More than the pay
At Black Country Healthcare, you can be sure of a salary to match your ability and responsibilities, and every opportunity to progress. You’ll also be automatically registered with the NHS Pension Scheme (unless you choose to opt out) – one of the most generous in the UK.
We want to attract the best people. That’s why we offer a whole host of other benefits – including relocation support for those moving to the Black Country to fill some of our roles.
Annual leave
Your annual leave allowance increases the longer you work for us:
- Initial entitlement: 27 days plus 8 Bank Holidays
- After five years: 29 days plus Bank Holidays
- After ten years: 33 days plus Bank Holidays
There is also the opportunity to purchase additional annual leave if you wish. If you work part time, your leave is reduced in line with the number of hours you work.
Flexible working
We offer flexible working through job-sharing, reduced, condensed or term-time hours. Home-working is also available in some roles, as are flexible start and end times, and time off for public or trade union duties.
Staff Wellbeing Offer
At Black Country Healthcare, we have a dedicated Staff Wellbeing Team including our internal staff talking therapies service, Staff Support. You can read more about our Staff Support service and the positive effects it has on our staff in the following article: The impact of the Staff Support Service at Black Country Healthcare
Our wellbeing offer at BCH also offers regular wellbeing drop-in sessions for staff and managers, a range of staff benefits and other helpful resources when dealing with both work and personal situations.
Special deals and discounts
As an employee of our Trust, you and your family will have access to special discounts on a wide range of goods and services from well-known brands – including shops and leisure attractions.
The Trust is signed up to Vivup, a UK leading employee benefits provider. All staff can visit the website at any time: https://www.vivupbenefits.co.uk/ to register for a free account and see what is available at your fingertips.
Please note that currently work is being done to merge the Vivup platforms, so currently you will need to choose the Trust you previously worked for (BCPFT or DWMH), but the offers are the same on each platform and we expect this to be merged successfully by mid-September.
Registering for Perks at Work will give you access to free products, exclusive discounts and priority access to their Community Online Academy, which delivers live-taught, online classes every Thursday.
You can register for free here: http://www.perksatwork.com/nhs.
Avanti Travel Insurance is giving 21% off base price to all NHS staff, friends and family for keeping our loved ones and the public safe. NHS heroes need a relaxing holiday, and our policy can give you just that with COVID-19 Cover as standard & FCDO Cover add on for trips to all but essential travel countries.
Use discount code HERO21 with a valid NHS email address when booking.
Transave is a not-for-profit co-operative offering instant access savings direct from your pay.
TransaveUK is a not-for-profit finance organisation offering salary-deducted savings accounts and loans.
Decide how much you want to save every month and the funds will be deducted direct from payroll and transferred to your savings account. Transave pays a competitive rate of interest averaging 2%, but you can still withdraw your savings at any time without penalty. It’s an easy way to set money aside for holidays, Christmas or any other savings goal.
Once you are saving regularly you can also apply for a personal loan of up to £20,000.
Regular Savings Account
Save from £5 per month direct from payroll and you are free to alter the amount you save regularly at any time. You can also boost your savings by adding lump sums into your account.
As long as your savings are not acting as security on a Transave loan you can withdraw them at any time without penalty. Funds will normally be credited to your bank account on the same day if requested before 1PM.
Because Transave is not-for-profit organisation any profit we do make is returned to members in the form of a yearly ‘dividend’ on savings averaging 2%. This is currently much more competitive than the returns on easy-access savings paid by the high street banks.
Savings with Transave are protected up to £85,000 by the UK government’s Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS).
Family Savings Account
Family savings accounts can be opened in a child’s name with the adult member acting as a trustee.
Payments into the account can be made by payroll deduction, direct debit or lump sum. Adults living at the same address can also apply to open a family account.
Loans
Members can apply for up to three times the amount in their savings to a maximum of £20,000. Your savings then act as security on the loan and cannot be withdrawn as long as your loan balance exceeds your savings balance.
There are no set-up fee’s, hidden charges or penalties for repaying the loan early and loans are covered by our bereavement fund at no additional cost to the member.
The success of the loan application is based upon your ability to afford repayments and your savings record. However, unlike some other lenders, we do not simply rely on credit scores when considering your application or automatically reject it if you have had financial problems. Equally, we will not encourage you to borrow more than you need or can afford.
Once your loan agreement has been signed and agreed, we aim to credit the funds to your account within ten banking days.
Members can apply for a loan up to £1,000 as soon as they have opened a savings account with Transave as well as any existing members who do not currently have a loan outstanding with us. This product will charge significantly lower interest rates than are available from Payday and other short-term loan providers. Repayment plans are affordable and flexible, you can choose to pay off your loan over 1, 2 or 3 months for loans up to £500 and over 1 to 6 months for loans between £500 and £1,000.
If your loan application is approved before 1PM it will also normally be paid into your bank account on the same day.
For more information and to join online, visit the website or if you have any questions, you can go directly to the Help Centre.
Your new employee benefit Pension Support Service (PSS) is now available to all staff.
