FAQ HUB

Cycle to work is a government initiative that encourages more people to commute by bike, enabling people to make healthier choices and reduce the UK’s carbon footprint.

The scheme is run via salary sacrifice, allowing employees to make savings of up to 57%* on the cost of a new bike and accessories. Employers will also make savings of 13.8% through National Insurance contributions.

*Cycle2Work savings based on an additional rate tax payer using Cycle2Work Exclusive Discount.

A salary sacrifice arrangement is an agreement between an Employer and an Employee, to reduce an employee’s pay entitlement in return for a non-cash benefit.

• Cycle2work is cost free, easy to implement, and achieves fantastic results for your business and employees. 
• Cost free benefit that will enhance your corporate benefits package to attract and retain employees.
• Improve business productivity by improving employee wellbeing. 
• Contributing to your companies ESG plans by reducing your carbon footprint. 
• Save thousands of pounds in employer National Insurance contributions

• Save money and spread the cost on a brand-new bike and accessories, thus cutting the cost of their daily commute.
• Improved mental health, mood, and sleep quality by reducing stress.
• Increased fitness levels, better immune systems to prevent illnesses like heart disease and cancer.
• Reducing unnecessary spending on fuel, parking, public transport, and gym memberships
• Saving hours waiting for public transport and maximising time by enabling employees to work out on their commute.

Halfords for Business is the B2B arm of Halfords Ltd. Working directly with business of all sizes and Benefit Providers, we help business motivate, attract, and retain employees & customers with market-leading Cycling & Motoring Employee Benefits and solutions.

Halfords for Business, part of the Halfords Group, deliver services and products through our own network of 1200 stores, garages & mobile expert vans nationwide.

• Cycle2work is geared around our customers, that’s you and your workforce.
• It’s low admin for you and achieves the maximum savings for your team. But we offer a lot more than that.
• Free of charge marketing via the employer portal
• Free Events to engage and excite your employees.
• We offer credit and proforma Cycle2Work accounts to ensure all types of business can avail of Cycle2work. 
• For business that have completed a credit check and have been assigned a credit Cycle2work account, we offer retrospective invoicing.
• For businesses on Cycle2Work credit accounts, employees can have same day access to bikes and accessories. Upon approval, the Letter of Collection is sent automatically to the employee. 
• Inclusive solutions to make a bike available to all employees (including those who are not eligible for a salary sacrifice scheme). 
• Scheme Protection, Halfords covers the deficit from early leavers meaning your business won’t be out of pocket.
• Management Information, data to measure the return on investment of your scheme and highlight ways to continuously improve it.
• Easy end of hire, the process is fully managed by us, including our zero-cost extended hire.

The only cost is the cost of the total value of Letters of Collection which is recouped by the employer from the employees’ salary sacrifice deductions.

Employers who register to Cycle2Work through the website, will have scheme protection as standard. Scheme Protection negates the risk of early leavers from your scheme. Halfords covers the deficit from early leavers meaning your business won’t be out of pocket.

This service protects employers against the risk of early leavers, meaning if an employee were to leave the organisation and insufficient funds were available from their final pay then Halfords would make up the deficit. This service has a modest admin fee which is easily covered by the employer NIC savings.

Employers can set their own scheme limit, there is no longer a restriction of £1000, meaning employees can choose from a wider selection of bikes and safety accessories including a much wider range of e-bikes which was a driver in the DFT updating the guidance in 2019.

As Halfords ltd have the required FCA permissions in place, we are extending this offering to our clients enabling them to set what limit they see right for their workforce.

Halfords Limited is a founding member of the Cycle to Work Alliance (a policy-focused coalition of the five largest providers of the Cycle to Work scheme). This ensures we are leading regarding any scheme policy updates and changes.

The scheme is run via salary sacrifice, allowing employees to make savings of 28%, 43% and up to 47% (based on employees’ personal tax bracket) off the cost of a new bike and cycling safety accessories. Additionally, employees can also access Exclusive Cycle2Work discounts of up to 20% on a range of Halfords bikes - meaning employees can make savings on top of savings! The employer also makes savings of 13.8% through National Insurance contributions.

