Staff benefits update

18 Jun 2020

It's Men’s Health Week and we are highlighting wellbeing support, the Cycle to Work Scheme and Payroll Giving.

This week is Men’s Heath Week and you can access information via the Men’s Health Forum and on the staff wellbeing pages. There is a range of links for pyshical and mental wellbeing and specific support for you during the Covid crisis. Keeping active is so vital for mental health and there are  videos of exercises you can follow at home including Pilates and Tai Chi; a back care video with the University’s sport physiotherapist; guidance for managers and links to key internal and external resources.

Cyclescheme

If you enjoy cycling, The University’s Cycle to Work Scheme helps you access electric bikes, mobility bikes, higher quality bikes and safety equipment.  Under the rules of the scheme, you just need to use the cycle to get to work for at least 50% of the cycle’s usage. This can be for part of the journey, eg. to a train station. In the interim you can use if for leisure and exercise to look after your physical wellbeing. The full eligibility criteria and how to apply can all be found on our Cycle to Work pages.

Payroll giving

Despite these difficult times, you are still signing up to make one off or regular donations to your favourite charities via the Payroll Giving Scheme. A monthly gift of £10 from your take-home pay to your chosen charity will be automatically boosted to £12.50 for a 20% rate tax payer and £16.66 for a 40% rate tax payer.  This means your charity receives your donation, but also the amount that you’d normally pay in tax at no extra cost to you.  Giving this way helps your charity receive regular financial support and helps smaller charities in particular, as many do not have the resource to claim back Gift Aid.  Over £11,800 was donated alone last month to local, national and international causes. Your continued kindness is helping support many charities who have experienced a massive drop in funds due to the cancellation of events due to social distancing.  

Discounts

You can still make savings via UniDiscounts and still have free access Wider Wallet via our secure portal - just register usig the secure code provided. There are featured offers of the week and a range of digital codes that help with important purchases, supermarket shopping and planning holidays for later this year or next year.

Keep well and keep up to date with all your benefits and wellbeing options.