By Guy Taylor
With energy and fuel prices hitting record highs and inflation rates soaring, many of us are increasingly anxious about our finances. Switching supermarkets, turning the heating down, and making fewer car journeys are obvious ways to tighten our belts. But a few minor financial adjustments before your pay hits your bank account could bring in some sizable savings.
From childcare vouchers to cycle-to-work schemes, employee rewards from Enjoy Benefits can help staff get more from pay cheques, and help businesses save substantial amounts too.
To save you time as well as money, we’ve analysed all the options and selected six of the best benefits, discounts and perks for boosting bank balances and beating the rising cost of living. We’ve ranked them in the order of the savings they offer:
1. Childcare Benefits
The Workplace Nursery Benefit can open the door to thousands of pounds of savings on childcare costs.
How it works: Choose any approved nursery for your children, any children up to the age of 5 can be covered. The tax and National Insurance savings are made on the full amount of your nursery fees, savings of between 32% and 47% can be achieved.
If your monthly nursery fees are £1,000, you can save around £4,200 per year as a higher rate taxpayer and over £2,900 as a basic rate tax payer
Enjoy Benefits can provide Workplace Nursery Benefit even if you have Tax Free Childcare (TFC) or Childcare Vouchers.
2. Discount Club
Save up to 40% on holidays, entertainment, days out and on a whole range of household and leisure spending. There are also year-round savings on leading brands and regular seasonal offers that can add up to potentially thousands of pounds per year.
How it works: Discount Club is considered a ‘Trivial Benefit’ by HMRC. Enjoy Benefits can therefore offer huge discounts, such as 40% discounts on cinema tickets, up to 30% discount on high street stores and no limit on how many times you can save.
Also get big savings on major tourist attractions such as Alton Towers, Madame Tussauds and holidays, and hotels around the world.
3. Cycle to Work Scheme
Get fitter, healthier and more productive while saving money on fuel and public transport. What’s not to love? With Enjoy Benefits’ Cycle to Work scheme you choose your own bike and safety equipment and your employer buys the equipment, hiring it back to you as you repay your employer over 12 months.
Your company will save £138 in National Insurance for every £1,000 they spend on bikes. More importantly, you save on tax and National Insurance on your bike, up to 47%.
4. Healthcare Cash Plan
Claim back the cost of healthcare treatments such as eye tests, dental treatment and physiotherapy.
How does it work? Many of us don’t set aside money on a month-to-month basis to pay towards things like dental costs. In the event of an emergency, or problems are diagnosed during routine check-ups, the financial impact can be considerable.
Healthcare Cash Plan is a type of policy that lets employees claim back the cost of their regular healthcare treatments, such as eye tests, dental treatment or physiotherapy.
When you receive your treatment, you send an image of the receipt to the Healthcare Cash Plan provider and they reimburse you directly. Most claims are settled within 5 working days and the funds are transferred directly into your bank account. There is no medical required to join and the cover is immediate which covers pre-existing medical conditions.
Additional family members can also be included on the health cash plan scheme and children are automatically included Healthcare Cash Plans work alongside hospital treatment insurance or existing Private Medical Insurance to provide more comprehensive cover.
5. Holiday Exchange Benefit
The Holiday Purchase Scheme is as simple as it sounds – either buy or sell a number of days from your holiday allocation.
How it works: If an employee’s current holiday entitlement is 25 days leave per year and they choose to sell 3 days of leave their new entitlement will be 22 days. If an employee chooses to sell holiday there will be an increase in their salary to the value of the number of days holiday they have sold.
It’s important to note that a good work-life balance is important to your wellbeing so it’s important you take your holidays. However, if you find you always have days left at the end of the holiday year this benefit allows you to convert unused holiday to cash (taxed the same as standard pay)
The Holiday Purchase Scheme cannot be used to allow employees to reduce their holiday allowance below the statutory minimum.
6. Technology Benefits
Get access to the latest gadgets with payments that are spread interest free across 12 months.
How does the Technology Benefit work? Salary sacrifice allows you to spread the cost of a new gadget, whether a gaming console or a television. The items are supplied and delivered directly.
The monthly charges are then deducted from your salary and are free of National Insurance contributions. Enjoy Benefits provides all of the information needed for your payroll.
Choose from a range of new technology including TVs, music systems, cameras, printers, computers, tablets, iPads and smart watches.
If you would like to discuss which benefits might work for your business and your employees, please contact us by calling 0800 088 7315 or using our Contact Form.
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