Key results

Herefordshire Council had been with Vivup for several years and the relationship worked well. But their annual employee survey made clear that staff wanted more. The council had made a commitment to review and widen the benefits offer, and delivering on that meant finding something better. 

The existing Vivup platform had its limitations: 

"We kept using the word clunky to describe it, whereas Perkbox wasn't clunky at all. Much easier to use." Holly Gammage, L&OD Advisor, Herefordshire Council

Herefordshire Council launched Perkbox in April 2026, bringing together their benefits in a single easy-to-use app. Everything employees needed was now in one place. 

The transition was smooth. The Perkbox team supported through every step and getting staff onto the new platform was straightforward. 

"It was really smooth. It felt really easy from that moment of the first upload going on to that was the launch." 

Onboarding a workforce of 1,570 felt manageable too. 

"It’s so much easier than on the previous platform. It's literally the spreadsheet, load it on, bang it's done." 

With a dispersed workforce across offices and frontline roles, Herefordshire Council knew a single email wouldn't cut it. So, they built a warm-up campaign that ran for weeks before launch day. 

It started with a presentation at an all-staff briefing attended by around 500 colleagues. From there, the team used every channel available: the chief executive's weekly email, Viva Engage posts, the intranet, rolling screens across all offices, direct letters to employees off work, and support from the facilities team to reach people in more remote locations. 

"We utilised as many channels as possible, because with a council you've got people at desks but you've also got frontline staff who aren't always going to see every channel." 

Perkbox's ready-made comms materials made it easier. The council tweaked them to fit their own branding and used them consistently across every touchpoint. Holly's advice to anyone launching? 

"Those resources are really good. I'd encourage anybody launching to use them as much as possible." 

The results came quickly. In the first couple of months, 72% of the council's workforce, over 1,100 employees, had activated Perkbox. That's 3.3 times faster than on the Vivup platform. 

In that same period, employees made 1,400+ Perks redemptions and resulting in £20k+ total employee savings. 

The complaints that used to come in about the old app, people unable to access discounts in-store and login issues mid-transaction, stopped. 

"We're not getting those issues reported to us anymore." 

The admin experience improved significantly too. Flipping between admin and user view is now instant, reporting is clear, and usage data is easy to pull up when leadership asks. 

"From an admin perspective, it's so much easier to use." 

Beyond the numbers, something more meaningful has shifted. The promise the council made off the back of their employee survey, to review and widen the benefits offer, has been delivered. And people have noticed. 

"It makes them feel that actually we've looked at the concerns they had previously and we've taken on board what they've said and they've now got something new out of it. As long as you're improving a product for people, I think that's where you show that they are valued." 

Although not rolled out fully, the council has also taken advantage of the reward feature. Periodic competitions, and weekly giveaways has made the prizes and recognition quicker and easier to administer.   

"Previously we'd buy the Vivup vouchers, whereas this time it's easier and quicker. Our winners receive their rewards through the platform."

For Holly, there are some standout features. 

"If you want to contact the EAP, all you have to do is go into it and press it and it dials it for you. You don't have to find the number, remember the number, dial the number. It's so much easier for somebody that needs support or is in crisis." 

The Culture hub has also proved valuable. The team created resource booklets and uploaded them to the hub, assets that have since found a second life being used across other internal channels too. 

"We've created booklets to go in the Culture Hub to show what our offers are overall. The fact that we created them for Perkbox was a massive benefit to us to use elsewhere." 

The new wellbeing assessments have caught Holly's attention too, a feature she's excited to build into the council's wider wellbeing programme. 

With the platform now embedded and engagement growing, the council's focus is on going deeper: using the wellbeing library to support internal campaigns and signposting employees to relevant content as it expands. 

"With Perkbox continuously widening their library of options, that's a big plus for us. We can then signpost to that and encourage more usage." 

For anyone considering moving to Perkbox, Holly has two practical tips: 

• Use the comms materials. Even if you tweak them to fit your own branding, having a starting point saves time and keeps your messaging consistent. 
• Keep the momentum going with seasonal moments. Tie your internal comms to relevant dates like Father's Day, back to school, boosted perks weeks. It keeps the platform front of mind for people who've already activated and nudges those who haven't to take another look.