Sheffield Council staff to be offered brand new electric car in return for salary reduction

Council leaders are set to approve the car lease salary sacrifice scheme at a co-operative executive meeting next week.

The offer forms part of a range of measures to reduce the number of car journeys council workers make which include increasing working from home and active travel.

Council staff can agree to a reduction in their salary in return for a brand new, fully maintained and insured electric car which comes at a lower cost than on the market.

Employees get to choose a vehicle online through the leasing company, likely to be Tusker, and the reduction in their salary will be by the value of a monthly lease.

They can add additional drivers to the policy and the cost will be added to the amount the employee pays for the lease.

Eugene Walker, executive director of resources, said it would not only benefit the environment, but result in savings on tax, national insurance and pension contributions.

Mr Walker said: “Because of the pandemic many people are choosing to use private vehicles rather than public transport. The provision of a scheme promoting the purchase of electric vehicles supports the council’s clean air strategy and net zero target.”

The scheme will run for four years and an employee will be able to take out a lease agreement at any point during that four year period and buy the car from the leasing company if they leave.

The council declared a climate emergency and set a target to become net zero by 2030 in a full council meeting in 2019.

Sheffield Council’s co-operative executive is set to approve this scheme at a meeting on October 20.