News – Page 23
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Fujitsu Services pilots road risk programme
Fujitsu Services is piloting a two-month long occupational road risk programme for more than 1,000 of its company car drivers.For the first time, all business-need company car users who drive a minimum of 8,000 business miles a year have been asked to complete an online driver risk training and assessment ...
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ING Car Lease sees rise in rentals
Fleet leasing company ING Car Lease has seen a significant rise in the number of companies using rental vehicles as a key part of their fleet management strategy. In the last year alone the fleet specialist has seen the volume of rentals it handles for both public and private sector ...
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Medicash reviews car and travel policies as part of new carbon neutral status
Liverpool based health cash plan provider Medicash has announced that it has achieved carbon neutral status.In addition to carbon offsetting Medicash is aiming to reduce its carbon footprint by a further 10% over the coming year.†To help achieve this goal the company is limiting its company car policy to vehicles ...
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Buyer's guide to vehicle leasing (February 2009)
Vehicle leasing offers an attractive way of cutting costs and benefiting from tax breaks, says Amanda WilkinsonIn this economic climate, populating a fleet with leased vehicles will be a more attractive option than buying them outright for many organisations.For employers trying to control costs, leasing is relatively risk free because ...
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Government clarifies car tax relief
The government has published a technical note that explains in detail how changes to the capital allowance regime for business fleets will take effect as part of an HM Treasury consultation on business fleet tax reforms, which closes on 27 February.The document, Modernising tax relief for business expenditure on cars: ...
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Active Risk Management launches electronic driver permit
Active Risk Management (ARM) has launched an electronic driver permit, which allows fleet managers to check if their employees are eligible to drive on company business.The online permit creates an auditable record for each driver with details of risk assessments, driver training and licence checks, which can be updated over ...
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Calls for reduced working hours to save car industry
The government faced calls for creative action such as reduced working hours to help the UK's car industry, as unions branded its £2.3bn support package as too little too late.Tony Wolley, joint general secretary of Unite the Union, suggested a government subsidised short working week would help the industry, and ...
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Buyer's guide to carbon offsetting (January 2009)
Employers can enhance their green credentials by helping staff to offset their personal carbon footprints, says Nicola SullivanCarbon offsetting enables organisations and employees to counterbalance their carbon footprint, which is usually calculated by totting up the amount of greenhouse gases produced by factors such as car journeys, flights and the ...
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Employers taking fleet damage limitation steps
Employers are taking steps to limit their exposure to the cost of accidental damage to leased vehicles in their fleet.Almost 95% of businesses regularly receive company vehicles back at the end of the lease period with unexplained dents and scrapes, and only 5.5% of employers said all damage was explained ...
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HMRC announces revised advisory business mileage rates
HM Revenue and Customs has published new advisory business mileage fuel rates for company vehicles to reflect a 5% fall in petrol prices since the rates were last reviewed in July 2008.The new values are operational from 1 January 2009 for tax, national insurance contribution(NIC) and VAT purposes and offer ...
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Lloyds TSB Autolease launches online fleet calculators
Lloyds TSB Autolease has launched three free online calculator tools to help employers manage fleet costs.The calculators each focus on one area of fleet management, covering fuel bills, cash allowance takers and whole life cover costs.Fleet managers input headline figures in each category to work out the estimated annual cost ...
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Morris & Spottiswood offers hybrid cars to clean up fleet
Morris & Spottiswood has cleaned up its fleet by limiting its company car selection to just two models, both of which run on environmentally-friendly hybrid fuel.The building company, which specialises in fit-outs for large retailers, housing development and maintenance, previously offered a choice of 15 diesel cars that emitted an ...
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Pre-Budget Report: Fuel duty to increase and vehicle excise duty reforms scaled down
Chancellor Alistair Darling has minimised the impact of vehicle excise duty reforms, but maintained his decision to increase fuel duty offsetting the 2.5% temporary decrease in value added tax (VAT).In his pre-Budget Report, the Chancellor confirmed that the planned 2p rise in fuel duty, first announced in April, will be ...
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Company car drivers are becoming more eco-friendly
When selecting a new company car, most employees will consider how environmentally friendly the vehicle is, according to new research published by Leasedrive Velo Group.The survey revealed that almost nine in 10 employees (87%) feel that the level CO2 emissions would influence the choice of their next company car.Of the ...
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CIPD Reward Forum: Maximising tax breaks on company car plans
Speaking at the CIPD Reward Forum, Chris Bolan a consultant at Compass Reward Consulting advised employers to do a cost-benefit analysis on fuel for private use. “Fuel for private use is very tax inefficient,” he said, although many organisations still offer it.He is also seeing increasing numbers of employers considering ...
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Carlsberg takes the green road with car incentive plan
Carlsberg has cleaned up its fleet with greener cars and incentivised its employees to choose more environmentally-friendly vehicles.The drinks firm now offers fuel-efficient BMWs, emitting less than 140g of C02 per kilometre (km), to the 320 drivers in its employee car ownership and traditional company car programmes. From September, employees ...
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General Motors suspends employee benefits in America
General Motors (GM) in America has reportedly suspended several of its employee benefits programmes in a bid to cut costs during the economic downturn affecting the industry.The car manufacturer said it is trying to eliminate 15% of the costs associated with its white-collar work force in the U.S. and Canada ...
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Fleet drivers would rather travel solo
More than half of company car drivers would refuse to car share if they had choice, according to new research.The Masterlease survey, found that 55% of fleet drivers would refuse to car share if they could, and three quarters of those admitted that they would rather make up an excuse ...
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Employers could face jail under new fleet safety laws.
Company directors and managers, including fleet operators, that turn a blind eye to occupational road risk management could find themselves being jailed for up to two years when the Health and Safety (Offences) Act 2008 comes into force on 16 January 2009.The legislation, which gained Royal Assent this month, amends ...
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Buyer's Guide: Fleet Management
Looming green taxes, rising fuel costs and corporate responsibility legislation are all forcing employers to think more carefully about their fleet commitments, and providers to up their game, says Nic PatonIf fleet managers haven't done so already, they should circle 1 April 2009 in their diaries with a big fat ...