Salary sacrifice specialist Fleet Evolution has launched an Employee Car Ownership (ECO) scheme to provide a targeted cost-saving solution for high-mileage drivers.

Andrew Leech, managing director of Fleet Evolution.

The launch of the scheme comes five years after the firm implemented its first salary sacrifice scheme and has been developed to overcome the impact of the forthcoming changes to salary sacrifice schemes on higher-mileage users.

Under the changes, which are effective from this April, employees signing up for salary sacrifice and not opting for ultra-low emission vehicles will have their Benefit-in-Kind set on the higher of either the tax saving or the normal Benefit-in-Kind, impacting on those drivers using higher-mileage agreements. However, firms that implement salary sacrifice arrangements before April 2017 will be protected from the changes for up to four years.

Fleet Evolution’s new ECO scheme will allow affected employees to own a company car with employer volume discounts – but without forking out any company car tax.

Andrew Leech, managing director of Fleet Evolution, said: “This new arm of the company will provide a complete employee car benefit solution for all employees. We have already established ourselves as a leader in the sector when it comes to salary sacrifice, but by opening ECO schemes up to smaller companies, we are able to ensure everyone who wants to benefit from these fantastic offerings can do.”

He added: “Since we entered into the industry, many things have changed, and as we are always looking to fill gaps and give small businesses the help and recognition they need, we saw this huge window of opportunity to help both employers and their employees.”

The new scheme can be used by businesses of any size and has been designed for quick and simple implementation.

Leech concluded: “From the employer’s perspective there is little difference we take the employee enquiry and channel them to the best product, we also handle all the HMRC requirements from initial clearance to mileage reporting and annual amendments.”