A new salary sacrifice scheme has been launched which could make thousands of employees eligible for a company car.

The scheme, run by Tuskerdirect, allows employees to surrender part of their salary in return for a non-cash benefit.

The benefit cost is deducted from an employee's gross salary - before statutory deductions - so workers are able to save on income tax and National Insurance contributions.

"Employees will face a charge for benefit-in-kind taxation, but as the scheme promotes lower producing cars, this is more than offset by the tax and NI saving," said Tuskerdirect managing director David Hosking.

Several major carmakers, including Vauxhall, Renault and Mazda are backing the fully automated online scheme by offering additional support through above normal volume-related bonuses.