Renfrewshire Council

What the Let's Connect home and technology benefit is

The Let's Connect home and technology benefit is a scheme where Council staff can buy home electrical goods, appliances or home and technology online and spread the cost over a 24-month period.  

You can spend up to £1,200 on items and pay back an agreed regular amount each time you get paid, from your gross salary (before tax and national insurance) over the next 24 months. 

Let's Connect is a 'benefit in kind' salary sacrifice scheme.

Orders in the scheme will close on Sunday 10 December 2023.

Who can apply for the Let's Connect home and technology benefit

You must be over 18 years old and an employee of Renfrewshire Council, OneRen or Scotland Excel to apply for the scheme.

If you are on a temporary and fixed term contract (FTC), you can only apply if your contract is longer than the 24-month payback period.

How you access Let's Connect

To access Let's Connect, log in to the Mylifestyle employee benefits portal, go to the My Benefits tab and select Let's Connect.

If you haven't registered for mylifestyle yet, follow the instructions to set up your Mylifestyle account.

You will need your employee number and an email address. You can use either your council email address or a personal email address. 

Buying goods with Let's Connect

You can spend up to £1,200 in total through the Let's Connect home and technology benefit.

When you select items to purchase through Let's Connect, we will first check that your gross salary (what you earn before you pay tax and national insurance) will stay above the National Minimum Wage once the repayments for the Let's Connect home and technology benefit have been deducted. 

If you are already on any other salary sacrifice schemes, like Cycle2Work or Buying Additional Annual Leave (BAAL), we will check what your salary will be after all these deductions. 

If using Let's Connect will reduce your salary to below the National Minimum Wage, your application will not be approved. 

Let's Connect will contact you by email to confirm if your application has been approved or declined. 

Salary sacrifice, tax, and national insurance 

When you buy goods through Let's Connect, we will take an agreed regular payment amount from your gross salary before tax and national insurance. This is called salary sacrifice. 

By agreeing to sacrifice part of your salary, for a set period, in exchange for a non-cash benefit such as home and technology, you also agree to a change to the terms and conditions of your employment with the council.

Let's Connect differs from our other salary sacrifice schemes, such as BAAL and Cycle2Work, because home and technology is classed as a taxable benefit.

This means while you don't pay national insurance on the repayments during the 24-month repayment period, you will need to pay tax on this home and technology benefit in the following tax year. This is called a 'benefit in kind'. 

Current savings on national insurance are 12% for basic rate taxpayers and 2% for higher rate taxpayers. National insurance and tax band rates are set and controlled by government.

Go to the HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) website for more information on national insurance, tax and salary sacrifice schemes.

Example of buying goods with Let's Connect

This is an example of a purchase with Let's Connect and how much the employee pays back. 

Jo pays a basic rate of tax (20%) and gets paid every four weeks. This means Jo gets paid 13 times a year. 

Jo buys a washer dryer in June 2023 at the purchase price of £500. The total amount Jo pays for the washer dryer through Let's Connect is £440, saving £60 in total.

Over the 24 months Jo makes 26 repayments of £19.23. This repayment is automatically deducted from Jo's salary. 

Jo doesn't pay national insurance on the £500 for the washer dryer throughout the 24-month period. This saves Jo £60 in total.

Jo doesn't start to have tax deducted on the washer dryer until April 2024. HMRC will write to Jo to say how much tax in total they need to pay for the washer dryer and advise them of their new tax code for the financial year 2024 to 2025. 

Payroll will then start deducting the tax based on the new tax code Jo has been issued. The total tax deducted for the £500 purchase will be around £100, based on the 20% tax rate they pay. This amount will vary based on each personal circumstances.

Every four weeks Jo will pay:

• £19.23 only from June 2023 until April 2024
• £19.23 plus a portion of the tax owed on the item from April 2024 until April 2025
• £19.23 only from April 2025 until the end of the agreement.

By June 2025, Jo will have paid for the washer dryer, including tax, and no more Let's Connect deductions will be taken from their salary. 

The table below illustrates Jo's Let's Connect payments and how it affects their gross pay (before tax) and net pay (after tax).

Make sure you understand the implications of joining the scheme, including the effect on your pension or any potential future state benefits. You should satisfy yourself that this home and technology benefit is appropriate for your personal situation. 

Pension payments

State pension

The Let's Connect home and technology benefit may impact your state pension entitlement, as the salary sacrifice means you're paying less National Insurance.

You can find out more about the state pension on GOV.UK.

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

Your pension contributions to the 2018 Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) will not change.

Teachers' Pension Scheme

Your pension contributions will be based on your reduced salary after the salary sacrifice deduction has been made.

State benefits

Your actual salary, rather than your basic salary, will be lower when you buy goods through the Let's Connect scheme. Your entitlement to any state benefits will be based on your actual salary rather than your basic salary.

If you are paid close to the lower earnings limit for national insurance contributions (NI), your entitlement to various state benefits may be affected if the reduction in your salary takes you below the lower earnings limit, which is £123 per week for the 2023 to 2024 tax year.

It may affect your entitlement to:

• statutory maternity pay
• statutory paternity pay
• statutory adoption pay
• statutory sick pay.

If your circumstances change

If you are on family-related leave

You can apply for the scheme if you are on:

• maternity leave 
• paternity leave
• adoption leave
• parental or shared parental leave.

If you are only being paid the statutory amount, you won't make any repayments while you are on leave. The repayments will start again when you return to work until the total amount has been paid off. 

If you are being paid above the statutory amount, you'll continue to make repayments to the scheme during your leave. 

If you do not return to work after your leave, any outstanding balance you owe will be taken from your final net pay (this is your pay after tax, National Insurance (NI) and any other deductions have been paid).

If you are on long-term sick leave

You can apply for the Let's scheme if you are on long-term sick leave.

If you get Statutory Sick Pay only, you won't make any repayments while you are on long-term sick leave. The repayments will start again when you return to work until the total amount has been paid off.

If you get more than Statutory Sick Pay, you'll continue to make repayments to the scheme during your long-term sick leave.

If you do not return to work after your leave, any outstanding balance you owe will be taken from your final net pay (this is your pay after tax, National Insurance (NI) and any other deductions have been paid).

If you are retiring

If you are retiring, you can apply for the scheme. 

However, if you retire before the 24-month repayment period finishes, any outstanding balance you owe will be taken from your final net pay (this is your pay after tax, National Insurance (NI) and any other deductions have been paid).

If you are leaving the Council

If you leave the Council before the 24-month repayment period finishes, any outstanding balance you owe will be taken from your final net pay (this is your pay after tax, National Insurance (NI) and any other deductions have been paid).

If you get tax credits or benefits

If you buy goods through the Let's Connect home and technology benefit, it means that your gross pay per pay period (before tax and national insurance) is reduced by the amount you have spent through Let's Connect. 

This may affect:

• your entitlement to Working Tax Credit or Child Tax Credit 
• any other benefits which depend either on your actual income or your national insurance contributions.

You can find out more about how salary sacrifice schemes affect benefits on the HMRC website.

Cancelling your Let's Connect agreement

You have a right to cancel the agreement before your purchases have been delivered. 

You also have a right to cancel within 14 days, beginning from the day after you receive the items you have ordered. 

If you are cancelling your agreement within the 14 days, you must 

• not use the items you have bought
• return them with the original packaging to the address supplied by Let's Connect.

If you've already started making repayments, these will be reimbursed the next time you get paid.

Email employeebenefits@renfrewshire.gov.uk if you have any questions about Let's Connect or any of our employee benefits.