Car benefits schemes play an increasing role in helping companies achieve their ESG goals

Corporate Social Responsibility is of increasing importance to today’s businesses, with the Environmental, Social and Governance practices of companies falling under increasing scrutiny by employees, investors, and the public alike. To the latest generation of consumers and investors, both millennial and post-millennial, what companies actually do for the benefit of the world around them matters just as much as their corporate values and products.

For some companies with well established ESG principles, this will come as no surprise and measures will already be in place to work towards these goals, but for businesses new to the concept, the question of how to adopt such principles can seem like a mammoth task. Fortunately, major inroads can be made with a few simple steps and one of these is the introduction of a salary sacrifice car benefit scheme.

CPC Drive’s innovative salary sacrifice car benefits schemes offer staff access to safe, new, environmentally friendly, and highly affordable vehicles which, thanks to the way salary sacrifice is structured, are advantageous for not just the driver, but for employers’ ESG responsibilities as well.

As CPC Drive’s schemes favour Electric Vehicles and Ultra Low Emissions Vehicles, the environmental benefits are immediately obvious. In offering affordable access to ultra-low or emissions free vehicles, not only do tailpipe emissions fall as drivers move away from petrol and diesel cars, but it also guarantees all CPC Drive drivers complete carbon neutrality over the life of their contract.

CPC Drive calculates the emissions for every vehicle it provides based on mileage and offsets these using verified carbon offsetting schemes – even EV drivers benefit from this, as CPC Drive offsets each electric car on the worst-case assumption of every EV being charged with non-green tariffs. As a proudly carbon-neutral company, CPC Drive became a net-positive contributor to the environment in 2021, which means that it now offsets more carbon in the environment than it creates.

A key, but sometimes overlooked, part of the environmental benefit is that as a result of the way in which these schemes are set up, it is not just higher earners that are able to enjoy new cars. Employees at all levels can take advantage of the car scheme, which is not always possible on more traditional company car schemes. In fact, a massive 70% of CPC Drive’s drivers fall into this lower tax bracket, and as CPC Drive’s research shows that the majority of these drivers are coming from vehicles which are more than seven years old, every new car CPC drive driver in this bracket is often giving up an older and more polluting car as a result.

Social responsibility is key, of which a duty of care to employees plays a major role and in the face of a cost-of-living crisis, employers are increasingly finding that ensuring the financial wellbeing of staff is an important first step. Not only can most employees save money on a salary sacrifice scheme, but also, thanks to CPC Drive’s schemes taking the form of a subscription package with no need for a hefty down payment, monthly budgeting becomes easy.

All costs, excluding fuel or electricity are included with a CPC Drive package, so insurance, tax, breakdown cover and even tyres are included for a single monthly amount. With more and more families worried about unexpected expenses in the face of rising living costs, the peace of mind brought about by a package in which a no-surprise guarantee comes as standard, is important not just for the employee, but also for the employer too.

In addition, unlike many other traditional car schemes, CPC Drive minimises risk for both employers and employees, with a full suite of protections available in the case of early termination, redundancy, and long-term sickness cover, so neither party is penalised in the event of unforeseen circumstances.