Interest free annual season travel ticket loan scheme - Slough

Interest free annual season travel ticket loan scheme

As part of the council's staff travel plan to reduce the council's carbon emissions and help staff to reduce their journeys to and around the council offices by car, the council offers an interest free loan to purchase an annual season travel ticket.

Through offering this scheme, the council hopes to

? provide staff with wider travel choices and increase travel by public transport

? contribute to the council's activity in reducing carbon dioxide emissions and improving local air quality

? promote smarter working practices and reduce unnecessary business and customer travel

? raise awareness of the council's commitment to reducing its carbon dioxide emissions

Scope

This scheme is available to all employees on a permanent contract and to those on fixed term contracts where there is at least 12 months left on the contract. his scheme is not available for "as and when" or "agency workers".

Loans can be requested for the purchase of an annual railway, underground or bus season ticket to cover travel from home to place of work. Loans cannot be granted for season travel tickets of less than 12 months.

The loan must only be used to purchase the employees own tickets and the normal conditions which the travel providers attach to annual season tickets will then apply. The council is only involved in providing the loan and ensuring it is repaid. All other transactions, including refunds for surrender of tickets, will be between the employee and the travel provider.

The loan will be provided for the full cost of a second class ticket only (employees wishing to purchase a first class ticket will need to make up the difference) up to a maximum of ?5,000.

Process - applying for the loan

Employees can apply for a loan at anytime but applications must be received by the payroll section before the loan is required, in line with the normal payroll deadlines. The loan will be made in one payment by BACS transfer into the employee's bank account with your normal pay the following month (unless payroll has already been run for that month, in which case, the loan will appear in the following month's salary).

To apply for the loan, an Annual Season Travel Ticket Loan Application Form (Form A) must be fully completed and signed by the employee and their line manager.

The approval process will consist of a HR sign off and authorisation by the AD professional services who will confirm the following:

? The employee is a permanent staff member or on a fixed term contract with a duration of at least 12 months remaining on the contract.

? The sum requested for the season ticket reflects current prices.

? The employee does not have any outstanding season ticket loans, a car loan or onerous orders against salary.

The second approval will be by the Council Sec 151 Officer/Assistant Director Finance and Audit.

Once a loan has been paid to an employee, it cannot be altered; therefore employees will be required to obtain the price of the season ticket from the travel provider before completing the Annual Season Travel Ticket Loan Application Form.

When the loan is received it is the responsibility of the employee to apply to the travel provider for their ticket. The employee will be required to provide evidence of the season ticket and must also provide a copy of the receipt of purchase using the Receipt of Annual Season Travel Ticket Form (Form B) within one month. This receipt should be provided to human resources.

Failure to complete this form and produce the evidence required will result in the immediate repayment of any outstanding loan in full.

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Repayment

Employees will be required to repay the loan over 12 months by deductions from their salaries. If the loan is for an amount which is not exactly divisible by the number of repayments, an adjustment will be made to round up all deductions except the first one which, as a result, will be different from the other deductions.

It will not be possible to extend the period of repayment beyond 12 months.

Deductions will commence at the end of the first month after receipt of the loan.

In the event of an employee leaving, the outstanding balance will be deducted from the employee's final salary. In those instances where there is insufficient final pay to fully repay the loan, the remaining balance must be paid within seven days of the last day of employment.

Where an employee is not at work e.g. through long term sickness or maternity/adoption leave, and therefore not using their annual season ticket to get to and from work, they must make arrangements to surrender their ticket and repay in full any outstanding loan.

Should an employee surrender a season ticket and secure a refund, any outstanding loan must be repaid in full within seven days of receipt of the refund even if the refund does not cover the outstanding balance of the loan. Failure to do this could result in disciplinary action under the council's disciplinary policy and procedure.

Ticket expiry

When an annual season travel ticket expires, it will be necessary to submit a new application if another loan is required. It is possible to apply for a new loan two months before the current loan expires however existing loans must be repaid before a new loan will be issued.

Other conditions

Any abuse of this scheme; such as using the loan for any other purpose other than purchasing an annual season travel ticket, or failure to remit any refund (in full) to the council should a season ticket be surrendered, could be defined as gross misconduct under the council's disciplinary policy and procedure.

The operation of this scheme will be reviewed annually however the council reserves the right to withdraw this scheme, or vary or add to these conditions, at any time. If it were to prove necessary to withdraw the scheme this would not affect loans which had already been granted.

If you have any questions regarding this scheme please contact your hr business partner team.

If you have any questions regarding the amount left on the loan please contact the payroll section.

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