UK PTO & Benefits

Here's another quick question or two...

Most of the UK job listings I've seen give the basic salary and say "+ benefits."

"Benefits" in the US usually means health, dental, vision, disability, accident, and life insurance. Sometimes other misc stuff like mobile phone credit or gym membership credit. What does "benefits" mean in the UK?

Also, how is paid time off (both sick and vacation time) determined in the UK? In my time counseling UK folks moving to the US, most are concerned about ending up with less PTO in the US and seem surprised when I say you can negotiate (and negotiate HARD) for it, often getting the same or better than they had in the UK. Is PTO negotiation not done at all in the UK?

Hi Marsbar,

'Benefits' will vary from employer to employer and I'd also suggest that only the biggest corporates will have a very comprehensive list of benefits and the more senior of a level you are, the better the range of them. Some companies will give a smaller or minimal range of them, so there's nothing really consistent overall. Smaller companies will likely have less benefits, and given the current and potential future uncertainty etc, many companies are looking to reduce costs etc.

When it comes to Paid Time Off, then the minimum you'll find in the UK is 20 days per year. I can't remember if that's mandatory though. Again, depending on the company and perhaps the type of role you have, will determine the amount of days off you get. The HR and Payroll dept. will let you know how it's organised. Usually, you'll not hear of new employees negotiating how much holiday entitlement they can have, I'd say when or if it occurs, it'll be a very senior or executive management levels.

I've seen your other recent post about the potential move back to the UK and there's some good responses. Over the years on UKY, I've responded to quite a lot of similar threads to give the perspective I've gained when working in corporate, for USA Software/IT/Consultancies here in London and working with many many Americans who 'came over' via the company or by getting jobs here. Have a search on my username for threads with keywords like 'salary' and 'Cost of Living' etc and hopefully you'll see them to help you. I worked for 3 US companies in their London/UK offices and perhaps the most well known was Intuit, makers of Quicken and TurboTax and Quickbooks. The other two were a little more specialized and the consulting company had some very, very well paid employees (I wasn't one of those unfortunately!!). Without trying to bang my drum too much, I saw directly data which covered such aspects as income levels/salary related aspects, peoples thoughts as they moved over from the US, their thoughts after a few months etc giving me a bit of a unique insight into 'trends'. I have similar insight into those going from the UK to the USA and in addition to the 'work' and 'career' viewpoint, I also have my own family members, relatives and plenty of their acquaintances in similar scenarios, as well as some of my own friends too!

Personally, I'd say to stay in the US overall. This may be against the grain of the UKY forum members view of course but grounded in well reasoned thoughts and experience. Of course, I don't know your exact circumstances and like many who have already, moving to the UK may well be what you want/decide to do - which is fine as well, once you've evaluated everything carefully and properly!

Will keep an eye on your 'moving' thread and add some various aspects for you to consider.

Cheers, DtM! West London & Slough UK!

"Benefits" in the US usually means health, dental, vision, disability, accident, and life insurance. Sometimes other misc stuff like mobile phone credit or gym membership credit. What does "benefits" mean in the UK?

Not sure exactly - I'm a civil servant, so the only 'benefits' I get with my job are 2.5 privilege days on top of my annual leave and a good pension.

Some companies do include things like extra health/dental insurance though, but I'm not sure what else, other than that.

Also, how is paid time off (both sick and vacation time) determined in the UK? In my time counseling UK folks moving to the US, most are concerned about ending up with less PTO in the US and seem surprised when I say you can negotiate (and negotiate HARD) for it, often getting the same or better than they had in the UK. Is PTO negotiation not done at all in the UK?

In terms of paid annual leave, UK employers are legally required to give you at least 5.6 weeks of paid annual leave per year (pro rata)... which basically means, for someone working a 5-day week, they get a mandatory 20 days of leave plus the 8 bank holidays.

See: https://www.gov.uk/holiday-entitlement-rights/entitlement

However, quite a few jobs offer 5 weeks (25 days) of paid vacation per year (effective immediately upon joining the company), plus the 8 bank holidays, giving 33 days total.

As a civil servant, from day 1 of joining the company, I have been entitled to 25 days of paid annual leave + 8 bank holidays + 2.5 privilege days (so 35.5 days total). After 5 years, I got 1 extra week of paid leave per year... so now I have 30 days + 8 days + 2.5 days = 40.5 days per year... which I can take at any time because I work in a 24/7, 365 office and may be required to work the bank holidays. I can also carry over up to 10 days of leave into the next leave year if I don't take it all.

I haven't ever heard of anyone in the UK being allowed to negotiate for extra leave, though in some cases, you can buy or sell your leave days, or take unpaid leave if you need to.

In terms of Sick Pay, you will be entitled to 28 weeks of Statutory Sick Pay, paid by your employer, at £88.45 per week (you need to take at least 4 days off in a row to qualify). Your employer may offer more than that if they offer a sick pay package, but you will not get less.

See: https://www.gov.uk/statutory-sick-pay/overview

We have a list of "benefits". I say that in brackets because most of them aren't worth much at all!
We have Bupa private health insurance - pretty useless because there is no BUPA hospital near here and whilst it will cover some private things, it doesn't cover pre-existing conditions

Cycle to work scheme  (but you can only use Halfords on ours, which is meh)

Childcare vouchers (basically getting childcare at reduced tax rates)

Tastecard (Pretty darn useless here too because none of the restaurants are around here)

Reduced price gym membership (still way more expensive than the council gym)

A health check available at Nutfield Health (for some ridiculous out of pocket fee!!)

We have buy/sell holidays, but it's been pretty much mandated that we don't use it this year

Dental insurance (only worth it if you know you or your family are going to need things like braces or dentures)

The only good thing we get is some money back on your out of pocket medical expenses - which you can take instead of BUPA.

I recently changed jobs and was only able to get 23 days holiday a year (plus 8 bank holidays).  I desperately tried to negotiate more even at a reduced salary with no luck.  They wouldn't bend.

I get private medical care and dental care (high tax on the value of the policy though).  A rather low pension match (my husband works for a smaller company and gets a 10% match which is rather spectacular.  I get a 3% match....   )

My company offers enhanced maternity pay.

We have a gym onsite that is free.

We have a few volunteer days that we can use and still be paid if volunteering for a qualified charity.

I've changed jobs a couple of times in the UK and I find the "benefits" are reduced each time.  My husband's are alright but he's been with his company for 13 years.  New employees get lesser packages.