PwC collaborates with Mbrella to support Belgian businesses in transition towards green and alternative mobility solutions

Almost 70% of expenditure in Pillar 2 of mobility budget goes on housing

Today, professional service provider PwC Belgium announced it will collaborate with Mbrella, a Brussels-based start-up providing a digital HR platform which allows companies to provide flexible mobility plans to their employees. Thanks to this digital platform, flexible mobility plans come at no extra costs or administrative burden to businesses. With this collaboration, PwC Belgium aims to support Belgian companies in their transition towards green and alternative mobility solutions.

Professional services provider PwC Belgium and start-up Mbrella have today entered into a collaboration with the view of complementing each other's services, providing clients with guidance in their transition towards offering more diverse and sustainable mobility solutions to their employees, with both SMEs and larger companies able to benefit from this new platform.

‘At PwC, we recognise the pressing need for businesses to switch to more sustainable and eco-friendly means of transport’, says Bart Van den Bussche, Director at PwC Belgium. ‘Working together with Mbrella allows us to offer a complementary package of services to help businesses make this switch. By combining our tax and legal expertise with the start-up's innovative platform for flexible mobility, we believe that we can support companies of all sizes and from all sectors in reducing their carbon footprint and to build a more sustainable future for everyone. By providing our tax and legal advice, Mbrella is entirely free to devote itself to the further development and expansion of its platform. In doing so, we hope to make a positive contribution towards Mbrella's future growth.’

67% of mobility budget goes on paying rent or mortgage

Mbrella has observed some significant shifts in the use of the mobility budget, which celebrated its fourth anniversary on 1 March. Company cars are most frequently exchanged for public transport (18%), car-sharing or ride-hailing (18%), scooters and mopeds (17%) or taxis (16%). But users are increasingly spending their mobility budget on paying off their mortgage. While users only spent 7% of their mobility budget on mortgage payments in 2021, in 2022 this percentage climbed to 26%. Alongside this, growing numbers of users are using their mobility budget to pay rent, going from 37% of the mobility budget in 2021 to 41% in 2022. This means that, in 2022, a total 67% of the mobility budget was spent on housing.

Tax incentives for company cars running on fossil fuels phased out from July

1 July 2023 marks the start of a transition period during which the tax deductibility of cars purchased from that date onwards will be systematically phased out. This development will have an impact on the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of company cars. PwC expects there to be a rise in demand for a mapping out of this cost evolution for businesses, as well as in the search for alternatives via co-creation. Besides delivering insights into costs and alternative options, PwC is able to help companies with legal implementation, documentation and communication. In terms of managing mobility plans, and avoiding any associated hassles, Mbrella's platform offers added value as the final piece in the jigsaw.

Employees can modify their own mobility plan directly via the Mbrella platform

Following its launch in 2021, the Mbrella platform is now being used by 12,500 users across 250 Belgian businesses. The platform enables employees to use it to modify their own mobility plans directly. Once HR has granted a mobility budget and potentially also mobility benefits to an employee, the employee is then free to juggle this budget themselves. It is easy to exchange a company car for a monthly/season ticket on public transport, a virtual mobility card for all mobile services, or an allowance for commuting or for working from home. Employees can even choose to use their mobility budget to pay their rent or mortgage.

Mbrella includes mobility benefits directly on employee payslips

For HR, this does not generate any extra work or administrative burden. For example, an employee can decide to swap their company car for alternative mobility such as taxis or public scooters. In this instance, invoices are sent to the business. Mbrella's software then ensures that these are paid out of the remaining budget. Thanks to a collaboration between payroll service providers, the platform immediately includes any employee's mobility benefits on their payslip, without any action required from HR. However, HR does maintain a constant overview of the mobility budget, along with how much of the budget has already been spent. At the same time, HR teams can also accept or reject claims for expenses and commuting costs.

Together with PwC Belgium, Mbrella is further supporting the transition to greener mobility

‘We are delighted to be working with PwC in helping businesses navigate the complex landscape of green mobility’, says Audrey Stampaert, Co-founder of Mbrella. ‘PwC has decades of experience in providing tax and legal advice, coupled with extensive insight into the challenges and opportunities facing today’s businesses. By combining our flexible mobility platform with PwC’s expertise, we can deliver a total solution that not only helps businesses reduce their carbon footprint, but also improve

their bottom line. Furthermore, the platform could play an important role in boosting employee satisfaction. Together, we are passionate about bringing about real change and building a sustainable future for everyone.’

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