Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council introduces salary sacrifice car scheme

Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council has introduced a salary sacrifice car scheme with the aims of reducing carbon emissions, increasing benefits choice and generating savings for the council.

Launched with Tusker in April, cars eligible under the scheme have to emit less than 120g/kg of carbon dioxide to meet the council’s green targets.

The council selected the scheme under the terms of a pan-government collaborative framework agreement, originally set up by North Yorkshire County Council when it established its own salary sacrifice car scheme last year.†

Under the terms of the agreement, the scheme is available for use by all UK public sector authorities.

Colin Bowley, integrated transport manager at Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, said: “Our initial view was that interest and take-up would be limited due to public sector spending cuts.

“With 12 new car orders and another five awaiting internal approval, staff have far exceeded our initial expectations for the scheme. There has been real interest among employees.

“We heard of the scheme following the North Yorkshire initiative but there were other reasons for selecting it.

“It is a very easy scheme to implement as it is all online, it generates savings for both staff and the council, and it helps us achieve our carbon reduction targets.

“We initially thought that interest would only centre on small cars but we have also had enquiries for premium cars with list prices of up to £27,000 under the scheme.”

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