Working for CQC: employee benefits

Page last updated: 25 November 2022

We want everyone at CQC to feel valued and supported. When you join us you can access a wide range of benefits and schemes.

Time off
Flexible working
Pension
Training and development
Health and wellbeing
Travel and shopping discounts
Payroll giving
Family friendly policies

Time off

27 days annual leave

We offer 27 days of leave per year for all new starters on a permanent contract. After three years this increases to 29 days. After five years you can take 32.5 days.

Bank holidays

You get time off for bank holidays too. This is usually 8 days per year, but depends on national holidays.

Special paid and unpaid leave

We know that you may need to take time off for emergencies, medical appointments or other significant life events. To support you we have a range of special leave policies, including:

parental or dependent leave
compassionate leave
time off for medical appointments
sick leave.

Flexible working

We know that work-life balance is important. So we want to support you to work as flexibly as possible.

Home, office and hybrid working

Depending on the requirements of your role, you might be able to work:

from home
from one of our offices (we have locations in several cities including Leeds, London and Newcastle)
from both (hybrid working).

If you are an office worker, you can choose to work from home on a regular basis.

Home workers can work from our offices when you want to. For example, you might want to host a meeting, or to work on a project with colleagues in person.

We give all our home workers equipment to work from home safely too.

Flexible hours

After 26 weeks of service with us you may be eligible for flexible working. This depends on the suitability of both your role and personal circumstances, but could include:

job sharing
part time working
compressed hours.

Pension

We want to help you plan for your future. When you start in your new role with us you will join the NHS pension scheme. Or, where appropriate, Nest, the government-backed workplace pension scheme.

Training and development

We value personal development and we want you to succeed and progress in your career.

When you join us, you can access our wide range of in-house learning materials. This includes videos, online courses, guidance and self-study packs.

If you have a permanent or fixed-term contract with us, you can also ask for support to take other relevant courses. This could include help with costs or study leave.

Health and wellbeing

24-hour employee assistance programme

Our employee assistance programme offers confidential 24-hour counselling for you and your family.

Free, unlimited access to Headspace

We offer free, unlimited access to Headspace, a popular meditation app. It has hundreds of guided exercises for meditation, sleep, focus, and movement.

Sports discounts

You will be eligible for:

membership of CSSC (Civil Service Sports Council)
discounts and offers from My Gym.

Travel and shopping discounts

Cycle to work

Keen and aspiring cyclists can take part in our government backed Cycle to work scheme. It allows you to lease a bike and cycling equipment up to a value of £5000. Benefits include:

improve your health and fitness
save money on your commute to work
pay instalments from your pre-tax salary, so you can get more for less
buy the bike and equipment for a small fee at the end of the lease period.

Car leasing

When you join us, you can access a salary sacrifice car leasing scheme run by NHS Fleet Solutions. You can use it to lease a car for up to three years.

This benefit is only available to permanent employees.

Season ticket loan

Once you successfully pass your probation period, you can apply for a season ticket loan. This is a salary advance that pays for your travel to work on public transport. Annual tickets cost less than paying weekly or monthly, so you save money over the course of the year.

The loan is interest free, and you can borrow up to £5000 depending on the cost of your season ticket. You pay the loan back directly from your salary. This happens over an agreed period of no longer than 12 months.

Shopping discounts

You can save money with discounts for high street retailers, supermarkets, restaurants and more. These can be online offers, SMS codes, discounted gift cards or shopping vouchers.

You can also access Fleet Home Electronics. This is a salary sacrifice scheme that helps you save money, and spread the cost, of home technology items.

Payroll giving (also called give as you earn)

Payroll giving is a tax-free way to give money to your favourite charities. It means you give more, but it costs you less. Simply tell us which charities you want to support and how much you want to donate. We then deduct those regular payments from your gross pay.

Family friendly policies

We want to support all of our colleagues who choose to have babies or adopt.

Maternity and adoption leave

You can take up to one year of maternity or adoption leave. If you meet the minimum length of service with us, we offer:

26 weeks of leave at full pay
a further 13 weeks with statutory maternity pay (SMP) or statutory adoption pay (SAP)
the remaining 13 weeks as unpaid leave.

Partner support leave (also called Paternity leave)

If you have completed 12 months of service you can take 3 consecutive weeks of partner support leave at full pay. You must use this within 56 weeks of your child's birth or adoption date.

Childcare support

You can apply for tax-free childcare support through the government led scheme.

Parental leave

We offer up to four weeks of unpaid parental leave per child each year. You can take up to 18 weeks in total before your child's 18th birthday.