Budget kills off home-computer loan scheme

by Bob Crabtree on 23 March 2006, 10:13

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Yesterday's budget blew out of the water the Department of Trade and Industry's Home Computer Initiatives - schemes (described as loans) that, effectively, let companies sell PCs to their employees for two-thirds or less of the cost price.

After April 6, tax of £200 or more (plus national insurance payments) will be levied on any new scheme. On the up side, that does mean there is still a small window of opportunity for new schemes to be put in place before April 6.

What's always fascinating when changes of this sort take place is to see what has been said by government before and after. A visit to the DTI's HCI web pages brings up some great quotes explaining why HCI schemes were put in place and justifying their existence.

* The real beauty of HCI schemes is that they have the potential to improve performance in almost every area of the organisation. As well as traditional drivers - reducing costs, increasing profitability - they can also contribute to more recent imperatives such as corporate responsibility, individual learning and workplace development.

* HCI schemes can also help organisations increase their performance by raising the potential of the workforce through improved ICT skills.

* [With improved ICT skills] employees can also adapt more easily to new roles and opportunities and take advantage of online learning and other computer-based training contributing to a broader skills set.

* As well as improving workplace skills and boosting learning, there are many ways that a computer acquired through an HCI scheme can make a positive difference to the overall quality of home life, from online shopping and financial management to multi-media entertainment and education.

* 51% of employees [with HCI-supplied PCs] say they have learnt skills which have helped at work


In contrast, the budget statement makes no claims for the usefulness of HCI and nor does it explain why such schemes are no longer valid. Instead it simply says,

Many employees have benefited from the tax exemption to get a computer into their homes, but the Government now wishes to focus support on groups with the poorest access to technology, to meet the goals set out in the Digital Strategy. As a result, the Govenment has decided to remove the current tax exemptions for employer-provided computer equipment, from 6 April 2006.


So, was HCI a clunker or actually something that had real benefits to the nation? Let us know your thoughts about the scheme and its withdrawal in the HEXUS.community.

HEXUS.links

Department of Trade and Industry's - Home Computer Initiatives
Prime Minister's Strategy Unit - Digital Strategy
BBC - full list of official budget documents (PDF format)




HEXUS Forums :: 2 Comments

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Quite a few people bought these at my last company, their scheme had only HP computers which were overpriced a bit, however with the deal you ended up getting them a bit cheaper than you could buy them for yourself and also you effectively got interest free credit too.

Its mental that one govt dept is taxing incentives by another. Of course things like tax credits already made it plainly obvious what kind of money games they want to play.
I work with people that have been selling this to employers - they weren't best pleased by this news…

They had a fair amount of success with companies where people didn't use PCs in their day-to-day jobs, with a take-up of up to 80% in several large companies.

There is still a benefit in salary-sacrifice home computers, as you (and your employer) still won't pay NIC (and possibly VAT) but the tax sweetener's gone now.