My bundle letter that arrived today

Post by **eastie** » 26 Oct 2016, 12:35

In the letter to ' ALL COLLEAGUES' as RM call us that arrived today it says as follows,
Smartphone- "a choice of Apple or Android phones for colleagues who are not in receipt of a company provided mobile phone"
So does that mean we are getting a freebee or does it mean we have to buy one out of our own pocket ?
The way its worded is insinuating that we should have a mobile but I refuse to use mine at work but if they give us a freebee I would use it.
As far as I know its not compulsory to have a mobile whilst at work.

Tiddler · Post by **Tiddler** » 26 Oct 2016, 13:46

No it's not a freebie.

It's a benefit whereby RM buy a product at a discounted price then lease it to you for 2 years. You may then have the option of buying it (presumably for a small fee) at the end of the 2 years.

The advantage is that the leasing fee comes out of your gross pay so reduces the tax & NI you pay.

This is similar to Cycle to Work.

The scheme doesn't go live until 1st Nov but is already up & running for many companies such as NHS through the same providers - Lets Connect. Once it is on RMs computers you should be able to get examples of cost & benefits of the scheme.

tonytucker · Post by **tonytucker** » 26 Oct 2016, 15:47

Load of s**t don't bother

Post by **IloveMYredTROLLEY!** » 26 Oct 2016, 16:20

Just like cycle schemes, the wording is horrid, to get around HMRC hire-purchasing and benefits-in-kind rules.

"Royal Mail may, at its sole discretion, allow you to retain the device. The transfer of ownership to you will give rise to a benefit in kind and any resulting tax due will be collected from you by a change to your tax code."

When was the last time you heard of anyone doing a bike salary sacrifice and then not being able to buy the bike off their employer? I've never heard of such a case, but this horrid wording can and does put a lot of people off these salary sacrifice schemes because technically you are hiring the equipment without owning it until paying a transfer of ownership fee after so many years.

Why can't we have the wording of these schemes re-phrased to reassure employees that they will eventually own the item, unless they choose not to?

One random article regarding salary sacrifice phones...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/bills-and-ut ... hone-hand/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The 25% fee for transfer of ownership after 12 months barely makes the scheme worth doing for basic rate tax payers, something that could also be said of the cycle schemes in recent years too.

Creditshampoo · Post by **Creditshampoo** » 26 Oct 2016, 16:26

No its not free....did you not actually read the letter? It mentions money out of your wages a few times.

Personally the paragraph "royal mail may at is sole discretion allow you to retain the device. The transfer of ownership to you will give rise to a benefit in kind and any resulting tax due will be collected from you by a change of tax code"

So in short all these tax savings they bang on about for 2 years you'll end up paying anyway and royal mail can ask for the device back after 2 years....after you've paid for it minus tax

Chewster · Post by **Chewster** » 26 Oct 2016, 16:33

Could be worth it actually. Most people get a 2 year phone contract anyway, by the end of the two years they've probably paid MORE than what they phone would have costed anyway. I'll reserve judgement till I see the "deals" myself though

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 26 Oct 2016, 16:38

My bundle is a tax avoidance scheme set up by royalmail for royalmail anything you get you will pay for it in time but even I do not know how it will effect redundancy or IHR or if you get sacked!

Coatsy79 · Post by **Coatsy79** » 26 Oct 2016, 19:02

k979aaa wrote:My bundle is a tax avoidance scheme set up by royalmail for royalmail anything you get you will pay for it in time but even I do not know how it will effect redundancy or IHR or if you get sacked!

It says if you leave you have to pay off the balance in full

Wonder what the offers are I'm just looking for a new phone

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 27 Oct 2016, 15:08

http://www.royalmailchat.co.uk/communit ... 15&t=76943" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LTB 630/16 - Royal Mail Launch Smartphone and Technology Schemes

Surreypostie · Post by **Surreypostie** » 27 Oct 2016, 15:09

All these schemes benefit Royal Mail, that doesn't make them bad schemes. It costs RM money to administer, they wouldn't be doing that for nothing, especially now we are a privately owned anything for profit company. If it is good for us, it is a whole lot better for them.

madmax1 · Post by **madmax1** » 27 Oct 2016, 15:35

RedBagMan · Post by **RedBagMan** » 27 Oct 2016, 20:22

madmax1 wrote:Look at the 2 year cost of the RM deal. Compare it to what these phones/tablets go for on a 2 yr deal in the open market and decide if it's a good deal or not. Until the details come out on Nov 1 there's no point slagging it off, just wait and see. Some people on here won't accept that (very) occasionally RM do something that is actually useful for us employees, and would rather cut off their nose to spite their face than admit it.

