Car Benefit scheme

You don’t pay anything until you’ve received delivery of your car. 

If your car is delivered before the main payroll deadline date for that month, then your first salary reduction will occur that month. Otherwise, your salary reductions will start on the following pay date. Payday falls on the last but one working day of every month.

Yes. Providing you with a car is considered by HMRC to be a benefit in kind and as a result, drivers need to pay a company car tax. The online quotation system will automatically calculate the correct benefit in kind value of the car you’ve chosen based upon the CO2 emissions, additional options, fuel type, P11D value and applicable tax rate according to the salary you’ve entered in the system. It will also consider whether or not the car has an electric battery, as these cars have a significantly lower benefit in kind amount compared to fossil fuelled cars.

For electric cars, benefit in kind tax is only 2% until 2025, rising by 1% each year until 2028. This means you can make considerable tax savings when choosing an ultra-low emission vehicle. The rates will be 2% for 2024/25, 3% for 2025/26, 4% for 2026/27 and 5% for 2027/28.

The company car tax rates for ultra-low emission cars (non-electric vehicles) emitting less than 75g/km will also increase by 1% from April 2025 for 3 years, rising to a maximum of 21%.

Lifestyle protections are included in the contract, in case you need to end the agreement early but conditions may apply. 

Lifestyle protections are included in the contract, but please note that the following restrictions apply:

• Lifestyle cover is restricted to one ‘Personal Lifestyle Event’ (eg family leave, long term sick leave) per hire agreement
• There is a three month exclusion period at the start of the cover (from the Delivery Date) for Resignation, Redundancy, Retirement, Relocation, Long Term Sickness, TUPE, Loss of Licence (Non-Medical), Dismissal, Reduction in Working Hours or Career Break
• There is a three month exclusion at the start of the cover (from Order Date) for Maternity Leave, Paternity Leave, Adoption Leave or Shared Parental Leave
• Lifestyle cover is capped at £500 per month and £3,000 for Long Term Sick and £6,000 for one Family Leave Event.

Please also note that repair of cosmetic damage could be carried out (at a charge to the customer), during routine maintenance.

Due to HMRC requirements, affordability is calculated based on University payroll data only. If you hold a joint appointment with a College, please note that the College pay information cannot be considered in your application.  

Where a salary sacrifice arrangement is used, your gross pay is affected, which in turn impacts upon your tax and National Insurance Contributions (NICs).  As entitlement to some benefits is based on the amount of NICs that are paid and others on earnings, entering into a salary sacrifice arrangement may affect your current or future entitlement to a range of benefits.

USS and OSPS will accept pension contributions based on ‘notional salary’ i.e. your salary before any sacrifice is made and therefore the benefits of those in these schemes will not be affected. The NHS Pension Scheme, however, will only accept pension contributions based upon the reduced salary.

Yes, it is possible to add an additional diver to your agreement. You are encouraged to add this information upfront, as this will impact the quote. 

To qualify for a home charging point with the scheme, you will need to be named as the primary user of an eligible electric or plug-in hybrid Tusker vehicle (or have one on order) and meet the criteria of Tuskerʼs preferred partner. If the installation is not standard, and any further work is required to complete the installation, this may incur an additional charge, which you will have to pay. Check the chargepoint guide for more details.

The agreement specifies the following limitations on the use of a car under this scheme:

• Cannot drive on building sites or off-road
• Cannot use for racing, rallying, or pace-making
• Cannot be used for reliability, speed testing, or driving tuition
• Cannot be driven by anyone without a full driving licence
• Cannot modify the vehicle (incl. signage) without specific permission
• Cannot touch the odometer
• Cannot use for towing without specific permission
• Cannot travel abroad without specific permission

Employees who enter into a salary sacrifice arrangement for an electric/hybrid car should be aware that they have been provided with a company car, as they have not paid for their own car. As a result, they can only be reimbursed Advisory fuel rates rather than Approved Mileage Allowance Payments. The Advisory fuel rates are reviewed by HMRC quarterly on 1 March, 1 June, 1 September, 1 December.

Yes, you can apply to the scheme with a non-British driving license. However please note that it can take the DVLA up to 10 weeks to check a foreign licence, thus potentially delaying the delivery of your car.