Perks and incentives for staff

Understand what non-financial rewards and incentives you can give staff, so you can show your appreciation and stay compliant.

Last reviewed on 18 April 2023
School types: All · School phases: All
Ref: 2101
Contents
  1. Speak to your LA or trust before making changes 
  2. Consider inexpensive benefits and incentives
  3. Establish a staff social fund
  4. Staff perks/benefits package: examples from schools

Speak to your LA or trust before making changes 

This article offers suggestions of perks or incentives you could use. 

Before changing your pay policy to implement anything in this article, it’s a good idea to speak to your local authority (LA) or academy trust first, and seek legal/HR advice to check your policy is water-tight.

Also note, you may need to report any benefits or expenses you provide to employees, and pay tax or National Insurance on them. Find out if you need to here.

Consider inexpensive benefits and incentives

You'll find it difficult to justify spending your school’s budget on non-financial rewards or perks to auditors, your LA or the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). This was explained by representatives from the DfE's