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Working here, pay and benefits

How we work



We think East Sussex County Council is a great place to work. One of the most important things about working here is the knowledge that you’re working to help others and the real sense of achievement and purpose that brings.

While almost every role at the Council is different, there are some core principles we all work to in terms of both what we do and how we do it. These are summarised in what we call the ‘East Sussex Way’:

  • We are customer driven and work with our customers to find the best solutions
  • We have clear objectives and deliver great service
  • We take responsibility and do what we say we will
  • We work together as one council
  • We innovate and find better ways of doing things

We think it’s important to trust and empower our staff to use their judgement and we try not to put bureaucracy in their way.

A forward-thinking approach to new technologies

We embrace new technology and try to harness its capabilities to improve how we deliver services:

  • we use Yammer across all of our corporate departments to enable staff to communicate and share information
  • we use Microsoft Teams so we can keep in touch by instant messaging, video conference and desktop sharing
  • our senior managers host web chats where staff can ask them whatever they want
  • check us out on social media.

Join an agile organisation

Where possible we encourage our staff to work in an agile way. This can mean working at one of our sites with your team, or at home when needed, but always retaining a strong team identity. We will provide you with the technology and equipment, to do your job efficiently from wherever you are. For instance, you can take part in meetings with colleagues at the other end of the county via MS Teams' voice and video, and share your screen and work on documents together.

A culture of learning and development

We support a diverse range of learning and development opportunities for our workforce. We also promote a coaching culture to encourage and embed learning at work because we recognise that some of the most impactful learning happens on the job and by reflecting on it with others.

Find out more about some of the learning experiences we offer by visiting our learning portal.

Explore the career pathways open to you:



Planning for the future

Our People Strategy has been developed to help achieve the people changes needed over the next 3 to 5 years.

East Sussex County Council People Strategy [409.5 KB] [pdf]

Pay and allowances

Salary scales for employees

The County Council employs people on a range of different terms and conditions, the salaries for which can be found in the scales below:

East Sussex Single Status - for staff up to management level

National Joint Council (NJC) for Local Government Officers

Local Managerial Grades

East Sussex Chief Officers

Soulbury Officers

Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) for Youth and Community Workers

Teachers

Apprentices

Claiming Allowances and Enhancements [103.4 KB] [docx]

Related documents

Pay Policy Statement [87.9 KB] [docx] explains the pay and conditions of service for our different staff groups.

Pay multiple [13.5 KB] [docx] portrays the ratio between the median average earnings across the organisation and the highest paid employee.

Pay and reward strategy [105.8 KB] [docx]sets out the key approaches to pay and reward for our employees

Our gender pay reports sets out our gender pay position in line with the Equality Act 2010 reporting requirements;

Gender pay gap report 2021/22 [139.1 KB] [docx]

Gender pay gap report 2020/21 [255.8 KB] [docx]

Gender pay gap report 2019/20 [587.3 KB] [pdf]

Councillors and senior officers

Senior officer structure chart [219.4 KB] [pptx]

Pay and responsibilities of senior officers [5.2 KB] [csv]

Allowances paid to councillors

Trade Union facilities time

Under the Local Government Transparency Code 2015, we have a statutory requirement to publish information about trade unions’ facilities time and cost.

Trade union facility time under the Transparency Code [32.2 KB] [docx]

In addition, we are required to publish similar data under The Trade Union (Facility Time Publication Requirements) Regulations 2017.

Trade union facility time under the Regulations [34.0 KB] [docx]

Flexible working

The County Council recognises the benefits of supporting its staff to work flexibly and has a diverse range of mechanisms to allow service delivery and personal commitments to be balanced:

  • most of our positions have a full-time working week of 37 hours
  • flexi-time allowing variable start, finish and lunch times and occasional days or half-days off
  • flexible working patterns such as nine-day fortnights, annualised hours, term-time working or job-sharing
  • technology which allows people to work from a range of Council offices or from home, reducing travel time and costs
  • career breaks, allowing an extended period of unpaid absence to pursue other interests.

Whether these things apply to any given role will largely be determined by the requirements of the role and its wider team but most can be requested by an employee if it’s something they are interested in.

We offer a generous annual leave entitlement starting at 23 days per year, increasing based on length of service and grade. Employees can also get paid leave for public duties like being a magistrate or military reserve service.

We also offer excellent sick pay entitlements should you fall ill and we have a comprehensive range of maternity, paternity and adoption entitlements for parents.

Employee benefits

As a County Council employee, there is a diverse range of benefits to help and support you during your employment. Please note that most of these benefits are available to all employees but some have specific eligibility criteria.

Discounts and offers for everyday expenses

Our staff benefits sit includes a wide range of offers and discounts to help you make everyday savings on:

  • Shopping and groceries, including discounts with Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco, Waitrose and Asda

  • Department stores like Argos and Amazon

  • Cinema tickets at major chains including Odeon and Cineworld
  • Days out and attractions like Thorpe Park, Chessington, Sealife Centres and Alton Towers
  • Gym memberships
  • Dining and eating out
  • Finance and utilities

Travel

We offer a range of ways to help staff travel to and from work:

  • interest-free loans for season tickets, bicycles, rental deposits and driving lessons, plus competitive loans for vehicles
  • a cycle to work salary sacrifice scheme (as well as secure bike sheds and showers at some locations)
  • car and motorbike leasing
  • car share scheme
  • discounts on bus and train tickets via Easit

Technology

As ESCC is a corporate customer, employees can access exclusive discounts from Dell, Microsoft and O2. Typical savings include:

  • 25% off of airtime plans with 02 open
  • Save 30% on Microsoft Office and 10% on surface devices with Microsoft Home Use Programme
  • Up to 20% off of computers and accessories with Dell Employee Advantage

Pension scheme

Most of our employees choose to be members of the Local Government Pension Scheme which offers an excellent range of benefits, including a career average pension when you retire. You can find out more on the East Sussex Pension Fund website.

Some of our jobs may offer eligibility to alternative schemes; details will be available to applicants.

Employee Assistance Programme

Via our external partner, employees can gain access to free and confidential counselling as well as legal and financial advice to help them in times of need.

Healthcare providers

Our employees are eligible to join healthcare provider schemes such as HSF and Benenden.

Credit unions

Employees are eligible to join the following credit unions, giving access to preferential loan rates and ethical savings options:

We also have access to financial education, savings and loans from Salary Finance.

Give As You Earn

Employees can donate pre-tax from their salary to support charities of their choice.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We take every possible step to ensure that all staff are treated fairly and given equal opportunities and support appropriate to their needs.

We ensure that all employment decisions including those on recruitment, selection, promotion, training and career development, are based solely on job-related, objective criteria.

We expect all staff to share this commitment to equality of opportunity and a range of training is provided to support the development of awareness and understanding.

View our Promoting diversity and equality of opportunity in employment policy [100.7 KB] [docx].

Armed Forces Covenant Employer Recognition Scheme Silver Award 2018

Living in East Sussex

Important services and facilities

Moving house