In order to provide the contract Tusker had to fulfil various public sector requirements and obligations, which means it has been given Pan Government Collaborative Framework Agreement status, making it available to all public sector organisations. The firm hopes the “ready made” scheme will prove attractive to others.

The new “Green Car Lease Scheme” is available as part of the County Council’s “Everybody Benefits” flexible benefits package, which is open to all staff, and covers vehicles with carbon emissions of less than 120g/km – a choice of almost 600 different models – in line with the council’s environmental policy.

John Robinson, North Yorkshire County Council’s benefits and reward consultant who engineered the agreement, expects a take-up of up to 500 vehicles in the first year of the contract, having already had initial enquiries from 250 council employees in advance of the scheme’s “go live” date on 1 April.

Tusker managing director David Hosking added: ‘We are delighted to have been awarded this very prestigious contract by North Yorkshire County Council, and that our SalarySacrifice4Cars scheme has proved so suitable in meeting their requirements for their employees.

‘Since Tusker first introduced SS4C there has been huge interest from many different organisations keen to explore the flexible benefits of providing employees with a proportion of their remuneration as a non-cash asset like a car.

‘That interest is growing week by week. And we watch with interest the impact of the Pan Government Collaborative Framework agreement within the public sector.’