As prescribed by UK Government cycle to work implementation guidelines, under our standard Cycle2Work Salary Sacrifice, Halfords remains the owner of the bike during the initial hire term. At the end of the initial hire term, Halfords shall provide transfer of ownership options to the employee.

Employees on Net Deduction arrangement will own the bike outright from collection of the cycle.

Simply complete the online form to register your business for Cycle2work.

There are 3 steps to creating your account all housed within our online portal.

1) Add your company information
2) Confirm your company’s main contact details (includes name, job title, telephone number, an email address, and a secondary email address for invoicing purposes)
3) Sign the supplier agreement

Once we have checked the details you have submitted and have ran a company credit check, we will assign you with either a credit or proforma Cycle2work account.

Please allow 24 hours for your account to be activated and your scheme credentials shared via email. This may be longer over weekend or bank holiday periods.

The Hire Agreement is the contract between Halfords and the employee. Halfords will enter into a Hire Agreement directly with the Employee and will hire Products to the Employee in exchange for their Letter of Collection (LoC). The Employee will pay for the Letter of Collection via a Salary Sacrifice Agreement entered directly with the Employer. The Employer will pay Halfords for the value of the LoCs.

The hire term with Halfords ltd has a 12-month term.

We offer a self-serve application portal enabling customers 24/7 access to the portal. Employers are fully in control of the implementation process and milestones.

There are 3 steps to creating your account all housed within our online portal.

1) Add your company information
2) Confirm your company’s main contact details (includes name, job title, telephone number, an email address, and a secondary email address for invoicing purposes)
3) Sign the supplier agreement

Once we have checked the details you have submitted and have ran a company credit check, we will assign you with either a credit or proforma Cycle2work account.

Please allow 24 hours for your account to be activated and your scheme credentials shared via email. This may be longer over weekend and bank holiday periods.

When setting up the parameters of your scheme, assigning roles to your colleagues, and making approvals you will receive clear instructions via email and video links to guide you through the process.

Our aim is to get your scheme up and running within 24 hours or less. This may be longer over weekend and bank holiday periods. 

Our scheme aims to minimise the admin tasks for employers and maximise savings for employees.

The administration required by the employer includes, marketing the scheme to employees (all resources can be downloaded from the portal), review and approve employee applications, and process invoices for the scheme.

The employee makes their application online. From start to finish the application should take no longer than 5 mins.

To get started employee’s will need the employer code, their payroll number, and an idea of the value of the bike and accessories they are applying for.

As part of the application, employees must verify their email. The employee can then proceed with their application adding the final personal information, the amount that they are applying for and proceed to sign the salary sacrifice and hire agreements.

Their application will remain pending until approved by the employer.

Credit Cycle2work accounts
If you have a Cycle2work credit account, employees can apply and redeem their LoC on the same day (subject to employer approval). The employer checks eligibility and approves the application on the portal to instantly release the letter of collection (LoC) to the employee. This is 3-4 weeks quicker than other scheme providers who require invoices to be paid before goods can be released.

Proforma Cycle2work accounts
If you have a proforma account and you have ‘pre-approved’ an employee, LoC’s will be released as soon as 1) Payment is made 2) You have updated the status of the employee’s application as ‘approved’ on the employer portal following payment confirmation from us. Once the employee application is set to ‘approved’ we will instantly release the letter of collection (LoC) to the employee. They will be able to redeem their LoC on that same day.

Yes, we work with all leading benefit providers and have market leading processes in place to get your employees onto bikes as quickly as possible. Please contact your benefit provider to arrange the set up.

Yes, our cycle to work offering is available across all key public sector frameworks, either directly or through benefit providers. Frameworks our services can be found on are ESPO, CCS, NPS and YPO.

Our aim is to minimise the administration for our clients and maximise savings for the employee.

One of the ways we do this is by managing the full end of hire process. Halfords will take full responsibility for this process directly with The Employer’s employees.

