Wellbeing and Benefits

Your wellbeing matters to us. Here at Oldham Council, we have a wide range of wellbeing and support services available to our employees and we’re always evolving our offer to make sure it provides the best possible support. 

In addition to having a supportive and enabling workplace, where you will have quality supervision from your manager, we also offer our Employee Assistance Programme, which provides you 24-hour access to advice and support when you need it. 

Benefits 

We know the right salary and benefits are important to you. That’s why we offer a competitive salary and pension from the moment you join us, complemented by clear progression routes to help you progress your career and earnings to support your ambitions. We also offer a very attractive £2,000 retention payment, to reward you for your dedicated service to Oldham and a market-leading AVC option for additional retirement savings. 

Alongside that, you’ll have access to high quality learning and development, discounts at major retailers, access to our Cycle to Work scheme, a generous holiday entitlement, our commitment to work/life balance, lots of opportunities to ensure your voice is heard and your ideas brought forward, and recognition through our staff awards and long service scheme. What’s not to love? 

Hybrid and flexible working 

Traditional working patterns might not be ideal for everyone, particularly where families are concerned, so we offer a variety of flexible and hybrid working options including family-friendly patterns such as part-time and flexible start/finish times supported wherever possible. We also offer mobile working technologies to support you with our blended approach to working. 

Annual Leave  

When you join Oldham you will start with a generous base annual leave entitlement of 25 days. This will increase again after 5 and 10 years of service, while you also have the option to purchase additional days to ensure you have the opportunity to take more if you want them. 

Travel  

We offer a great range of travel benefits when you Choose Oldham. This includes a car allowance if you need to drive your own vehicle to fulfil the duties of your job, mileage expenses and season ticket loans for annual bus and Metrolink tickets. We also have a flexible parking pass which can be used in our Town Centre car parks and a Cycle to Work scheme. 

Recognition 

Each year we hold our annual staff awards ceremony which allows the council to express our gratitude and celebrate the outstanding efforts of colleagues who work with a resident focus every single day. 

We also recognise and celebrate those who have reached significant milestones through our Long Service Awards. 

Learning and Development 

We recognise the importance of the continual development and growth of staff, and offer a comprehensive range of learning and development opportunities to help staff develop new skills and progress in their career throughout their working time here. 

Professional fees 

We know this career can be challenging, and it’s unfair that you should have to pay for your professional fees. That is why we offer full reimbursement of your Social Work England Professional Registration Fees, which are currently £90 per year. 

Vivup staff benefits platform 

We have partnered with Vivup to offer a one-stop-shop for all of our employee benefits, including access to a huge range of savings and discounts for shopping, entertainment, eating-out, eating-in, travel, motoring and local discounts. As well as that we also offer salary sacrifice schemes for Cycle to Work, Bike Shop (bikes for leisure purposes or bike accessories) and Home and Electronics (technology and home appliances from the UK’s leading retailers).  

Separate to this, the council also offers a discounted Gym Membership with Oldham Community Leisure.