The mobility budget is gaining traction

Although not currently mandatory, the mobility budget is rapidly gaining in popularity and the percentage of companies offering a mobility budget has increased by 31% from 2024. Introducing the budget now, or at the very least making proper preparations for its introduction, is a smart move.

The mobility budget is gaining traction, with the number of companies (with company vehicles) that offer their employees the mobility budget rising by 31% in one year’s time. The figures remain limited in absolute terms, however: just over 4.5 in 100 companies with company vehicles allow their employees to exchange their company vehicle for a greener alternative or cash, compared to just over 3.4 in 100 companies in 2024. Especially businesses that will be required to introduce a mobility budget in the coming years are rushing ahead, as emerged from an analysis that HR expert Acerta conducted on the basis of the data of 28,000 companies and 370,000 employees in the private sector.

Employees whose position entitles them to a company vehicle can use all or part of the mobility budget as they see fit and can spend it on a smaller, greener vehicle (pillar 1) or on other sustainable modes of transport – such as a bicycle, public transport or shared mobility – and housing costs (pillar 2) and/or they can have it paid in cash (pillar 3). In 2027, the mobility budget will become mandatory for companies with more than 50 employees, and in 2028 the obligation will also start to apply to SMEs with 15 or more employees. Yet many businesses have decided not to wait until the deadline to take action, as the Acerta survey shows. At least 4.51% of all companies with company vehicles are already offering the budget, a 31% increase from the end of 2024.

More than 1 in 10 (12.76%) of companies with company vehicles and 50 or more employees – where the mobility budget will be mandatory from 2027 onwards – have already introduced the budget. This, too, is an increase from the 2024 figure: +6%. Among SMEs with company vehicles and 15 to 50 employees – which have until 2028 to become compliant – 6.78% are currently offering a mobility budget. This is an increase of about 29% compared to 2024.

That said, a KBC survey (conducted in autumn 2025) also revealed that many companies are not familiar with the mobility budget. Approximately 33% are not using it and only know it by name, and nearly the same percentage of respondents have never even heard of the budget.

Companies that have not yet introduced the mobility budget mainly stated as reasons that they were unclear about the obligations and exceptions (72%) and, to a lesser extent, that this was due to current leasing, rental or other contracts for company vehicles (48%) and a lack of demand from employees (42.7%), as the Acerta survey shows.
Smaller companies are more averse to the mobility budget than larger businesses, and 6 in 10 businesses with fewer than 50 employees are even vehemently opposed to a mandatory mobility budget. Seven in 10 (68.4%) small SMEs would not offer the budget if they weren’t required to; this percentage falls to 54.6% among employers with 50 to 249 employees. Exactly 50% of large employers (250+ employees) said they would offer the budget, and exactly 50% said they would not.

Company size also strongly determines to what extent the introduction is feasible for employers, as is also apparent from the survey. 43.9% of small companies with company vehicles (1-49 employees) consider the mobility budget not or not at all feasible, compared to 31.6% of medium-sized companies (50-249 employees) and 26.4% of large companies (250+ employees).