Government Benefits & Schemes for Employees
Meeting legal requirements & offering enhanced benefit packages, backed by HMRC.
(must-haves).
- Eye Tests & VDU Glasses.
- Pension Salary Sacrifice & Auto-Enrolment.
- Statutory Maternity Pay.
- Flexible Working Requests.
(with tax incentives).
- Workplace Nursery Benefits.
- Electric Car Schemes.
- Cycle to Work.
Pension Salary Sacrifice
& Auto-Enrolment.
What are the benefits for Employees?
Pension Salary Sacrifice is one of the most efficient ways for employees to pay into their pension. Because it’s a salary-sacrifice scheme, they don’t have to pay tax and NI on the salary they ‘sacrifice’. Some employers may even use some of their businesses’ NI savings to increase their employee’s pension pots.
What are the benefits for Employers?
The National Insurance savings for employers increase with your employee headcount. For our SMEs (those with 100 employees or less), you could save up to £34,500 each year (based on an average salary of £50k with an employee sacrificing the legal minimum contribution of 5%, this figure is for illustrative purposes only).
You can check out your potential savings with our preferred partner, Penfold’s Salary
Sacrifice Calculator.
Setting up a salary sacrifice pension is easier than you think, and it’s a service we can facilitate as part of our employee benefits packages.
Statutory Maternity Pay.
Eligible employees have the right to take 52 weeks of maternity leave. The first 26 weeks of this leave is known as ‘Ordinary Maternity Leave’, and the last 26 weeks is known as ‘Additional maternity leave’.
Leave can only be started 11 weeks before the expected week of childbirth, unless the baby is born prematurely. You must also ensure that your employees take at least 2 weeks of leave after the birth (or a minimum of 4 weeks if they are a factory worker).
Employees can receive SMP for up to 39 weeks;
- First 6 weeks: 90% of their average weekly earnings (AWE) before tax
- Remaining 33 weeks: £184.03 per week, or 90% of their AWE (whichever is lower).
Both tax and NIC must be deducted from these payments.
You can use the GOV.UK SMP Calculator to help you work out your employee’s entitlement.
Company Enhanced Maternity Schemes:
You can pay your employees more than the statutory amount for a fixed period during their maternity leave. You must ensure that your maternity leave and pay policies are clear and easily accessible.
Other statutory benefits to be aware of;
- Statutory Paternity Pay: Paid for up to 2 weeks, starting on a date mutually agreed with your employee. SPP is paid at £184.03 a week (£187.18 from 6 April 2025) OR 90% of their average earnings, whichever is lower. Employees can also split leave into two non-consecutive blocks. You can also choose to offer an enhanced Company Paternity Scheme.
- Adoption Leave: For employees adopting or having a child through surrogacy. Adoption leave lasts up to 52 weeks, the same as Maternity Leave.
- Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): If your employee earns a minimum of £123 per week, they’re entitled to SSP. These payments can be made for up to 28 weeks if they’re ill for four consecutive days or more. SSP is currently £116.75 per week.
- Holiday Entitlement: In the UK, employees are entitled to 5.6 weeks of paid holiday each year, with rolled-up holiday pay allowed for irregular hours or part-year workers from 1 Jan 2024.
Flexible Working Requests.
Modern, forward-thinking companies are beginning to recognise the positive impact that flexible working arrangements can have on their employee’s well-being (and, ultimately, their staff turnover).
Some form of flexibility can be afforded to a wide range of job roles, regardless of whether you’re an SME or a large corporation.
A good employer should also create a flexible working policy to facilitate productive and consistent conversations between managers and their team members.
Do you have to offer Flexible Working Arrangements, and what do
they cover?
Employees’ flexible working requests are considered a ‘Statutory Application’ and can
include a change to;
- Their start or finish times
- The number of hours they work each day/week
- Which days they work
- Where they work (i.e. office or remote).
How do you deal with a new request?
It is your duty as an employer to respond to requests in a reasonable and timely manner, assess the feasibility of the application, discuss suitable alternative arrangements (if necessary), and offer an appeals process.
If you are deemed to have handled a request in an unreasonable manner (without a good business reason), you run the risk of being taken to an employment tribunal.
We recommend you read the Acas code of practice on flexible working requests.
How often can employees request flexible working?
Employees can now make two statutory requests for a flexible working arrangement in a 12-month period; they’re also legally entitled to submit a request from their first day working for you.
Eye Tests and VDU Glasses.