At the end of hire period Halfords will offer your employees 3 compliant options:

1. Zero cost Managed Extended Hire (Most popular option with employers). The employee will have the option to enter a zero-cost extended hire arrangement directly with Halfords until the value has deprecated to a negligible point aligned with the HMRC cycle to work matrix table, when Halfords will then transfer ownership of the bike. This solution eliminates admin for the employer, maximises the savings through the scheme for the employee, and permits them to join the scheme again the following year. Halfords do not charge for Managed Extended Hire which can save your employees a further 3%, 7% or 10% compared to other scheme providers.

2. Fair market value payment. The employee can take immediate ownership of the bike at the end of initial hire term by making a payment direct to Halfords for the fair market value of the bike. This value is defined by the HMRC matrix table which at the end of the initial hire term is 25% (Bike initial cost greater than £500) or 18% (bike initial cost less than £500) of the bikes original cost.

3. Return the bike. Employees also have the option to return the bike at the end of the initial hire term to their local Halfords store where it will be safety checked and donated to ReCycle where bikes are refurbished and sent to Africa where they are essential means of transport across rural countries.

We will reach out to employee using the details we have on file to inform them that if they do not select an option from the list above within 30 working days, they will be automatically enrolled onto the zero-cost extended hire arrangement.

The Employer can download a payroll report from the portal to set up the salary sacrifice deductions in the form of a payroll report (CSV file). This information is available 24/7 for the employer.

It is the employee’s responsibility to insure the bikes and goods not the employers. We offer all scheme members the option of 14 days free insurance through our trusted partner.

We offer a fully compliant option for employees who are not eligible for a salary sacrifice arrangement (for examples those on NLW, NMW, fixed term contract, apprentices etc). On our online portal, the employer can refer an employee’s application to a Net Deduction arrangement at point of scheme eligibility checks been carried out.

This means that the employee can benefit from the cost of the bike being spread over 12 months – making payments more manageable, plus get get exclusive access on a range of bikes with up to 20% off.

If an employee does not wish to choose one of the bikes on offer, they can still opt in, spread the cost, choose from our entire Halfords and range and benefit from all sales and promotional prices within Halfords and Tredz

It is important to note that employees will not make any Tax or NI savings but will own the bike outright from collection of the cycle

We will provide multiple channels of support including training video guides. Instructions are provided at each step to guide your team from start to finish. There is a dedicated Halfords for Business contact for any additional support if needed and key contact information will be found on your employer portal.

A strong marketing campaign is paramount to the success of your scheme and here at Halfords we have a great track record of achieving the highest levels of uptake through our well-structured engagement plan to speak to all employees.

From the portal you can select and download a range of marketing collateral to promote your scheme:
– Launch Poster A3/A4
– A5 Flyer
– FAQ’s
– Intranet Documents
– Pop Up/Pull Up Banner
– Email signature
– Intranet banner
– Digital payslip inserts
– Screensaver

On-site events are a great way to engage your employees. To help you promote your scheme, your employees can join live and pre-recorded webinars.

If you have been designated a Client Development Manager assigned for your account, please contact them directly for booking an onsite roadshow.

Our website is the best point of call for employees as most answers to their questions can be found there.

For further support employees can contact our Customer Experience Team (cycle2.work@halfords.co.uk or telephone 0345 504 6444).

The team are available 08:30-17:00 Monday-Friday. Outside of these hours employees can contact the Halfords customer service or our online chat facility via Halfords.com.

Via the Halfords website we offer many practical “How To” videos to support the cycling experience.
How To Guides | Halfords UK

Following client feedback, we have developed and launched our unique scheme Protection solution. Scheme Protection negates the risk of early leavers from your scheme. Halfords covers the deficit from early leavers meaning your business won’t be out of pocket.

This service protects employers against the risk of early leavers, meaning if an employee were to leave the organisation and insufficient funds were available from their final pay then Halfords would make up the deficit. This service has a modest admin fee which is easily covered by the employer NIC savings. For more information visit our Scheme Protection page.

Through our cycle to work offering all types of compliant bikes are available including road, touring, hybrid, mountain, leisure, electric, foldaway, classic, adaptive and cyclocross.

Yes, it is compliant with HMRC guidelines that employees can apply for cycling safety accessories without a bike.

