To support its employees with their financial wellbeing and continuing heightened living costs, Leicester City Council offers a range of benefits as part of a comprehensive package.
The local authority, which employs 13,000 employees in school and office location settings, recognised at an early stage that whatever benefits it was going to offer to incentivise employees could not be too costly.
The council introduced salary sacrifice arrangements to help some of its employees who do not live on bus routes or who live too far away to walk to work. One of these is a bikes-for-work scheme, which offers traditional and electric bicycles at different price points, with a hire period of three years.
While it has a green agenda, it does also offer a car scheme through Tusker for those who only have that as a commuting option. The scheme also helps its lower-paid workers to comfortably and cost-effectively enjoy the benefit of having a new car, over a hire period of three-to-five years.
These salary sacrifice schemes are financially beneficial to both the council and employees as well as helping with recruitment and retention, says Cory Laywood, head of revenues, benefits and transactional finance at Leicester City Council.
“Offering a scheme of this kind enables us to offer the equivalent of a company car to staff at all levels,” he says. ”It also assists with recruitment, as it’s difficult across so many industries these days, and makes us stand out.”
The council wants to support its workforce through a people-first approach to its benefits package, which is designed to provide the best value for all employees regardless of their pay, role or life situation.
Victoria Deacon, corporate health and safety manager at Leicester City Council, says: “From a financial perspective, we partnered with Perkbox Vivup, and 67% of staff are registered to use its platform. It provides staff with a 24/7 365 support service they can call for professional advice, which includes financial wellbeing. It also includes an impartial advice service called Ask Bill, benefits calculators and budget planners to help reduce household costs.”
Employees can also access a range of savings and discounts, on products such as groceries and fuel cards. Over the past 12 months, staff have purchased 1,200 discount cards, benefitting from savings between 5% to 10% depending on the card and store. They are registered to use Company Shop, a discounted surplus food and household goods distributor, and Clockwork Credit Union, which offers regular savings and loans.
The council also offers a home and electronics salary sacrifice scheme, provided by Perkbox Vivup, to help employees spread the cost of expensive items, with 91 members of staff making use of it since its November 2024 launch.
In addition, employees can book onto financial wellbeing and planning, pre-retirement and pension courses, provided by Infinity Connect, and access a health cash plan, provided by Simplyhealth to help with dental, optical and other health issues, which is extended to families. Discounted local travel passes and 50% off local gym memberships are available as well.
Leicester City Council recognises that those under financial stress are more likely to be experiencing other types of stress as well, which can have a knock-on effect on their job performance.
“We offer benefits fairs several times a year, both in person and virtual,” says Deacon. ”We try to make a workplace where everyone can come in and do their best work every single day, resulting in the services they provide the city residents being the best they can be, so it’s important to support staff in this way.”
Laywood adds: “We want to feed back into the city, supporting our own gyms and local car suppliers. We have 400 employees with cars, so this has benefitted local dealerships and businesses, and added to the city’s economy.”
