Staff Benefits

Benefits and personal development

We want Croydon Council to be a place where our staff enjoy their jobs and are proud to be here. We reward talent and excellence with our flagship benefits scheme, Croydon Options, allowing you to enjoy a healthy work life balance.

• Generous paid Annual Leave of up to 31 days (eligibility criteria applies)
• Provision to buy up to 10 days of additional annual leave per year (eligibility criteria applies)
• Paid sick pay allowance of up to 6 months’ full pay and 6 months’ half pay (eligibility criteria applies)
• Flexible and Agile working
• Generous maternity leave and family leave provisions
• Unbeatable benefits of being in the Local Government Pension Scheme; which includes employer contributions of 20% (average); “life assurance” (3 years’ salary) and benefit provisions for dependants
• Cycle purchase scheme saving up to 42% (interest free)
• Discounted season tickets for parking in local car parks or an option to cap the daily cost to less than £6
• Interest free travel loans for season tickets
• Interest free loans for discounted annual gym memberships with NI savings of up to 12%
• Discounted nursery with special rates for Croydon council employees
• Benenden’s affordable healthcare at very low monthly payments
• Confidential and free employee assistance programme and access to staff network groups - BAME, Working Carers, LGBT+, Women’s and Mental Health & Wellbeing

Below are further details of just some of our hugely popular benefits

Holidayplus scheme

The holidayplus scheme is an opportunity for you to purchase additional annual leave on top of your usual holiday entitlement, subject to your Line Manager's approval. If you need more time off than normal for any reason, this scheme gives flexibility and choice in the benefits you receive as part of your employment package*

Moreover the cost of the holidays is taken as a monthly deduction from your gross salary. Hence you save on Tax and National Insurance that you would have otherwise paid on that amount.

*eligibility criteria apply

Save money with GymFlex - annual gym and leisure club membership scheme!

As part of your Croydon Options employee benefits, we bring you GymFlex, which allows you to take up an annual gym or leisure club membership using salary sacrifice. The offer applies to over 2500 gyms

Not only do you get a corporate discount rate and national insurance saving of up to 12% (depending on your NI rate), the council will pay the upfront cost of your annual membership and deduct it from your monthly salary over the period of one year.

Cycle Plus and Cycle to Work

Cycling to work is a healthy and sustainable way of travelling - so we want to make it easy for you to get out on the road. We'll pay the upfront cost of a bike and any safety equipment you need. The money is taken from your gross salary each month before tax and NI, meaning you can make big savings of up to 42%* of the value. You can choose your bike from a high range of top brands - either from Halfords or your local independent retailer.

Season ticket loans

We provide an annual season ticket loan for travel by public transport. The ticket cost is then repaid interest free by monthly salary deductions

Fantastic retail discounts

You can buy vouchers or reloadable cards for a range of high street retailers at a discounted price. You can also get great offers on travel and leisure

Affordable healthcare schemes

Benenden Healthcare

You and your family and friends can get extensive health cover from Benenden Healthcare for just £10.25 per month. All members pay the same regardless of age, plus there's no medical required and no exclusions for pre-existing conditions.

Benenden Healthcare includes:

• a specialist 24 hour GP helpline
• up to £1,500 of outpatient cover including prompt local consultation diagnosis and treatment
• treatment and surgical procedures for many conditions
• full cover for costs of treatment at a Benenden Hospital and
• a cancer and TB support service.

Simply Healthcare

With a Simply Cash Plan, a simple monthly payment means you can get cash back on the cost of your healthcare for dental, optical, chiropody treatment and many other alternative therapies

Affordable loans available via Salary Finance*

We understand that sometimes unexpected expenses or financial emergencies crop up – which can result in the use of high interest loans or expensive credit cards.

With Salary Finance you can access:

• Affordable loans repaid through salary: employee loans at affordable rates with higher acceptance than banks. A lower-rate loan could help to pay off your debts, avoid payday loans and credit cards, or cover an unexpected expense.
• Financial education: a range of tips, videos and tools to help you better understand your personal finances, as well as tools for budgeting and saving.

*eligibility criteria apply

Discounted parking with NCP, Q-Park and Council Car Parks for Council Employees

The Council has negotiated various corporate rates with NCP and Q-Park. Employees can also avail a negotiated daily parking rate of £5 per daywith these car parks

Employee Assistance Programme

With ever increasing pressures at work and at home, there are times when we all need some extra support, this is why we have an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) in place to support your total well-being.

Benefits of the EAP

• Free of charge
• Available24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year
• Confidential
• Accessible by phone, email, our website and via instant messaging
• Information on a range of work, family and personal issues
• Up to 6 face to face counselling sessions per issue. Topics need not be work related
• Independent from your employer and completely unprejudiced

Your development

At Croydon we believe that a skilled and committed workforce is crucial to our future success. To deliver council outcomes successfully we need to equip our people with the knowledge and skills they need to operate in a fast paced, ever evolving environment.

We provide a range of learning activities including inductions for new colleagues, management skills development and personal effectiveness training. We continue to develop different options for you to access the learning you need, whether through face-to-face workshops, e-learning or online content.