This is subject to an employer’s specific scheme criteria but in most cases, employees can avail from our cycle to work scheme “Cycle2work” every 12 months.

On occasion and employer may decide to allow an employee a second application during the year should the employee have a remaining allowance within the application spend limit. (i.e., a scheme limit of £3000, the employee’s first application was £1500 then they would still have £1500 to apply for during the 12 months. This is at the employer’s discretion.)

Yes, they can take part in Cycle2work.

Our nationwide redemption and online options give your employees access to 98% of the cycling brands available on the UK market.

Cycle2work redemption locations include:
– 400+ Halfords stores
– Tredz and Halfords (for online redemption)
– Hundreds of independent bike shops

Employees can use our online store locator to find their nearest stores by postcode.

When redeeming instore, either from Halfords or from an Independent Bike Shop in our network, employees simply need to present their Letter of Collection (LoC) and a form of ID to collect their bikes and cycling accessories.

When redeeming a Letter of Collection (LoC) online at Tredz or Halfords, employees simply need to add their chosen bike and accessories to the shopping basket and at checkout, under payment options, use the option to ‘redeem a cycle to work voucher’ then enter their LoC details to proceed.

Bikes from orders from the Tredz website are delivered directly to the employee’s home address fully built free of charge.

Bikes from order from the Halfords website will be fulfilled through our click and collect option and employees will need to select their most convenient location to collect the bike

If an employee is unable to source their desired bike locally or require a specially adapted bike, they can speak with our team, who will be on hand to source their desired bike or will arrange to speak to our network to source an equivalent model

Yes, employees can cancel their application within 14 days of making their application.  Instructions on how to do this will be included within the agreements issued to the employee after application. If the employees has collected their chosen products and cancels their application, they will need to return all goods in a new and saleable condition.

All UK based organisations can offer the Cycle to Work scheme if they are PAYE. 

No, you do not need HMRC to approve your cycle to work scheme. For HMRC guidance on this, please visit https://www.gov.uk/guidance/salary-sacrifice-and-the-effects-on-paye

No, aligned with the cycle to work guidance Halfords ltd have the required FCA permissions in place, we are extending this offering to our clients enabling them to set what limit they see right for their workforce.

The cycle to work scheme is governed by HMRC and the Department for Transport. Principal rules of compliance include:

1) The scheme should be open and available to all colleagues

2) Transfer of ownership of any products cannot be assumed

3) Any salary sacrifice deductions must not drop salaries below the National Minimum Wage (please see our Cycle2work page for more details on our net deduction scheme ensuring all employees can avail of a bike).

4) The salary sacrifice arrangement will be for at least 12 months.

For more information visit Cycle to work scheme implementation guidance for employers – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Yes, we can work with your chosen third-party finance provider. Financing your scheme can be a great way to spread the cost of running your scheme in-line with your salary sacrifice deductions, to avoid the upfront initial cost of the letters of collection.

The salary sacrifice term is determined by the employer, typically this is over a 12-month period, but it can be spread over 18 months or more if the employer wishes.

The hire term with Halfords ltd has a 12-month term.

When an early leaver ceases employment, they are no longer eligible to benefit from any Tax or NI savings from the scheme.

Any remaining balance owed by the employee should be deducted from their final net salary. Should there be insufficient balance to cover the balance then the employee should make a payment by another means to the employer for the total for the remaining salary sacrifice amount. This is outlined in the Salary Sacrifice agreement which the employee agrees to upon making their application.

Following client feedback, we have developed and launched our unique scheme Protection solution. Scheme Protection negates the risk of early leavers from your scheme. Halfords covers the deficit from early leavers meaning your business won’t be out of pocket.

This service protects employers against the risk of early leavers, meaning if an employee were to leave the organisation and insufficient funds were available from their final pay then Halfords would make up the deficit. This service has a modest admin fee which is easily covered by the employer NIC savings. For more information visit our Scheme Protection page.

During maternity leave and any long-term illness leave (when the employee is not travelling to work) the salary sacrifice deductions should stop until the employee returns to work. The salary sacrifice deductions can then resume.