Why work for us

One of the best pensions in the UK

The UK’s largest in local government, offering the option to save for retirement in a tax-efficient way.

It is a "defined benefit" pension scheme, and unlike most pensions, it is not affected by how well investments perform.

Instead, your pension is based on your salary and how long you pay into it.
Because of this, the LGPS provides you with a secure and guaranteed income every year when you stop working.

There are lots of other benefits too, including:

• The employer pays 18.5% – a big contribution which is lost if you’re not in the scheme.
• Tax relief on contributions – so it doesn’t always cost what you might think.
• Life cover – three-times your salary as a lump sum if you die in service.
• Ways to top-up your benefits, including shared cost salary sacrifice, meaning savings on National Insurance and Income Tax.
• Backed by law

Recognising our staff’s hard work and determination

Each year we:

• Hold our Awards for Excellence which gives us the time to reflect, acknowledge, and celebrate our diversity, talent and commitment to making a difference.
• Celebrate length of service with our Long Service Awards. We appreciate our staff’s commitment and outstanding service to Manchester, its neighbourhoods and its people, and we hold celebration events for 25 and 40 years of service, as well as giving you an extra five days of annual leave after your first five years with us.

We are proud of the work our staff do. We celebrate our achievements and share photos, stories and projects regularly though internal communications. This sees the entire Council, along with our partners, coming together to recognise eachother's work.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

We’re committed to doing everything we can to create ‘a place where everyone can be themselves and thrive’.

Our ambitious and award-winning Workforce Equality Strategy (2021) sets out how we will make sure that our workforce fully reflects the rich diversity and talent of our residents and communities at all levels.

It will make sure that we have a zero-tolerance approach to any form of discrimination and quickly make changes to address issues. We know Manchester is a diverse and vibrant city, and our workforce should reflect the people it provides a service for.

A diverse workforce brings different perspectives to an organisation, leading to creativity, innovation and representation. You can expect to see us showcasing and celebrating our diversity across our communications with real-life personal and professional stories, along with opportunities to get involved in a range of staff equality network groups and events.

We’re committed to increasing the representation of Black, Asian and minority ethnic and disabled employees at all levels of the Council. We have introduced targeted leadership programmes using coaching, mentoring and shadowing opportunities; we are also developing a workplace (adjustment) hub to provide advice and information on supporting staff with disabilities.

We’re committed to having a workforce with the skills and confidence to deliver inclusion both at work and in services, and we want you to be part of that journey.

Disability confident

As a Disability Confident Leader, we support staff with physical or mental-health conditions, a disability or neurodiversity.  We will offer you a guaranteed interview if you consider yourself to be disabled and meet the critera, but you also have the option to opt out of the scheme during the application process, if you wish.

Our workplaces are accessible by design, and workplace adjustments we make include providing aids, adaptations and equipment. These, combined with our flexible working policies such as disability-related leave, enable our staff to perform their role, thrive and be their authentic self in work.

Equality networks

Our staff also chair and run a number of equality networks that are open to all colleagues. We currently have the following groups:

• LGBTQ+
• Disabled Staff
• Race Equality
• Women’s Equality
• Pregnancy & Parenting
• Mental Health
• Neurodiversity
• Over 50s
• Young People

To demonstrate our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion in our workforce we offer a guaranteed interview scheme if you:

• are in – or have ever been in – the Armed Forces
• consider yourself to be disabled or if you have a long-term health condition
• are currently looked after by a local authority or a care leaver

Armed Forces Covenant

We are also a signatory of the Armed Forces Covenant and committed to supporting members of the Armed Forces community, recognising and remembering the sacrifices they have made. This makes sure that veterans, reservists and serving personnel face no disadvantage throughout the recruitment process.