United Kingdom
Public Sector
34,000+
employee registrations in the first three months
in organisational savings in the same period
Leeds City Council serves the public with an open, honest and trustworthy approach. With 34,000 members of staff on the payroll, they’re one of the largest employers in the region.
The organisation is made up of council administrators, schoolteachers, refuse disposal workers and volunteers – dispersed across the city delivering essential services.
Initially, Leeds City Council (LCC) had these individual employee benefits in place:
However, with 34,000 people spread across different locations, LCC needed a way to centralise their benefits and boost accessibility. The existing setup made it hard to communicate what was available, share updates, or keep people engaged – leaving large parts of the workforce out of the loop.
At the same time, the cost-of-living crunch was putting pressure on staff in different ways. LCC wanted to enhance its offering with practical wellbeing support, but without a clear way to communicate and deliver it, many employees simply weren’t seeing or accessing what was available.
During Covid, a spike in social media use showed that employees were already engaging from their own devices. It showed just how much easier a mobile-friendly platform would be for people to use, wherever they were working across the city.
Being part of the Public Sector and using public funds means that budgets are tight, so they needed a solution that could support employees properly without adding cost to the business.
As part of their enhanced benefits offering, LCC introduced a new Employee Assistance Programme powered by Vivup alongside existing financial and physical support. This helped employees navigate the new pressures many were facing.
With a benefits team of only six, the platform also needed to be easy to run. We supported the launch from start to finish, getting everything live, providing materials to help communicate the benefits internally, and sharing regular insight so LCC could see how the platform was being used.
Support around the rising cost of living was built into the rollout too. A Making Your Money Count resource was added to the platform, pulling together practical ways employees could save money through their benefits.
That sat alongside employee savings tools, helping people reduce everyday costs like supermarket shopping and household bills.
Once the platform was live and communicated to staff, people started using it straight away.
In the first three months, LCC saw:
It was a strong start for a newly launched platform, so LCC kept that momentum going by focusing on engagement and encouraging more employees to make use of what’s available.
Over the same period, LCC also reported organisational savings of more than £100,000. These savings are being reinvested to keep promoting the benefits platform and explore how the offering can be expanded over time.
Savings and discount tools have seen some of the strongest take-up, with employees relying on them to help their money go further as everyday costs keep rising.
The steps Leeds City Council took to improve employee support were recognised externally, with a shortlist spot in the Best Public Sector Benefits category at the 2023 Employee Benefits Awards, Europe’s largest reward and benefits event for the HR industry.
A pretty fitting accolade for putting accessibility, engagement and real-world support at the heart of the employee experience.