Less the half of businesses now regard company cars as an essential recruitment tool, with 17% saying they have become an outdated benefit.

Because of this and other factors, such as environmental concerns, almost 70% of the 480 companies questioned in the Employee Benefits/SureFleet Fleet Research 2008 Survey said they plan to reduce the size of their fleet this year.

This is in addition to the 11% who said they had already cut their fleet size during the past 12 months.

Almost a half of the companies (45%) said that environmental issues will dictate part of their fleet policy development this year, although almost one-fifth of companies had yet to calculate what their fleet’s carbon emissions were.

In addition, almost 30% said they will amend their fleet policy in the coming weeks to take into account the introduction of the Corporate Manslaughter Act in April.

Also with an eye on duty of care responsibilities, a significant number (54%) said they will also introduce a policy to check cars’ MOT and service records are up to date.

Any trend back to company cars is still questionable with 80% of employers said they offer a cash allowance for their staff, with three quarters saying they do so to give them more choice to their drivers.

The remainder said they offer a cash alternative to reduce the tax liability for employees.