Flexible benefits schemes ― an overview

Produced by Tolley in association with

Employment Tax

Guidance

An introduction to flex schemes

A flexible benefits scheme allows an employee some degree of choice in how their remuneration package is structured. The terms ‘salary sacrifice scheme’ and ‘flex scheme’ are often interchangeable, because they usually refer to the same thing. The main difference, if there is one, is that ‘salary sacrifice’ may refer to a degree of employee choice given on a single employment benefit. A flex scheme on the other hand often applies choice to a number of different employment benefits at the same time, therefore the considerations on implementation are more numerous.

This document sets out the basics of how a flex scheme might work, alongside the usual steps involved when implementing a successful scheme. A number of additional guidance documents then provide further assistance on the various practical steps and considerations, as listed below:

Description	Guidance notes
Preliminary work around feasibility prior to implementing a flex scheme	Feasibility study for a flexible benefits scheme
Employee car or company car, matters to consider	Own car v company car
Rules

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Robert Woodward

Employment Tax Manager at Frank Hirth plc

Robert is an expert in UK employment tax matters for employers with UK based employees, including UK employees working overseas, and overseas employees coming to the UK. He has extensive experience of advising clients with regards to PAYE matters, employee benefits and social security as well as employment related payments outside the payroll functions such as termination settlements and payments to consultants and other non-payroll labour. After graduating in Politics and Law from the University of Southampton, Robert started his tax career at HMRC as an employer compliance officer undertaking enquiries into employers' expenses and benefits systems before moving into a large international practice and then into the Big 4. Here he assisted with tax investigations, flexible benefits planning, employment tax compliance and international social security. Robert has presented to various audiences and has had a number of articles published in various magazines on employment tax matters. Robert is a fully qualified member of both the Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT) and the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CTA).

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