Thankfully they made me redundant and my new employer (local NHS Foundation Trust) are signed up.

Every cloud....

I still think that no matter what this or any other government does to encourage cycling to work the biggest problem they will come up against is something they can't do anything about - the weather!

If we had a warm sunny climate likee much of Europe, especially the southern regions, I don't think take up would have been significantly higher but anecdotal evidence where I work points to the fact that the vast majority of people just don't want to cycle to work in the wind, rain, snow, etc and all the hassle that entails, such as waterproofing up, batting against the wind, getting drenched by dirty water thrown up by overtaknig cars/trucks/buses.

Better roads / paths please as cars and bikes dont mix. Car, van and lorry drivers dont give a damn about the cycle rider ! Maybe the goverment could start a scheme to seperate cycle users from car users. They could use some of that road tax or petrol tax for what it is ment for, fixing the roads ! LOL

I wonder what counts as "repair facilities"??? Would a track pump and tyre levers you can sign out from work, and an inner tube vending machine be sufficient? I can only think of one bike repair I've needed to do at work that wasn't a puncture.

My company has just signed up for the scheme but unfortunately gone with Halfords so no new bike for me:(

Last weeks cycling weekly had a piece about GlaxoSmithKline, what a set up I hope my company joins the extended scheme £1 a day voucher to pay for bits for the bike!!!

As for safe routes we have just had a new site entrance made with cycle tracks as well, there the good news ends the cycle tracks are now full of deburey they have been designed for mother and chid not people who have done 10 + miles at a reasonable speed, they have no right of way so you have to stop or check every where and the new entrance is F*** rubbish and dangerous!!! As well as being moved and adding nearly a mile to my journey. But look nice.

It's not just cycling to work that's difficult though!

Personally, I would love to use my bike for shopping too but anything which is going to be good enough to last 5 minutes is just going to get stolen or vandalised!

I can't wait for a government to be elected that will actually punish criminals and hopefully get the country to a point that I can leave my bike places!

Nice to see the Government encouraging more cycle use...

I work for a large Government Department that point blank refuses to join the scheme.

Can somebody please explain the irony?

The worst part of it all is that the government still gets your money. Cyclescheme take a 10% cut from the bike shop. Cyclescheme is partly run and owned by the government. Eventually bike shops will have to rise their prices (it might not be bikes, it might be inner tubes or puncture repair kits) to make up for the loss of margin. Eventually the government wins and you lose.

For those people who's comany has signed up for the 'Cycle to Work' Scheme, (the Halfords scheme) you are able to buy a bike through Halfords affiliated bike shops. There are lots of them and very reputable shops. You will find one near to where you live as they are all over the country and most do mail order. Leisure Lake Bikes, Primera Bournemouth being two of these.

So you can buy whatever bike you like, you are not limited to buying from Halfords stores.

The number to call to find out what local bike shops are affiliated with Halfords is: 08450 778 850.

Hope this helps a few people out.

My work flatly refuses to join the scheme despite a chronic lack of parking spaces in the carpark here.

I bike to work anyways so it doesnt affect me but after having my bike (worth over a grand) nicked from here last year it would be a good and effective way of getting a replacement but they dont want to know.

The govt should introduce a scheme where we're not reliant on the place of work if they really want to get people on their bikes, the money could be taken at source still but whether or not your work chooses to join the scheme would be irrelevant.

I too work for a large well known global company with offices in a great cycle friendly area. The bike sheds (note plural) are packed by 9am such that people start storing them in the office or the onsite gym. We have excellent security, changing / showers etc.

HR flatly refuse to take on the scheme on as they believe no one would be interested and the cost of running the scheme is too great ( we just had 1.5 billion quarterly revenue).

But this is the same HR that sent the acceptance letter to the wrong person for a job in my group!

I work for a company that signed up for this some time ago and allowed us to use both salary sacrifice and a portion of our yearly bonus to go toward the bike as a lump sum if we so wished. All I know is that the first year I walked out the shop with £650 bike that hit my pocket for £380 real pounds, and the second year £1000 worth of bike for £400 real pounds.

Personally I can't talk positively enough about it. I know it is as much down to how my employer has embraced and administered the scheme as the scheme itself, but I have done very well out of it and I've gone from commuting twice a week max by bike to commuting every day because of the facilities my employer installed as part of all this.

It ain't all bad. And now the shooting down starts!

I work for a large corporate company who thankfully see the benefit of encouraging alternative means of getting to work. The CTWS got me commuting circa 70mls a week to work on my purchased and dearly loved Roadrat and I've never have looked back! What we really need is a green tax rebate- if you cycle you should get a rebate on your road tax or NI after say doing 1500mls annually or proportional to the annual mileage you do- (how you record this is a minor detail). Tax incentives to get us moving are needed just as much as incentives to buying a bike in the first place.

N+1=CTWS ( N being the bike you already own)

@Monst

I too work for a large Government Department that refuses to join the Cycle to Work Scheme. It is one of several Departments that have refused to do so. So whilst I work for the government and cannot take advantage of cycle to work, other government employees can! Hardly fair or equitable!

Government Departments should be taking the lead on Cycle to Work and should offer it as a matter of course to set an exmple to other public and private sector organisations. Those Govt. Departments not taking part should, quite frankly, be named and shamed!

i quite agree,so ill happily begin:

The Scottish Prison Service(ok,theyre an agency,still HMG as far as im concerned)

My employer offers a cycle to work scheme and has showers and changing facilities but there is a chronic shortage of secure lock ups. We presently have approximately 6 Sheffield stands for a massive office, consequently colleagues have had to lock their bikes to a fence resulting in stolen wheels, delivery vans scraping paint work etc.

LOL I thought it was Ken Livingston on the bike with Lord Adonis but the caption says its CBoardman...

Lord Adonis... ah bless. A man who has failed miserably in all that he has done in whatever department he has been put in. Apart from get up peoples noses that is. He has done a grand job of that. Oh how I'd love the next shot to have been him lying in a crumpled mess in the road after Boardman had shoved him off for a laugh.

I couldn't see the benefits myself.

A £1000 bike was going to cost me £600 over the year, but as a loan.

The I would be offered the choice of buying the bike at fair market value.

So if the Company decided it was worth £400 (and why wouldn't it be), there is no advantage at all. In fact, because the only choices were at Halfords, the choice was limited (or you can order in at RRP for other bikes)