Benefits and rewards - Westminster City Council

We offer a range of benefits and wellbeing initiatives, because we believe that a healthy work life balance means you can be at your best for our communities.

  • A work-life balance can make all the difference. That’s why we champion agile working, aiming to create a more dynamic, responsive and human culture.

  • We offer our staff a generous annual leave allowance.

    • 31 days of annual leave plus 8 bank holidays, pro rata for part time staff
    • 1 additional day of leave to be taken on/or around your birthday
    • Employees can carry over up to 5 days unused annual leave into the following leave entitlement year
    • Employees are able to buy extra annual leave days and spread the cost over the remaining months in the same leave year. There are two opportunities per year to buy additional annual leave

  • Each and every one of our people get 16 paid hours per financial year to use on volunteering activities anywhere they choose, so you can support the causes that matter to you.

  • You’ll automatically be enrolled in our generous Local Government Pension scheme. You can still opt out, but as the second highest financial reward Westminster will provide you with, it pays to pay in.

  • We offer interest-free loans on public transport season tickets, allowing you to pay them back in monthly instalments.

  • Our parental leave policies include 6 months full paid and 6 months half paid leave for maternity and shared parental leave. We’re also an ‘Employer with heart’, meaning that employees whose babies are born prematurely (before 37 weeks gestation) will have their fully paid parental leave extended by the number of days their baby was born prior to the due date.

    Our parental leave support programme includes two individual coaching sessions for people going on parental leave. These sessions support you to make an effective personal transition and manage the emotional and psychological aspects of this important stage of your life and career. You have complete flexibility to choose when the sessions happen – they can take place before or during your leave, before you return or even after you return from leave.

  • Employees can hire a bike and accessories for up to the value of £3,000 from a list of local bike retailers or Halfords stores. The value is spread across a period of 12 months and can deliver savings of up to 43%.

  • Our benefits platform (Vivup) offers a great range of savings including but not limited to: IKEA eVouchers – 7% off, Argos eVouchers – 6% off, Tesco eVouchers – 4% off, Currys eVouchers – 7% off, Costa Coffee eVouchers – 10% off. Other offers include Cinema and Sky Store Discounts, 20% off the Fitbit product range, and 22% off a wide range of skincare and beauty products at Look Fantastic.

    The Victoria Privilege Card also gives cardholders to discounts on fine dining, attractions and retail stores in the Victoria area and free events.

    The Active Westminster Card offers fantastic discounts and benefits for staff including free swim, 30% off activities and gym membership from £20pcm (or £200pa).

  • Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is a 24/7 free support tool for our employees and their families.

    You can call up and speak to the EAP about practically anything; from talking to a counsellor to receive mental health support, to obtaining legal advice. Your loved ones can access this support too, they just need to let the person triaging the call know that they are a relative of someone who works for the council.

    Health and wellbeing hub, this is your one-stop-shop for all your health and wellbeing information needs.

    The hub hosts plenty of information and resources as well as signposting to other external sources of support.

    We have dedicated pages to Women’s and Men’s health, the 5 ways to wellbeing, bereavement support, and mental health and wellbeing to name just a few.

    Occupational Health, our in-house team offers advice and guidance to support you no matter what. They offer a range of services including medical referrals, managers support for sickness absence cases and regular wellbeing clinics with qualified nurses.

    Wellbeing Clinics – These take place quarterly: A 30-minute confidential chat with a qualified Occupational Health nurse about your general health and any health concerns you may have.

    Women’s Reproductive Health Policy – Introduced in March 2021 to demonstrate the importance we as a council place, on addressing the topic of women’s reproductive health in the workplace.

    Eye Test & Corrective Lenses – Employees can claim back for an eye test and up to £65 for corrective lenses.

  • We want you to achieve your goals, so we are fully committed to developing your skills and experience and supporting you to succeed both now and in the future. The learning and development that we offer caters for a range of learning styles and offers choice and flexibility.

  • We have developed a culture where great performance and effort is recognised, rewarded and celebrated, and we offer a scheme whereby staff can receive a one-off monetary payment once a year for undertaking outstanding work.

  • We’ll reimburse the cost of one relevant professional subscription each year, allowing you to maintain your industry knowledge and expertise.

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