IN BRIEF
The UK’s Cycle to Work scheme lets employees buy a bike through salary sacrifice: the providers grouped in the Cycle to Work Alliance, which says it represents “around 80% of the market”, issued 89,599 certificates in the first half of 2026, up 2.77% year on year. The number of active employer accounts is growing faster still, from 27,977 to 31,201. According to the same source, the average transaction value stands at £1,812. The Alliance points to a study by the Ortus consultancy which found that almost a fifth of users would not have bought a bike without the scheme.
| Certificates issued by Alliance members, 1st half 2026 | 89,599 (87,180 in 2025), +2.77% |
| Certificates, 2nd quarter 2026 | 54 450, + 2,33 % |
| Employer accounts, 1st half | 31,201 (27,977 in 2025) |
| Employer accounts, 2nd quarter | 17,700 (15,653 in 2025) |
| Average transaction value | 1 812 £ |
| Socio-economic return (Ortus, 2024) | £4.40 per pound of public money |
| Data source | Cycle to Work Alliance, which says it represents around 80% of the UK market |
While the European bike industry moves from one restructuring to the next, a British tax mechanism is still shifting bikes. The first-half 2026 figures for the Cycle to Work scheme, published on 1 September, show certificates rising, and an employer base widening at a faster rate according to the Alliance’s data. Cycling Industry News links the increase to “rising inflationary costs hitting British households”, starting with fuel prices. The same article notes that the figures “come as the cost of living continues to weigh on household budgets”.
The British cycle-to-work scheme is gaining employers above all
The data is aggregated by the industry itself. According to Cycling Industry News, the Cycle to Work Alliance compiled “figures from some of the largest UK cycle to work providers” to produce its half-year assessment. It found that “C2W certificates are up 2.77% year-on-year, rising from 87,180 in the first half of 2025 to 89,599 in the first half of 2026”.
The second indicator is moving more. According to the same source, “active employer accounts have risen from 27,977 in the first half of 2025 to 31,201 in the first half of 2026” — an increase well above that of certificates. For the second quarter alone, the Alliance reports 54,450 certificates, up 2.33%, and 17,700 active employer accounts against 15,653 a year earlier.
Cycle to Work: an average transaction value of £1,812
The amount spent says a lot about the kind of bikes involved. Cycling Industry News reports “an average transaction value of £1,812”. That amount is expressed in pounds sterling: Cycle to Work is a British tax scheme, and the Alliance’s statistics, consulted from France on 3 September, are denominated in pounds. The mechanism, the article recalls, lets employees buy “a quality bike and equipment through salary sacrifice”.
Steve Edgell, chair of the Cycle to Work Alliance, sees in this the confirmation of a momentum: “These figures demonstrate the continued strength of the Cycle to Work scheme. We are seeing more employers offering the benefit, more employees taking it up, and sustained confidence from participants investing in quality bikes and equipment.”
£4.40 of benefits per pound of public money, according to Ortus
The Alliance builds its case on a study it commissioned from the Ortus consultancy. These figures cover the year 2024, not the 2026 half-year: according to Cycling Industry News, the study concludes that the scheme “delivers £4.40 in socio-economic benefits for every pound of public investment, with an estimated £531.9 million in additional net benefits generated in 2024 alone”. The same work puts at £407 million the benefits tied to reduced premature mortality and improved health outcomes.
One last figure sheds light on the scheme’s own effect. Again according to that study relayed by Cycling Industry News, “almost a fifth (19%) of scheme users would not have bought a bike without it”. That is the argument the Alliance is putting to the British government, at a time when it is looking for levers to ease the fixed costs weighing on households.
