About Norwich City Council

The council was established in 1974 following the implementation of the Local Government Act 1972, which replaced the county borough of Norwich. Since then the city has been governed by two tiers of local government. The upper tier is Norfolk County Council, which manages strategic services such as schools, social services and libraries across the county of Norfolk. The lower tier is Norwich City Council, which manages local services such as housing, planning, leisure and tourism.

Why work for Norwich City Council

Pay and benefits

We offer our employees a competitive pay and benefits package. Whether you're looking for a new career, promotion, flexible working opportunity to fit with your home life or a sideways move - we have a variety of challenging employment opportunities for everybody.

Norwich City Council offers the opportunity to work with great people who are passionate about promoting Norwich and the services the council provides. We also offer good career prospects with competitive rates of pay, generous holidays and working arrangements to suit all lifestyles.

Pay

Norwich City Council is proud to have Living Wage accreditation from the national Living Wage Foundation. We are committed to paying and promoting living wage which is defined as a level of income required to maintain a safe, decent standard of living and the ability to save for future needs. The minimum hourly rate of pay for all jobs within Norwich City Council meets the living wage rate for outside of London, details can be found on the Living Wage Foundation website.

Pension scheme

All employees are eligible to join the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) which became a salary average pension scheme from the 1 April 2014. Employee’s contributions range from 5.5% to a maximum of 12.5% (dependent on salary – employees paid below £34K pay up to 6.8%) of the pay received.

Annual leave

Paid holiday entitlement starts at 25 days per annum and increases with length of service to a maximum of 32 days per annum. This is pro rata for part-time employees.

In addition, there are eight public holidays and an additional statutory day leave at Christmas.

Work-life balance - flexible employment

In the majority of our service areas we operate flexible working hours to carry out duties during a range of hours. This is subject to the business needs of each individual service. The majority of our employees are able to participate in the flexi-time scheme and if approved by your manager this may result in two flex leave days in a month where hours have been accrued.

We also offer a variety of flexible working arrangements, enabling eligible employees to apply to change the way they work:

• You can apply for any council position advertised (unless otherwise stated) on a full-time or part-time basis.
• We are also open to requests for term time or annualised hours working arrangements
• Compressed working hours (this allows you to work your total weekly hours over fewer working days).

All of the above are subject to the needs of the organisation and to the agreement between the manager of the service and the employee, taking into account the circumstances of that particular job.

Sickness

If you are unwell, entitlement to sick pay is determined by length of service within local government, as detailed:

• During first four months of service – one month’s full pay
• During first year, after four months service – one month’s full and two month's half pay
• During second year of service – two month’s full and two month's half pay
• During third year of service – four month’s full and four month's half pay
• During fourth and fifth years of service – five month’s full and five month's half pay
• After five years’ service – six month’s full and six month's half pay

Family friendly policies

Norwich City Council operates not only a maternity support leave scheme, paternity leave and an adoption leave but also has policies for parental leave and paid time off for care of dependants, which may be taken in specific circumstances.

Health and wellbeing

Norwich City Council supports its employees through the provision of occupational health and employee assistance support. The occupational health contract enables us to support employees with health issues that are affecting their attendance and work, this may be through reasonable adjustments or the provision of specialist equipment.

Through the employee assistance programme, we provide confidential support, counselling and legal or financial information to employees relating to work or personal issues. Family members over the age of 16 years living in the same household can also access the service.

Other wellbeing activities are also provided such as free flu vaccinations, personal health checks and free eye tests for VDU users in-line with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) guidance.

Learning and development

All new employees will undertake an induction programme at the start of their employment. Following this, the council continues to invest in its employees to support the development of skills needed to perform effectively in their position both now and in the future.

Learning and development opportunities can include:

• Good Manager Programme - designed for new or existing managers and team leaders, or employees who have potential and aspire to be future managers and team leaders.
• Access to the council's learning system which provides a comprehensive suite of courses and e-learning opportunities.
• Competency frameworks - providing employees with a clear link between individual and organisational performance.
• Career grades - career or personal development paths to support development in key areas such as planning.
• A blended learning approach including face-to-face courses and e-learning.
• Payment towards professional fees while studying.

Travel

Norwich City Council is a member of the First Bus Corporate Travel Club (CTC) which provides its employees with a discount of up to 20 per cent on season tickets.

Norwich Park and Ride (operated by Konectbus) offers Norwich City Council employees a 10 per cent discount on adult annual tickets.

Abellio Anglia offer Norwich City Council staff a 10 per cent discount on season tickets (anything from monthly tickets to annual). They also offer discounted books of Carnet tickets - employees can buy 10 tickets for the price of nine.

The council also provides a cycle to work scheme which provide cycles and safety equipment to employees as a tax-free benefit. It allows you to spread the cost and make savings because the salary sacrifice reduces your gross pay. This, in turn, reduces the amount of income tax and National Insurance that you pay each month. Savings are dependent on your personal tax code.

Equal opportunities policy

The council is committed to a policy of equality opportunity in employment, in recruitment and the services we provide. Applications are considered on the basis of their suitability for the post regardless of sex, gender reassignment, race, ethnic origin, disability, age, marital status, domestic responsibilities, sexual orientation or religious affiliation. People with disabilities are guaranteed an interview provided they are suitably qualified and/or experienced.

Candidates will be considered for shortlisting on the factual information on their application form. Therefore it is important to give as much detail as possible including information about experience gained outside employment.