Nottingham City Council has implemented an electric car salary sacrifice scheme for its around 7,000 employees.
The scheme, which is provided by Tusker, enables eligible employees to take a new electric or ultra-low emission car via salary sacrifice and includes insurance, servicing, maintenance and breakdown cover.
Council employees can choose to take a car over periods of between 24 and 60 months and have optional access to charging points around the country. Additionally, Tusker’s Lifestyle Protection programme will protect the council and its employees from early termination fees from unforeseen circumstances, such as maternity, long-term sickness or death in service.
The scheme enables the council to support employees financially while promoting greener travel choices.
The launch was supported by Nottingham’s communication team as well as videos, frequently asked questions and launch materials, which are on the council’s intranet. This resulted in 216 sign-ups in the first day and 21 vehicle orders in the first week.
Nottingham City Council will also introduce a pre-loved car scheme to provide an additional, cost-effective route into low-emission and electric vehicles for staff. This is intended to increase affordability and widen access across its workforce.
Lynn Griffin-Pearce, HR reward consultant at Nottingham City Council, said: “Our new benefit provides a cost-efficient and environmentally responsible alternative to traditional vehicle ownership, and is supported by competitive benefit-in-kind rates and optional access to a nationwide public charging network.
“Providing a car salary sacrifice scheme as part of our Works Perks programme was fully supported by our HR director. We considered two key elements: how much a scheme could financially benefit our employees, as well as how it generates national insurance savings for the council. Officially, this is a re-introduction of the Tusker benefit, we had a car scheme 10 years ago with the Tusker team.”
Kara Harrison, HR reward advisor at Nottingham City Council, added: “Our payroll, finance, and legal teams were all involved to ensure scheme compliance. It had to be fully robust pre-launch for all parties. Beyond Tusker’s protections, we also ask that managers approve the cars to help protect against people leaving or retiring.”
