Conservative MP David Davies has tabled an Early Day Motion (EDM) in the House of Commons to make thousands of teachers working in England and Wales’ state schools eligible for cars through salary sacrifice schemes.  

Teachers are currently the only profession unable to join salary sacrifice car schemes, which allow employees to sacrifice a portion of their income in return for a brand new vehicle, and salary sacrifice provider Tusker has been campaigning to get this changed.

More than 1,000 teachers have already signed a petition calling for change and teachers and members of the general public are invited to support this campaign by signing the petition.

The Common’s Motion will run for the remainder of this Parliament and now has the backing of MPs from all of the main Westminster parties.

The wording of the EDM says: “This House welcomes the availability of salary sacrifice car schemes for public and private sector workers, providing a boost to the motoring industry and delivering a low cost, low polluting motoring option; notes the popularity of these schemes and their long-term fiscal neutrality to the Exchequer.

“It further notes the current exemption of teachers from the scheme despite all other public and private sector professions being eligible and teachers having access to similar schemes such as cycle to work; acknowledges the demand from teachers for having access to salary sacrifice car schemes; and urges the Education Secretary to consider amending the School Teachers Pay and Conditions Document to extend access to the schemes for teachers.”

Tusker has worked hard behind the scenes to co-ordinate the efforts of teachers and MPs to change the rules in order to allow them to have access to the scheme.

David Hosking, chief executive of Tusker, said: “We have now heard from hundreds of teachers who ask a question we have no good answer to: ‘Why can we not access the same scheme as our local authority colleagues and university lecturers?’

“That’s why we are working with teachers and MPs across England and Wales to end the exclusion of teachers from salary sacrifice car schemes and deliver equal access for all professions.

“We’re delighted to have received the support of hundreds of teachers and dozens of MPs and we look forward to taking this campaign to the next level and delivering a fair deal for teachers.”