Over the past year 250 North Yorkshire County Council staff have selected low-emission cars through the council's salary sacrifice scheme ‘Everybody benefits’.
The salary sacrifice car scheme is provided by Tusker, and the cars have been available to council staff since April 2010.
Staff taking part are only allowed to choose cars with carbon emissions of less than 120g/km but they have made an approximate savings of £1,000 per car compared to using a personal contract purchase (PCP) scheme.
Scheme users have also saved an average of £500 per year each in fuel costs and now emit an average of 50g/km carbon dioxide less compared to their previous cars.
John Robinson, benefits and reward consultant at North Yorkshire County Council, said: “The scheme has been a huge success, enabling employees to make savings in income tax, national insurance contributions and pension, if applicable, by having the cost of the car deducted from salary before statutory deductions.
“Early termination insurance, paid for as part of the monthly costs, further ensures that the scheme is an attractive alternative to purchasing or a PCP.
“In addition, a number of other local authorities, including Northumberland County Council and Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, have also taken advantage of our agreement with Tusker which further endorses the popularity of salary sacrifice car schemes throughout the public sector.”
The 'Everybody benefits' scheme is available to 30,000 staff in North Yorkshire County Council. Under the terms of a collaborative framework agreement, the car scheme is also available to other government departments, non-department public bodies, the NHS, local authorities, police authorities, and emergency services.
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