Case study: The National Health Service’s Blood and Transplant Service

The National Health Service’s Blood and Transplant Service introduced a salary sacrifice scheme in January this year as a way of ensuring that staff got the vehicle they wanted at the right price.

National fleet services manager Larry Bannon listened to what the service’s 2,000 grey fleet drivers told him and used their feedback to set up the new scheme, which is run by Knowles Associates.

The trust’s leasing scheme had previously worked well for those employees who wanted vehicles with emissions lower than 150g/km CO2 and who drive around 6,000 miles a year.

Bannon says: “Some colleagues were telling me that they only do around 2,000 miles a year, while others were telling me that they wanted a vehicle that could pull a horsebox.

“But I also wanted to make the option of driving a low emission vehicle which was properly maintained as accessible as possible to the greatest number of colleagues.

“That was why we decided to launch the salary sacrifice scheme.

“We’ve kept 150g/ km of CO2 as the benchmark – and if someone chooses a car through the salary sacrifice scheme which has 140g/km then they get a 10% reduction in overall costs while if it’s 160g/km then they pay 10% more – and so on.”

In the first month of the scheme, four vehicles were provided on the salary sacrifice scheme.

Bannon adds: “Basically, we wanted to ensure that anyone who needs to use their car for work purposes has access to a new company car that suits their individual needs – and this salary sacrifice scheme is fulfilling that.”

The National Health Service’s Blood and Transplant Service introduced a salary sacrifice scheme in January this year as a way of ensuring that staff got the vehicle they wanted at the right price.

National fleet services manager Larry Bannon listened to what the service’s 2,000 grey fleet drivers told him and used their feedback to set up the new scheme, which is run by Knowles Associates.

The trust’s leasing scheme had previously worked well for those employees who wanted vehicles with emissions lower than 150g/km CO2 and who drive around 6,000 miles a year.

Bannon says: “Some colleagues were telling me that they only do around 2,000 miles a year, while others were telling me that they wanted a vehicle that could pull a horsebox.

“But I also wanted to make the option of driving a low emission vehicle which was properly maintained as accessible as possible to the greatest number of colleagues.

“That was why we decided to launch the salary sacrifice scheme.

“We’ve kept 150g/ km of CO2 as the benchmark – and if someone chooses a car through the salary sacrifice scheme which has 140g/km then they get a 10% reduction in overall costs while if it’s 160g/km then they pay 10% more – and so on.”

In the first month of the scheme, four vehicles were provided on the salary sacrifice scheme.

Bannon adds: “Basically, we wanted to ensure that anyone who needs to use their car for work purposes has access to a new company car that suits their individual needs – and this salary sacrifice scheme is fulfilling that.”