Here are the key points:
- To access the site click here – this can also be accessed on your smartphone, tablet and PC at home.
- It is free to use and exclusive for all staff.
- It’s a new and easy to use website, where you can find details on the latest topics such as the two NHS pensions, pension taxation, how much you contribute and what you get for your money.
- You can even check it just to remind yourself of the basics of your pension scheme.
- It provides up-to-date and relevant information for you on the NHS pension scheme and the changes that will may affect you.
- Most importantly in addition to information, PSS gives you access by phone, email and face-to-face appointments to independent specialised medical advisors to help you with your personal financial situation.
This service went live on Friday 18 June. Please register, log in and check out the website from work or home.
The employee-paid Health Cash Plan that works as hard as you do. We believe that good health and wellbeing is directly linked to happiness, so we've teamed up to offer you a discounted Health Cash Plan.
Paycare
How can a Paycare plan help me?
A small monthly fee protects you against everyday healthcare costs, such as visiting the dentist, optician or physiotherapist saving you hundreds of pounds a year.
Reasons to join:
- Money back on everyday healthcare treatments
- 24 hour access to MyPocketGP - A virtual GP surgery
- Confidential EAP Counselling and Telephone Helpline
- Save money on cinema tickets, days out, gym memberships and more
How does it work?
- Pay into your Paycare plan monthly
- Buy services as normal ie optical, dental, chiropody, therapy etc
- Keep the receipt and file a claim
- Claim back 100% of the cost up to your annual limit
Please visit our page for more information including a list of FAQs, a list of our costings and your annual limits, our IPID Document and the chance to apply for your Paycare cover.
For a list of their Cash Plan prices for individuals or families, please visit their website at https://www.paycare.org/. A list of prices can be found here.
The Trust's Car Lease Scheme is currently available through NHS Fleet Solutions. Please visit their website for more info at NHS Fleet Solutions.
The following offer NHS Staff Discount:
- EE - all NHS staff are currently able to get unlimited data with EE by filling in the form at https://nhsunlimited.ee.co.uk/. NHS Staff are also able to get 5x 20% discount codes on their new contracts. With the 5 discount codes you can use one for yourself and give the other 4 to friends or family members. Discuss this in store with the EE Staff member but they will likely ask for your NHS Email address and employee number, and you will input these onto a form which secures the discount.
- Vodafone - All NHS staff are entitled to 15% off your monthly plan, although you do need to pay a one-off £10 'membership' fee to secure this. You apply for the discount or add it to your plan at https://www.vodafone.co.uk/mobile/discounts/vodafone-advantage/nhs
- O2 - All NHS staff can access a 25% saving on the airtime part of their mobile phone plans (not SIM only). There are a few details to this, for example the 25% is off the 'airtime' part but not the total monthly cost, and it only applies to plans with 3GB or above (1GB only get 15% off). Details are at https://www.o2.co.uk/open
As a Trust we have signed up to #DoingOurBit – a collection of online fitness activities created exclusively for the NHS workforce.
The platform is FREE for all staff with the use of your NHS email address, and will continue to be free in the long-term - once registered you can log in and use the sessions whenever you please.
Sessions available range from high impact to low impact, yoga and pilates, and nutrition and hydration, with options to join in by yourself or with others.
To register for an account, visit https://www.fit4thefight.org/nhs-members-area.
StaffBenefits.co.uk offer a range of exclusive discounts and offers to all NHS employees - from companies such as Apple, BMW, Alton Towers, Argos, Illamasqua, GHD, Currys, TOPMAN, O2, EE, Go Ape, Drayton Manor, Hilton Hotels, Waitrose, plus 100s of other local and national companies changing their offers daily.
To take advantage of these offers, visit https://staffbenefits.co.uk/login/blackcountry to set up your free account.
If there are any offers you would like to see which don’t feature on the site, feel free to send your suggestions to register@staffbenefits.co.uk and they will do their best to get the suggested savings on the site.
Dunham McCarthy offer a Free Will Writing Service to NHS Staff
Dunham McCarthy provide Will drafting services entirely free of charge to numerous public and private sector organisations - including Leicester, Wolverhampton, Stoke and Birmingham City Councils, Nationwide NHS trusts, Schools, Fire Service and Prison Service, helping staff members and their partners write their Wills free of charge.
There are no fees involved for the employer, employees or member, ordinarily we would charge £199 to produce a Will, however under this offer all fees are waived and there are no hidden costs. The reason we are willing to provide the service without charge is simple, clients often engage us to help in other areas such as trust drafting, tax planning, powers of attorney and family protection.
Dunham McCarthy is a member of the ‘Institute of Professional Will Writer’s' and aim to encourage people to make their Will at a younger age. In order to achieve our aim we are working with authorities, charities, NHS trusts, School’s and Universities to offer staff or member benefits to employees, by providing an entirely free Will drafting service.
You can view our NHS Staff Employee Brochure which gives details on the offer. More information on the service is available on our website www.dunham-mccarthy.co.uk.
To take the opportunity of the free Will Writing service, please book your initial 30 minute telephone appointment by calling the head office on 01785 336 222.
