Car schemes remain popular with employees

Company car schemes are still popular with employees although emissions-based benefit-in-kind changes have knocked it off top spot in the league table of staff perks.

The provision of a car - or an allowance - is still among the top 10 most popular employee benefits according to a new survey.

Employment Review magazine questioned half a million employees and found that more than half of firms still offer a company car, but this number has slipped dramatically since the introduction of CO2-based tax in 2002. At that time eight out of 10 firms offered the benefit.

Manufacturing firms are still the most likely to give employees a company car, with 75% doing so. Not far behind are private sector services, while by far the lowest is the public sector, with only 22%.

Traditionally a weak sector for the company car, many public service orgainsations rely on Approved Mileage Allowance Payments (AMAPs) for employees using their own vehicles.

The findings of the report seem to suggest that industry concerns about duty-of-care leading to a turnaround in fleet sales could prove to be unfounded.