Employee benefits

As an employee of New forest District Council, you'll enjoy a variety of benefits.

Flexible hybrid working (role dependant)

For the majority of our roles we're adopting a hybrid way of working, mixing both home and office working to help you balance your work and home life.

This will vary depending on individual job roles and there will be some roles which can offer more flexibility than others.

You are welcome to discuss what options might be available at interview.

In addition, we have family friendly policies and there could be flexibility around the hours that you work. 

Annual leave holiday entitlement

We offer a generous annual leave entitlement which includes:

• 22  to 27 days a year depending on the job you do, plus bank holidays and an extra day at Christmas
• additional 5 days annual leave after 5 years service
• family friendly leave including maternity, paternity, adoption and parental leave

Local Government Pension Scheme

You'll also become part of the Local Government Pension scheme. This includes above average employer contributions and a defined benefits scheme.

We have partnered with AVC Wise to offer you Shared Cost AVCs which are additional voluntary contributions you can make to your pension.

Additional Voluntary Contributions (AVCs) are a tax-efficient way to save for retirement. 

They provide an opportunity to supplement your Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) and build up an additional retirement fund.

Cycle to work scheme

This offers you a cost-effective way to purchase new cycling equipment.  

The scheme is run by a salary sacrifice, which means that you won't need to pay tax or national insurance on the cost of your new bike and accessories, saving you between 33.25% to 43.25% on the total cost.  

This reduced cost is simply deducted from your pay over 12 - 18 months.  

Visit www.cycle2work.info for more information.

Employee discounts

You will have access to a variety of employee discounts including:

• national discounts from many high street retailers including supermarkets, stores, restaurants and many more
• discounted membership at Freedom Leisure's New Forest Leisure Centres

Employee wellbeing

We are an inclusive and supportive work environment that enables everyone to do their job to the best of their ability. 

We have an assistance programme including an employee portal and telephone line which offers free, instant access financial, legal and emotional support. This includes up to 6 counselling sessions a year.

We also have further wellbeing support, including action plans to support mental health.

We will make workplace adjustments where necessary for health reasons.

Personal development

We promote continuous learning and development for all employees.

There is a dedicated learning and development site on our intranet.

We run a range of accredited courses in Management Development, Apprenticeships and employees are encouraged to participate.

We also run a range of in-house courses including wellbeing initiatives and line manager briefings.

We will also pay professional subscription fees if they are a required part of your role.

Our culture

We continuously strive to help people do their best by valuing their contributions and listening to what they've got to say about the work they do and by providing a healthy work environment with positive management support and encouragement for all our 780 employees.

We have an Inclusive culture, everyone is welcome and diversity is celebrated.

We are committed to actively supporting good employee relations and have in place collective arrangements for employee consultation and bargaining.

At present we formally recognises three trade unions; UNITE, GMB and UNISON. There are many benefits to joining a trade union and employees are encouraged to discuss this with the appropriate trade union representative upon joining us.

Learning and development

We strongly promote continuous learning and development for all employees.

There is a dedicated learning and development site on our intranet. We also run a range of accredited courses in Management Development, Apprenticeships and employees are encouraged to participate.

We also run a range of in-house courses including wellbeing initiatives and line manager briefings.

We will also pay professional subscription fees if they are a required part of your role.

Appraisal, performance reviews

All employees have a formal annual performance review with their line manager. This process is designed to agree objectives for the coming year, review the previous year and discuss performance and learning and development needs.