Employee Benefits
At Test Valley Borough Council we recognise that our employees are key to realising our vision - to be an organisation of excellence committed to improving the quality of life of all the people of Test Valley.
We aim to be an employer of choice, employing and retaining good people with a reputation as a great place to work. We therefore offer a range of benefits and working arrangements to support employees in both their working and personal life.
1. Flexible working
We aim to be a modern and progressive employer, one which supports its people to optimise their time and balance work with supporting their well-being and other aspects of their lives.
We offer a range of flexible working options, where roles allow, such as part-time working and agile working. Agile working enables people who work in office roles to work in a flexible way, mixing their time working in the office with working at home or another agreed location. In some roles there may also be some flexibility on when you work your contracted hours. The needs of the business and customers comes first and the ability to work in a flexible and/or agile way is dependent on your job role and the needs of customers, the wider team and the service you work in. Arrangements for agile working are flexible and may change over time as the needs of the role or service change.
We try to be as flexible as possible, where service needs allow, to offer different ways of working to meet the work-life needs of our employees and to support those with other priorities or caring responsibilities. We employ people on a range of full time and part time contracts and make flexible working hours available where possible.
2. Local Government Pension Scheme
We’re all aware of how important it is to save for retirement and all TVBC employees aged between 16 and 75 who work for us for three months or more are automatically enrolled into the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS). Monthly deductions are taken based on employee salaries and we also make a monthly contribution to the Scheme.
3. Holiday
We offer generous annual leave allowances which are based on an employee’s grade and their length of service in Local Government. In addition to bank holidays, holiday entitlements are:
Grade Basic After 5 years After 10 years After 15 years 1 - 8 25 days 28 days 30 days 32 days 9 - SM3 26 days 29 days 31 days 34 days Chief Executive/
Directors 28 days 31 days 33 days 36 days
4. Free parking
Free parking is available for all of our staff whilst at work and this is on-site at most of our locations.
5. Leisure facilities
All our employees can use the council-managed ‘Places Leisure’ centres at a discounted rate of £31.50 per month for the full premium membership on a 12 month contract. You can also receive 50% off pay as you go swim, gym and classes.
6. Cycle to Work Scheme
This scheme allows employees to sacrifice a proportion of their gross salary to pay for a bicycle and any associated safety equipment.. Salary sacrifice is made after any pension contribution but before tax and NI deductions are made so a saving is made on purchase.
7. Professional Fees
Where a job requires membership of a professional body, TVBC will reimburse the annual subscription fee paid by employees in that role.
8. Employee Support
We know that it’s impossible to go through life without facing problems from time to time. We recognise that there may be occasions when employees need some additional help. That’s why we provide a comprehensive package of support to our employees, including:
Access to independent trained counsellors to talk to, face to face An Employee Assistance Programme, offering access to telephone counselling and a wellbeing App/ website, containing lots of helpful advice and tools to promote your wellbeing. A team of internal Mental Health First Aiders, who are trained to simply provide a confidential-listening ear, or to signpost to specialist services, where that’s needed.
9. Health Cash-Plan
We have an arrangement with Simply Health which allows our employees to pay for a health cash-plan directly from salary to help budget for the costs of dentist, optician, physiotherapy, etc.
10. Discount Scheme
KAARP offer a range of discounts to our employees on a variety of products and services including entertainment, shopping, holidays, insurance and motoring.
11. Life Assurance Scheme
We provide a free Life Assurance Scheme for all employees under 75 from your first day of employment. Further details are available from HR.
Last Updated: 17 June 2025