The industry had long been asking for it. And now the petition collecting more than 10,000 signatures has paid off. Flemish Education Minister Ben Weyts opens up bicycle leasing as an extralegal benefit for teachers.
Source: De Standaard /VRT NWS
End-of-year bonus
A legal framework will be created under which teachers will be able to exchange part of their pay . This will also allow teaching staff to choose sustainable mobility and bicycle leasing with tax advantages from 2025.
In most private sectors, bicycle leasing has been one of the most popular fringe benefitsfor years , andfor several years the same has been true for local government officials. This is the gross amount, before taxes or social security, which means that teachers who lease a bike get more out of it than colleagues who buy their own bikes with their net amount.
Weyts gives the example of a teacher with 9 years of seniority: "Her end-of-year bonus was 1,050 euros net, but gross was more than double that, 2,150 euros. Buying an electric bicycle and insuring and maintaining it for 3 years quickly costs 4,000 euros. So the teacher needs almost 4 net year-end bonuses to buy the bike herself. But if she chooses the bicycle lease, she can spread that same cost over 3 years, for example, and use part of her gross year-end bonus each time, which is more than enough," she clicks.
Recruitment
The shortage of teachers in Flanders is considered one of the greatest threats to the quality of education - and so interventions are being widely sought to make a career in education more attractive. By the end of 2023, the counter stood at more than 3,300 vacancies, according to the VDAB .
Joule as bicycle leasing partner for education
Joule has successfully developed several bicycle solutions for school groups, including group purchasing and net pay swaps. The salary swap through the end-of-year bonus allows more teachers to switch to a functional form of commuting.
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