If they spent less money on b*ll*x like this (and don't get me going on "culture and engagement" !!) and more on "tools for the job" (elastic bands, sensible shoes, waterproof clothing that is waterproof) ... but then again that sort of thing is not tax-deductible - and actually impinges on such things as bonuses ...

toomuchcoke · Post by **toomuchcoke** » 27 Oct 2016, 20:44

RedBagMan wrote:
madmax1 wrote:Look at the 2 year cost of the RM deal. Compare it to what these phones/tablets go for on a 2 yr deal in the open market and decide if it's a good deal or not. Until the details come out on Nov 1 there's no point slagging it off, just wait and see. Some people on here won't accept that (very) occasionally RM do something that is actually useful for us employees, and would rather cut off their nose to spite their face than admit it.
If they spent less money on b*ll*x like this (and don't get me going on "culture and engagement" !!) and more on "tools for the job" (elastic bands, sensible shoes, waterproof clothing that is waterproof) ... but then again that sort of thing is not tax-deductible - and actually impinges on such things as bonuses ...

Erm, all that stuff you speak of is tax deductible. If the Royal Mail spends an extra £1000 (or whatever) a year on elastic bands, then their profits have been reduced by £1000 and therefore the amount of Corporation Tax they pay will be reduced. In any case, do you really think the Royal Mail has spent a massive amount of person-hours on this? They'll have gone to some company (well several companies and picked the lowest cost probably) that provides this sort of thing and said "What price for an iPhone 7?", perhaps add on a small fraction per-week to cover the truly minimal amount it will cost the Royal Mail to tell us about it and ta-da! The payroll and personal taxation side of things will already be done, because PSE, C2W, the car scheme and all the others are already there ... It's just another line item with a cost to deduct from your gross salary.

Yes, the Royal Mail gets to make a small reduction in the amount of employers national insurance it makes. But assuming that their price on an iPhone 7 is cost competitive (before the tax advantage to us) with say Three, then that's probably £37/month (i.e. ~£8.54/week). Which means that everyone who takes out an iPhone 7 via the Royal Mail saves the company a totally mahoosive £61.27 in National Insurance each year! Clearly that's going to make a gargantuan difference to the profitability of the company, and thus large bonuses all round right?

jetblack · Post by **jetblack** » 27 Oct 2016, 21:10

toomuchcoke wrote:
RedBagMan wrote:
madmax1 wrote:Look at the 2 year cost of the RM deal. Compare it to what these phones/tablets go for on a 2 yr deal in the open market and decide if it's a good deal or not. Until the details come out on Nov 1 there's no point slagging it off, just wait and see. Some people on here won't accept that (very) occasionally RM do something that is actually useful for us employees, and would rather cut off their nose to spite their face than admit it.
If they spent less money on b*ll*x like this (and don't get me going on "culture and engagement" !!) and more on "tools for the job" (elastic bands, sensible shoes, waterproof clothing that is waterproof) ... but then again that sort of thing is not tax-deductible - and actually impinges on such things as bonuses ...
Erm, all that stuff you speak of is tax deductible. If the Royal Mail spends an extra £1000 (or whatever) a year on elastic bands, then their profits have been reduced by £1000 and therefore the amount of Corporation Tax they pay will be reduced. In any case, do you really think the Royal Mail has spent a massive amount of person-hours on this? They'll have gone to some company (well several companies and picked the lowest cost probably) that provides this sort of thing and said "What price for an iPhone 7?", perhaps add on a small fraction per-week to cover the truly minimal amount it will cost the Royal Mail to tell us about it and ta-da! The payroll and personal taxation side of things will already be done, because PSE, C2W, the car scheme and all the others are already there ... It's just another line item with a cost to deduct from your gross salary.

Yes, the Royal Mail gets to make a small reduction in the amount of employers national insurance it makes. But assuming that their price on an iPhone 7 is cost competitive (before the tax advantage to us) with say Three, then that's probably £37/month (i.e. ~£8.54/week). Which means that everyone who takes out an iPhone 7 via the Royal Mail saves the company a totally mahoosive £61.27 in National Insurance each year! Clearly that's going to make a gargantuan difference to the profitability of the company, and thus large bonuses all round right?

Put in simple terms - it's a dead cert for Apple/Three/RM et al - but not sale of the century for us.
Everyone's getting a cut - but for the poor mugs that are buying in to it.
I can,t quite work out how buying an iPhone can now be exempt of taxation. It doesn't,t seem right to me. What next ? I can get 20 Lambert and Butler before tax as well ?
Apple/ RM don,t lose out of course - but what about the NHS ?

sequinn · Post by **sequinn** » 27 Oct 2016, 23:40

I would just like to know how you use My Bundle. I have registered but each time I try to use it it tells me it doesn't recognise my pay number, security details etc. I have asked for new login details to be sent on numerous occasions but have received nothing!!