Our staff can enjoy generous benefits throughout their career and into their retirement. From discounts on your shopping to a competitive and guaranteed pension and generous annual leave, a job with Mersey Care sets you up for life.

Core benefits

Full time employees receive 27 annual leave days each year. This increases to 29 days after five years' service and 33 days after 10 years. Purchasing of annual leave is also available on request. This does not include bank holidays, which are rewarded additionally depending on work patterns.

We also offer adoption leave, special leave, career breaks and returning to work after retirement.  Reservists or cadet forces are entitled to 10 days paid leave (pro rata for part time) per annum.

The way many of us work has changed over the past few years. Many positions are now offering a hybrid working model, allowing staff to share their time between home and the office, creating a more manageable work-life balance to suit you.

Everyone who works for the NHS contributes to the pension fund, unless you have chosen to opt out, and the majority of the workforce pay between five percent and 14.5 percent of their pay, depending on their annual salary. The Government also contributes 20.6 percent of each NHS worker’s annual salary into their pension pots, which are fully protected against inflation and guaranteed.

More information about the NHS pension scheme can be found in a document provided by NHS Employers and further information can be found on the NHS Pensions website.

How to draw your NHS pension and earn an additional income

The NHS faces a significant workforce problem. There’s simply not enough staff available to meet the demand for services. New services are opening, and we need more staff to provide care for our communities.

If you want to finish working and enjoy a well earned retirement, then that’s great and we wish you well and thank you for all you’ve done. But if you want to come back to work, we want to hear from you and can help you make the right decision financially.

We can help you draw your pension and return to work without affecting your pension benefits. You will be able to draw your pension as usual and return to work and earn additional money.

Finding out whether you are eligible to return to work without affecting your NHS pension can be complex, but here are some simple rules:

  • All staff can speak to their line manager about returning to work before they retire and apply to return after they have retired. If they are supported, they can be re employed and draw their pension and salary
  • Generally, there are no restrictions on how much you can earn – you can keep your full pension
    and re employment salary, even if you work full time
  • Anybody considering returning to work after retirement must take a contract break of 24 hours between retiring and returning and should not work more than a maximum of 16 hours in your first month of re employment. You can work the hours you and your manager agree without your pension benefits being affected.

There are three groups of staff who are required to limit their post retirement earnings if their NHS pension is to remain unaffected. They have all earned enhanced pension so their post employment earnings are limited without affecting their pension. They are:

  • Speical class nurses, midwives and health visitors and mental health officers aged 55 to 60
  • People who have retired through ill health
  • People who retired in the interests of the efficciency of the service.

The above restrictions were suspended during the COVID-19 pandemic but they are expected to be reintroduced in October 2022. Those affected by the restrictions should ensure their post retirement earnings, including their pension, does not exceed their earnings prior to retirement.

Anyone interested in returning to work after retirement, shoudl speak to their manager. We can help you work through the guidance and show you how to draw your pension and return to work in a way that suits you best.

All our members of staff who work in clinical areas will be provided with uniforms free of charge.

The uniforms help our clinical staff look more professional in appearance, improve infection, prevention, and control and instil a sense of pride in their work.

They also help our patients, service users and carers easily identify which health professional is providing their care.

Ahead of starting employment at the Trust, staff will be issued with a choice of a dress and smart scrub sets. The quantities of uniforms issued will be based on the number of contracted hours.

 

Mersey Care values the contributions of all our members of staff and volunteers and have an ongoing recognition scheme, which includes monthly employee and team of the month awards, a thank you system and an annual awards celebration.

More information on this and other staff benefits will be provided during your induction period. 

Child Care Vouchers

You can get up to £500 every three months for each of your children to help with the costs of childcare. Tax free childcare or childcare vouchers are available to Trust employees (staff registered on a scheme or registered and TUPE transferred to the Trust) registered on a scheme before 4 October 2018.

Bus Travel Discounts

Mersey Care offers support with buying an annual discounted season bus travel passwith the cost spread over 12 months with a deduction from salary.

Electric Vehicles 

Electric Vehicles (EV) charging and free car parking is available at selected sites.

The Life Rooms

Our unique Life Rooms sites are available for our employees and local communities, providing a safe and welcoming space to help improve mental and physical wellbeing, with advice on housing, employment, lifestyle and much more.
 

Staff discounts

Our staff can benefit from a wide range of savings all year round. Find out about these amazing benefits below:

Tired of sitting in traffic on your way to work? Why not cycle? It’s also a great way to keep fit. Spread the cost of new bikes, bike racks, and the latest tech to plan new exciting cycle routes through the online Bike Shop! Plus save up to 37 percent on the latest range of bikes, hi-vis clothing and safety accessories for your commute to work with our Cycle to Work Scheme.

New cars can be expensive, but Mersey Care staff are able to save money using one of our partners, NHS Fleet Solutions. They have many special offers which are updated regularly.

Order the latest tech, computing, mobile phones, TVs, home appliances and much more and spread the cost through monthly salary reductions with no credit checks.

  • For over 20 years, Health Service Discounts has connected NHS staff to incredible deals and discounts at the biggest brands. Their discounts cover a wide range of industries, such as retail, travel, broadband, finance, motoring, and much more.

Why join? The scheme is used by over 1.8 million NHS and healthcare workers, and it is entirely free to join and use. From exclusive deals to incredible discounts, we want you to save on things you need (and love). 

Blue Light Card provides those in the NHS, emergency services, social care sector and armed forces with discounts online and in store, teaming up with small and large companies across the UK. Savings can be made on holidays, cars, days out, fashion, gifts, insurance, phones and much more!

Simplyhealth gives cash back on your healthcare bills for dental check-ups, prescription glasses, physio and much more.

Microhive

Mersey Care is now part of Microhive (formerly Pennies from Heaven), a payroll giving scheme that allows our staff to simply and easily raise money for our new Mersey Cares charity – without doing a thing.

Your small change can help us make a big difference to workforce wellbeing.

The Microhive scheme allows you to voluntarily round-down the pennies in your pay each month to exclusively support our workplace wellbeing.  

Donations received through Microhive - never more than 99p per monthly pay packet – go exclusively towards supporting wellbeing initiatives for staff and volunteers across our Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust. 

Some of the most recent wellbeing initiatives supported by Mersey Cares include: 

Wellbeing Through Wildlife,  a social prescribing programme in partnership with Knowsley Safari Park to support workplace wellbeing. It gave teams across the Trust an opportunity to take some time away from their roles to connect with nature, and enjoy close up wildlife encounters.

Wellbeing on Wheels – an innovative outreach programme featuring a double-decker bus transformed into a mobile wellbeing lounge. This initiative allowed the Occupational Health and Wellbeing Team to connect with staff across five Mersey Care sites to tell them more about their wellbeing offer and provide a much-needed opportunity for relaxation and recharging.

Mersey Care’s ‘Pause for Thought’ Menopause Campaign – our innovative menopause campaign aimed at raising awareness and highlighting the importance of menopause in the workplace.

The campaign seeks to create a positive cultural shift and has been recognised for its impact, being shortlisted in three categories at the Menopause Friendly Employer Awards 2024: ‘Most Open Culture’, ‘Best Engagement Approach’, and ‘Best Trained Workforce’.

The charity continues to fund the delivery of this campaign between 2023-2025 including the provision of essential products, outreach to staff and a series of educational training sessions and seminars across our NHS trust.