A third of UK employers who plan to review their company car policy in the year ahead also expect to introduce more green vehicles as part of that.
The WTW 2024 Company Car Benefits Survey Report, which surveyed 1,610 UK organisations, found that 32 percent of employers who plan to review their company car policy in the next 12 months said they also plan to introduce more environmentally friendly vehicles into their company car benefit policies and practices.
Analysts said this shift towards greener vehicles may be down to the more favourable tax band regime for low CO2 vehicles as well as the opportunity to do an immediate tax write down that can be claimed against electric vehicles.
Shift to greener vehicles
These financial incentives are in addition to employers introducing more environmentally friendly policies and behaviours that follow best practice and reduce costs.
The survey found that almost half (49 percent) of organisations have a ceiling on CO2 emissions, and two thirds (67 percent) allow sales professionals and managers to select an electric or hybrid vehicle as part of the plan.
More than two-thirds of employers (44 percent) said they pay for electricity if the employee charges their electric vehicle at home, 38 percent said they covered the cost of installing a charging point at an employee’s home, and 57 percent said they paid for electricity when an employee charges their car while out and about. A whopping 64 percent said they offer specific car charging points on site at the workplace.
In addition to greener vehicles, 63 percent offer employees a bikes-for-work scheme, while 19 percent offer cars as a benefit under a salary sacrifice agreement.
Lori Stokes, rewards data intelligence lead at WTW, said: “Many companies are aligning with more environmentally friendly behaviours and coupled with government tax relief schemes that help keep down costs, the shift towards electric, hybrid and low emission vehicles is a greener step towards achieving multiple company objectives.”