Staff benefits update

12 Feb 2019

Valentine’s week is a great opportunity to remind you of some of the great benefits you can access at the University.

Staff discounts

The University provides you with access to a huge portfolio of discounts via a secure staff only portal.  UniDiscounts are the discounts that the University has been directly offered or negotiated for you.  These can help you make significant savings on holidays and home purchases. You also have free access to Wider Wallet a private discount platform that has hundreds of leading high street offers for you to help you with your supermarket shops, clothes, cars and holidays.

Childcare support

We have two on-campus nurseries enabling parents to be able to have their children in nearby during the day.  Due to the popularity of these nurseries there are long waiting lists for places at both nurseries, so it’s important to try to apply as early as possible.  You also have the added benefit of being able to offset fees via our Workplace Nursery Scheme. This HMRC approved scheme enables you to opt to pay your full nursery fees directly from your gross income. You only then pay tax and NI on your salary after the childcare vouchers/fees have been deducted, potentially leading to significant savings.  

Payroll Giving Scheme

Our Payroll Giving Scheme enables you to donate to your favourite charity on a regular or one-off basis by automatic deductions from your monthly pay. This is an exciting time for the scheme as donations to good causes have nearly reached £1 million.

Travel to work

The University provides travel to work options for more affordable travel options and is committed to supporting and promoting travel by sustainable means. There are discounted bus tickets and annual season loans to ease the burden for commuters. Our Cycle to Work Scheme enables you to save money on the purchase of bikes and accessories or just safety equipment only.  

Staff wellbeing

Nothing is more important than your health and wellbeing.  Significant work is taking place to ensure more support for all staff based around the University's Six Ways to Wellbeing.  There is now a dedicated staff wellbeing website, a network of wellbeing champions help promote wellbeing across the campus, a wellbeing calendar provides listings of health days and events throughout the year – these include more workshops, talks and a wellbeing lecture series.  This is being updated continually so keep checking back for updates. All of this is supported by our leading sport, fitness and wellbeing activities and the Be Active programme. There is an app to record sightings of wildlife on campus. In addition Manchester Museum, Whitworth Art Gallery, Martin Harris Centre and St Peter’s House offer wellbeing programmes (and free lunchtime concerts) to give you a wide range of options during the day.

Prize draw

This month you can win a Back to Nature gift box from FriendinaBox. For your chance to win read the wellbeing brief for February.

More information

Please visit Staff Benefits to keep up to date with all the benefits, wellbeing and discounts that are available to you.