West Mercia employees maximise benefits with CPC and Tusker

How West Mercia employees are maximising the benefits through positive collaboration with CPC and Tusker

The challenge

Employing 4,500 people, West Mercia Police is responsible for policing the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Worcestershire in England, an area covering 2,868 square miles (7,430 km2) making it the fourth largest police area in England and Wales. In 2022, West Mercia wanted to look at what more they could do for their employees. They recognised that having an employee benefits package was crucial to enable them to attract new talent and retain staff and officers. Implementing a new benefits platform, complete with a salary sacrifice car scheme, was one way of achieving this. With a cross department team to implement a benefits programme, the car scheme became the first benefit which the force had committed to bringing into the organisation. Having conducted a market review and selected an appropriate supplier to make the implementation process smooth, the team focused on finding benefits to enhance the experience and efficiency of the administration of the product within the internal teams and for the end user. It was important to identify benefits that employees truly valued, but, with the cost-of-living crisis, they needed to be affordable and save money where possible. It was also important to be inclusive, so that the product was as financially accessible to
as many employees as possible. An important objective for the team was a solution which would meet sustainability targets giving employees access to a range of ultra-low emissions vehicles that
supported the force’s vision and mission of “being a great place to work”.

The solution

CPC Drive, in partnership with Tusker, were identified as the preferred supplier for the car scheme as their comprehensive management of the implementation and ongoing support from experts in the marketplace was hugely attractive. The ability for the force to pass back some of the National Insurance savings was also a key factor in making the scheme affordable for as many employees as possible. The CPC Drive scheme promised to ensure that administrative teams would have minimal additional tasks to perform, would be quick to implement and be compliant with all the purchasing requirements. CPC Drive and Tusker worked with Digital Services, Infosec, GDPR, Finance and Procurement to ensure they were kept informed, and that the car scheme complemented existing internal processes. Head of Contracts and Procurement Jon Strelitz said: “The team from CPC Drive and Tusker helped us with the setup of the scheme to ensure from day one we could reach as many people as possible from our 4,500 employees. Weekly meetings made sure that the project’s implementation was on track and a communications plan was produced to help us get the word out to our teams. This included a FAQ document for any questions our teams had.” He continued: “From the initial kick-off meeting, it took us around 6-7 weeks to launch the scheme. We then organised a roadshow across our three main sites so staff could see what was on offer.”

The results

Having agreed to pass back 50% of the National Insurance savings to the employee, the scheme started off offering affordable cars while still providing some savings to the force at a time when budgets were tight. The financial modelling projected that with 100 cars on the scheme, the force would be saving around £170,000 over the course of the year. Feedback on the scheme continues to be positive, with employees liking the website and the ease of ordering and finding supporting information as well as the free installation of a home charger. Drivers are finding that they can get more for their money, while also benefiting from the complete package that the CPC Drive and Tusker scheme offers, such as insurance and servicing as well as saving money on fuel costs. As a result, orders have been quite quick to come in with more than 100 cars already ordered. Jon was impressed with the team that managed the implementation and ongoing service for West Mercia Police, commenting: “The team from CPC Drive and Tusker made the whole process simple for us. We really bought into them and the service they were able to provide, which has transferred with excellent service. The team are professional, knowledgeable, understand their product and we collaborate with them a lot more positively as a result. They aren’t the “sell and forget” type of suppliers, they have a commitment to make the service and product a success and are the right people to solve the problem.” He continued: “The communication for the scheme has also been excellent. It’s been faultless and, as a result, a lot of people have shown interest in the scheme and what they can drive.”