Mortgage Brain, Worcestershire-based mortgage solutions provider for major lenders and intermediaries, has introduced an electric car salary sacrifice scheme from Fleet Alliance for all staff.

Head-quartered In Bromsgrove, and with offices in London, Croydon and Ipswich, Mortgage Brain is jointly owned by leading lenders Barclays, Lloyds Bank, Nationwide, NatWest and Santander, and has been supplying mortgage technology for almost 40 years. It also has a smaller, London-based events and media business, AE3 Media.

Strong early employee uptake

The group, which has around 100 employees, brought in the Fleet Alliance EV salary sacrifice scheme to allow staff access to environmentally-friendly vehicles for the first time under a corporate scheme, replacing the previous mileage allowance system.

With a wide choice of electric cars available, both new and used, models from BYD, Jaecoo, Tesla, Porsche, Hyundai and BMW are amongst those selected by employees to date.

Chief Financial Officer, Alastair Brown, said: “We are running at about 10% take-up but expect that to go to 20% quite quickly. And we have been nothing but impressed since engaging Fleet Alliance to provide a salary sacrifice EV benefit to our employees for the first time.

“From helping me understand the tax implications, configuring the set up and

creating all launch comms and a launch event, they have supported us in being able to offer a very valuable benefit that everyone can access.”

Personal experiences with the scheme

Alastair Brown said that he had also personally bought into the scheme.

“With the help of Fleet Alliance, we now have a new Hyundai Ioniq 5 that all of the family love. So much more space, a fun drive and we even managed to put our personal registration on it, too.

“To cope with home charging, we have now installed the Pod Point charger through the scheme so are benefitting from big savings on all of our driving.

“And my CEO has just taken delivery of a Porsche Taycan through the scheme, admitting that this is not a car he would even dreamed of driving before the scheme was introduced,” he added.

Employees have been encouraged to participate in the scheme with presentations from Fleet Alliance account managers providing information about the low rates of Benefit-in-Kind taxation for vehicles with zero emissions. And they have been given peace of mind by early termination insurance which is built into the monthly lease rates.

Managing the fleet with e-Fleet

The cars are managed through Fleet Alliance’s proprietary cloud-based fleet management and reporting platform, e-Fleet, which helps manage every aspect of the fleet in real time, regardless of funder or fleet provider.

Drivers can use e-Fleet to research, compare and order their next vehicle directly from an associated app, and can source vehicles specific to their current grade or salary bracket while checking specification, Benefit-in-Kind and whole life cost.

The platform also provides convenient and accurate mileage recording to allow the close monitoring of mileages and to keep up with all servicing requirements.

“We have found the portal very easy to navigate for employees of all job descriptions – be they IT engineers, business analysts or sales people – with clear details of the impact on their salaries and tax situation.

“We have also been able to flex the scheme to allow used EVs which is great for commission-based employees who, because of National Living Wage restrictions, might not have been able to participate otherwise,” he said.

Supporting ESG and sustainability goals

Fleet Alliance CEO, Andy Bruce, said that the EV salary sacrifice scheme was suitable for business of all sizes, providing a greater choice of vehicle for employees at more attractive rates, as well as helping meet environmental goals for the business.

“Our scheme is a great way to offer an electric car at no extra cost to businesses of all sizes, from the largest corporation to the smallest SME. It’s the perfect way of introducing a corporate car scheme for the first time.

“From an environmental perspective, it encourages staff to make the transition to electric cars and helps reduce the corporate carbon footprint while assisting the business in meeting its ESG agenda.

“Rentals are kept as low as possible by the use of competitive tendering and a panel of up to eight lenders, a real bonus at a time of escalating costs in many areas,” he added.