How to implement an EV charging benefit as a small business

Charging salary sacrifice is usually assumed to be a large-company benefit, something with a dedicated HR team behind it. It is not. The setup is small enough that a business with no HR function and a single person running payroll can offer it. Here is what that actually involves.

What you need before you start

You do not need an existing EV salary sacrifice car scheme to offer this, though it works well alongside one if you have it. All you need is:

• At least one employee who drives an electric car, whether through a company scheme or privately owned or leased
• A payroll system capable of processing a monthly salary sacrifice deduction, which almost all UK payroll software supports
• Someone able to sign off the agreement, which in a small business is often the owner or finance lead directly

Step by step setup

1. Confirm eligibility. Decide whether the benefit is open to all employees with an EV or restricted to certain roles. Most small businesses keep it simple and open it to everyone.
2. Sign the scheme agreement. This sets out the terms of the salary sacrifice arrangement as a variation to employment contracts, which we provide as part of onboarding.
3. Add one deduction line to payroll. We send monthly, payroll-ready figures for each enrolled employee; there is no new payroll category to configure beyond a standard gross deduction.
4. Onboard employees. Employees download the app or receive a charge card, and can immediately start charging at home, at work, or across the UK's 76,000+ public chargepoints.
5. Run the National Minimum Wage check. As with any salary sacrifice benefit, gross pay after the deduction must not fall below the National Minimum Wage. This matters most for lower earners and is worth a one-off payroll check when someone enrols.

What it costs the business

There is no setup or running cost to offer the scheme. Because the deduction reduces the employee's gross pay, the employer also saves employer National Insurance on the sacrificed amount, which in most cases more than covers any internal time spent administering it. For a small business, this makes it one of the few benefits that can be added without a new line in the budget.

What it costs the employee, and what they save

Employees pay for their own charging as they always did, the only change is that the cost comes out of gross pay instead of net pay. That means income tax and employee National Insurance are calculated on the lower figure:

• Basic rate taxpayers save around 28% combined
• Higher rate taxpayers save around 42% combined

They can check their own likely saving using the savings calculator before enrolling.

Keeping it simple with a small team

Small businesses do not need to build any of the supporting infrastructure themselves. We handle:

• The employee-facing app and charge card
• Monthly statements and payroll-ready deduction figures
• Employee support and onboarding comms

That means the internal workload is genuinely limited to signing the agreement and adding one line to payroll each month. Full mechanics are covered on the how it works page, and payroll-specific detail is on the finance and payroll page.

If you already reimburse business mileage

Some small businesses already reimburse directors or employees for business mileage in an EV. That is a separate process from charging salary sacrifice, and it needs to follow HMRC's Advisory Electricity Rate or actual cost evidence to stay compliant. Our Reimburse product is built specifically for that, and can run alongside charging salary sacrifice without any conflict.

Next steps

If you want to see exactly what setup looks like for a business your size, book a demo and we will talk through payroll and rollout in plain terms.