EV Scheme
Drive Towards a Sustainable Future with Our Electric Vehicle Employee Benefit
Reduce your carbon footprint and embrace eco-friendly technology with our Electric Vehicle Scheme. Salary sacrifice is a popular and easy way to drive a brand-new or pre-loved fully electric car. We’ve teamed up with Tusker to help you find your ideal electric vehicle while benefiting from income tax and National Insurance savings.
How the scheme works
Salary sacrifice is a popular and easy way to drive a brand-new or pre-loved fully electric car, read through the employee guide for more in-depth information.
A monthly amount is taken directly from your gross salary (before tax and National Insurance) in return for an electric car, with no need to pay a deposit. Your gross amount will be fixed for the length of your agreement, meaning no surprises and easier budgeting.
The car scheme includes much more than just the car. Your monthly amount also covers:
- Insurance
- Maintenance
- Tyres
- MOT
- Road Tax
- Home charging point and standard installation (subject to eligibility)
- Roadside assistance & more
Although you will need to pay Benefit in Kind (BIK), the government has agreed to keep these rates low for electric vehicles (EVs) as part of a wider environmental drive to reduce emissions. The BIK rate is 3% until April 2026, rising by only 1% each year until April 2028, and then 2% each year until April 2030.
Eligibility for the home charging point and installation can be checked here: Tusker ChargePoint Eligibility
The Process
- Explore your options - Explore the range of available electric vehicles, Simply visit Purple Place and click through to the Electric Car Scheme. You'll be able to browse a variety of cars, watch helpful videos about how the scheme works, get quotes and compare different options.
- Enter your details and get personalised quotes - Once you're on the site, enter your details, including your salary, address and driving history. This will allow you to receive personalised quoted, including insurance cover, so you can see exactly what your payments will be.
- Select you car and submit your application - After reviewing your options, select the car you'd like to proceed with and submit your choice online. You'll then electronically sign the necessary documents to confirm your selection.
- Approval process - The UoM Reward Team will review your submitted application to ensure you meet the EV scheme eligibility criteria
- Email confirmation- After the UoM Reward Team approves your application, you will receive an approval email from Tusker containing the Driver Guide & Understanding the BIK guide. Please read these guides carefully
Eligibility
- Employees must receive a regular eligible salary from the university.
- You must be out of your probation period or have been working at the university for a minimum of 9 months.
- If fixed term, the time remaining on their contract must exceed the agreement length
- Your hourly rate after EV Scheme deductions cannot take you below the National Minimum Wage.
- Eligible employees are not required to have a drivers license; The scheme is available to non-driving employees who may wish to take a car for someone else. This will typically be a domestic partner, spouse, child, or someone within the same household.
Tusker Webinar Recording
Tusker hosted a Webinar to run through the scheme in detail and hopefully answer any questions you may have. Please see the below recording.
FAQs
How can I access the scheme?
The scheme is exclusively available via the reward and recognition platform, Purple Place. No 4-digit code is required. Access to the Tusker portal via Purple Place is granted by your university single sign on.
After creating an account, you’ll be able to get a quote and see the range of cars available.
Am I eligible?
The scheme will be available to substantive employees who receive a guaranteed salary from the University. Tusker have advised a minimum salary of circa £32,000.
As per HMRC guidelines, we have an obligation to ensure that after considering all salary sacrifice arrangements, your gross salary must be above the National Minimum Wage for the duration of the Salary Sacrifice Agreement. As part of this we also must include a margin to allow for future National Minimum Wage increases so that an employee doesn’t fail the legislation part way through an agreement.
Employees on fixed term contracts will be eligible providing the time remaining on their contract exceeds their agreement length.
I’ve inputted my details, why are no cars available to me?
The Tusker site asks for salary information on first logging in and will therefore only show vehicles which are within your personal affordability range.
Affordability will be impacted by existing deductions including pension contributions, childcare, cycle to work etc., along with other factors such as your tax code, chosen agreement length and mileage. The driver’s age and postcode may also have an impact on the cost of insurance and therefore eligibility.
Will the salary sacrifice affect my workplace pension?
USS, UMSS and Pension Saver 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.