Company cars – when can we take them back?

You can take back a company car for the whole maternity leave period if it is provided purely for business use (for example if it is a pool car kept at work to be used by a number of employees). This will be the same when the law changes.

If some element of personal use is permitted, you must treat the car as a benefit and allow the employee to keep it throughout OML.

Once the law has changed, you will also have to allow the employee to keep the car during AML. For the time being, you can take the car back during AML although you should first think about:

• whether this is in line with your past practice; and
• what you would do with the car. Many employers allow employees to keep their company cars during AML as well as OML because they have no other practical use for the car during this time. On the other hand, some employers prefer to save on insurance or running costs by taking the car back even if they have no use for it.

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