Rewards and benefits

We offer a comprehensive rewards and benefits package to support the wellbeing of our people.

The package

• 27 days holidays per year increasing to 32 after five years continuous local government service.
• Option to purchase up to 10 additional days annual leave per year through our salary sacrifice scheme.
• Bank holidays.
• Flexible working hours (core hours, minimum working day, credit / debit arrangements, up to 13 additional flexi days per year).
• Hybrid working.
• Contributory career average salary pension scheme.
• Vivup Employee Benefits Portal and Lifestyle Savings Scheme
• Trade Union membership.
• Discounted gym membership.
• Employee Assist Scheme.

Health and wellbeing

Wellbeing is defined as feeling good and functioning well physically, mentally, and socially. We all experience a sense of wellbeing differently and as an employer, we want to support every member of staff to feel and function at their best.

Our package of initiatives and opportunities includes:

• Wellbeing Portal with information, advice and support on a wide range of health topics.
• Eye tests for VDU users.
• Occupational Health Services.
• Employee Assistance Programme.
• Mental Health First Aiders.

Inclusion and diversity

We have established several groups to enable our employees and their allies to meet, share ideas and raise awareness. These include:

• Disability and allies' staff network.
• LGBT+ and allies' staff network.
• Working carers peer support group.
• Black and minority ethnic workers staff network.

Learning and development

An excellent and broad range of learning and development opportunities are available to all staff to ensure your personal and professional development is supported. You can expect:

• comprehensive induction
• access to e-learning
• an annual performance appraisal
• access to professional qualifications
• coaching and mentoring

Holiday

We have a generous annual leave entitlement starting at 27 days per year, this increases to 32 days per year after 5 years continuous government service, this is in addition to bank holidays. There is also the option to purchase up to 10 additional days leave per year through our salary sacrifice scheme.

Please note, the majority of council buildings close for business in between Christmas and New Year, unless your job role is exempt and provides essential support during the festive period.  Employees are therefore required to take a number of days from their annual leave entitlement and/or flexi leave (if applicable), to cover the closure period (this is usually 3.5 days).

Flexible working

As a family friendly employer, we can see how flexible working helps our staff with their work-life balance.

Many of our roles offer flexible working between the hours of 7.30am and 7.00pm. This flexibility can give more freedom to arrange your working day to best meet our customers' needs, it also enables you to accrue up to 13 days flexi leave per year.

All our full-time vacancies are open to job share unless stated, we also offer a range of part time and other flexible working options including:

• home working
• job sharing
• part-time working
• flexible retirement

Smarter / hybrid working

We currently operate a hybrid working policy where a model of two days in the workplace and three days at home/remote will apply (subject to terms and conditions).  This model is pro-rated for part time roles and arrangements are at managers discretion, alternatively you can work all of your contracted hours within the workplace if you prefer.

As a council we have many different work styles and opportunities to work smarter whilst ensuring we are:

• meeting the needs of our residents
• meeting the needs of the organisation
• providing work life balance to our employees

We currently operate a hybrid working policy where a model of 2 days in the workplace and 3 days at home/remote will apply.  This model is pro-rated for part time roles and arrangements are at managers discretion, alternatively you can work all of your contracted hours within the workplace if you prefer.

We also have plans for modernisation of our offices and workplaces, promoting more use of technology to ensure we are working in the most efficient way possible as well as considering new and more modern ways of delivering services.

We recognise the value of a healthy work-life balance and as an employer we are firmly committed to ensuring all our employees are able to balance work and life commitments.

Salaries

Our salaries are competitive and based upon the nature and level of the role you undertake. Our pay scales are incremental so you can expect to receive an annual increase until you reach the top of your pay scale. See Salaries for further information.

Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS)

Staff are entitled to join the LGPS, further information can be found on the Thinking of Joining page on the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) website.

We also offer a Salary Sacrifice Shared Cost AVC scheme (SSAVC) for members of the LGPS. AVC deductions paid through the SSAVC scheme will save on both tax and National Insurance contributions, meaning the cost of saving extra for your retirement is reduced even further. Unlike other salary sacrifice schemes, this scheme does not impact your main LGPS scheme benefits as we still use your notional salary (salary before AVC deductions) to calculate your main scheme benefits.

Vivup Employee Benefits Portal and Lifestyle Savings Scheme

Vivup is an employee benefits portal that enables our employees to easily access information about our employee benefits online or via the Vivup mobile app. The portal provides information and signposting to a number of different employee benefits, including employee support schemes, salary sacrifice and payroll deduction schemes that may be available to you. In addition, the portal provides access to Vivup's Lifestyle Savings scheme which features discounts across a host of major retailers.

Additional benefits

• Travel loan scheme.
• Car salary sacrifice scheme.
• Cycle to work scheme.
• Discounted gym membership.

*Rewards and Benefits are subject to individual terms and conditions