Employers are legally required to provide eye tests to employees who use display screen equipment (such as computer monitors) for specified periods. These rights are protected under the Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations Act 1992.
Employees who use display screen equipment (such as computer monitors) should have access to employer-funded eye tests under The Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations Act 1992.
Who is protected under the Act?
Any employee who uses DSE (Display Screen Equipment) for continuous (or near- continuous) periods of up to an hour at a time, daily.How are the tests covered?
Employees can arrange the test themselves and submit a receipt for reimbursement.
OR
You can contract a preferred Optician to provide the tests for your team
What happens if an employee needs glasses?
If an eye test shows that an employee needs to wear glasses when using DSEs, you have a legal obligation to pay for them.Workplace Nursery Benefit.
Childcare is often one of the biggest outgoings for the parents in your workforce, so offering a scheme that helps them reduce their costs is exceptionally valuable. We partner with Enjoy Benefits to help employees make the most of existing childcare legislation that would be difficult and costly to implement independently, giving them big savings on the cost of childcare through salary sacrifice.
How does it work?
They can use the Workplace Nursery Benefit at their choice of nursery for children up to the age of 5, as long as the average monthly fees are over £1,000.
Why is this a great benefit?
With the cost of living crisis significantly impacting family finances, supporting your employees with impactful salary sacrifice benefits is becoming increasingly important. Workplace nursery benefit schemes can save your employees thousands of pounds on their childcare bills, helping to reduce the pressure on working families.
For your employees;
Big Savings: They can make significant tax and NI savings (between 28-47%) on the full amount of their nursery fees
Very few limitations: The scheme can be used alongside Childcare Vouchers or Tax-Free Childcare
For your company;
Low admin: the entire process is handled by our preferred provider, leaving you free to focus on the bigger picture.
Financial Benefits: reduced tax and national insurance contributions
Staff retention: an employer that places value on family well-being is more likely to retain their top talent (and it’s also a great tool to attract new talent to your workforce!).
Electric Car Schemes.
How does it work?
Employees choose a car from the wide range available from our preferred provider, LoveElectric, and receive a personalised quote based on their age, postcode, and salary. Once they’re happy with the offer, they place an order request online using the account we’ve set up for them. The EV package includes maintenance, insurance, and even tyre cover, all of which are built into a simple monthly payment. LoveElectrric will send you your employees’ order request for final approval, ensuring that all necessary contracts are agreed upon and that your and your employees’ financial interests are safeguarded.Why is this a great benefit to offer?
Ease of set up: Zhoosh will set you up with our preferred partner, LoveElectric. It’s a super easy process and they can usually have you up and running in as little as 7 days.
Affordability: EV schemes offer employees an affordable way to lease an electric vehicle. They can save up to 60% on monthly lease costs while reducing their income tax bill through salary sacrifice.
Savings for your business: you’ll also benefit from reduced National Insurance contributions. It’s a win-win!
Environmentally Friendly Benefit: EV schemes are a super environmentally conscious employee benefit that shows a real commitment to your company’s environmental sustainability goals.
Cycle to Work.
How does it work?
Once you’re set up with one of our preferred providers, your employees can make an application for their cycle loan.
The scheme is run via salary sacrifice, and employers deduct the bike’s charges directly from the employee’s monthly, pre-tax salary. The deductions are made over 12 months, but employees can opt to shorten the term if they’d prefer to pay the bike off sooner.
Why is this a great benefit to offer?
Promote a healthy lifestyle: Cycling to work benefits overall health, including helping employees manage their stress and anxiety levels.
Great savings for your team: Employees can make savings of 28-42% ( on National Insurance and Income Tax via salary sacrifice.
Reduced pressure on parking and congestion: An added bonus if you struggle to find a parking space at the office!
Financial Savings for you, the Employer: save money on your National Insurance contributions.
Maximise Your Savings with Tax Benefits.
Discover how Salary Sacrifice schemes and tax benefits can help your business save more while offering greater value to employees.
From reduced National Insurance contributions to enhanced perks, Zhoosh simplifies the process.
Tax reporting doesn’t have to be complicated. With Zhoosh, any changes are reported to your HR team in real time, keeping your payroll accurate and hassle-free.
Workplace benefits come with clear tax advantages for employees, helping them save more while enjoying valuable perks.
We provide live P11D reports to break down an employee’s tax liability, saving your team time and resources.
Through Zhoosh, your team gains access to Group Insurance, Private Medical cover, and ISAs—benefits typically unavailable to individuals outside of company policies.