Pension

The Trust offers two pension schemes: the Teachers’ Pension Scheme for teaching staff and the Local Government Pension Scheme for support staff.

Both pension schemes are ‘defined benefits’ pension schemes. This means that an employee’s pension is based on their salary and how long they have paid into the scheme. A defined benefits pension offers a guaranteed income in retirement. Employees pay into the scheme through a monthly contribution taken from their salary and FCAT, as the employer, also contributes to the scheme.

Paid leave

FCAT understands there are circumstances where taking leave during term time is unavoidable and provisions are put in place to enable time off for a number of these instances.

The FCAT Leave of Absence Policy sets out the circumstances under which employees may apply for up to 4 days paid leave.  Some circumstances will be automatically eligible and others will be at the discretion of the senior staff within your school. The FCAT Leave of Absence Policy is available here. 

Maternity, adoption and paternity

FCATs maternity/adoption pay scheme for employees meets statutory requirements under the provisions of the national maternity leave scheme for support staff contained within the National Joint Council for Local Government Services agreement ('Green Book') and under the provisions of the national maternity leave scheme for teachers (contained within the 'Burgundy Book').

If you meet the statutory criteria, FCAT paternity leave allows ten working days (pro-rata for part-time staff) with full pay by agreement with the Headteacher to be taken within 56 days of the baby's birth

The FCAT Maternity, Adoption and Paternity Policy is available here.

Employee Assistance Programme

All FCAT employees and family members over the age of 16 who live at their address can access free, confidential advice by telephone or online.

Our employee assistance programme ('EAP') is provided as part of our extended employee benefits package and consists of 24/7 in-the-moment support from fully qualified mental health professionals 365 days a year via Freephone, Livechat, WhatsApp and request a call back.

https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/

Discounted gym/fitness studios

With your free Hammersmith Privilege Card, you can get discounts on several gyms and fitness studios within Hammersmith and Fulham. Employees are also welcome to use the small fitness suite we have at FCA.

For a small monthly or annual fee, FCAT employees can sign up to CSSC (https://store.cssc.co.uk/) which, as well as offering discounts for a huge variety of retailers, entertainment venues and gyms, also offers online workout programmes for all its members. Their Digital Gym provides a weekly schedule of live and on-demand fitness classes, delivered by experts who will demonstrate a safe and maintainable way to tackle fitness at home.

Eye tests and glasses

FCAT recognises its statutory duty to provide employees who regularly use Display Screen Equipment ('DSE') at work with free eye tests, once every two years, if requested.

FCAT Health and Wellbeing Charter

FCAT is proud to follow the framework of the education staff wellbeing charter. We strongly believe that our staff are the most valuable and precious resource, and we are determined and committed to creating the conditions in which all staff can thrive; ensuring that sensible working practices are implemented and maintained. In support of this, we have developed a Health and Wellbeing charter to protect, promote and enhance wellbeing amongst our staff community (please find the link to our policy here). 

Alongside the charter, we have active staff wellbeing groups who meet half termly to review things such as the school calendar, and a half-termly meeting with a Union Representative, to review policies/workload/new initiatives etc.

We recognise and encourage our staff to take a break during breaktimes, and have complimentary hot drinks and snacks served in the staffroom.

FCAT also employs a chaplain, who is a friendly and approachable extra person in the trust, who listens to staff (of all faiths or none) and offers advice and support where needed.

Hammersmith Privilege Card

All FCAT employees can register for The Hammersmith Privilege Card, giving you exclusive discounts from gyms and fitness studios, to pubs, cafes and hospitality. Through The Privilege Card, you will also hear about seasonal offers, short-term discounts and exclusive ticket deals within Hammersmith and Fulham.

Childcare vouchers

FCAT recognises the importance of helping working families to deal with the cost of childcare and we enable the use of childcare vouchers (where applicable) and Tax-Free childcare. The childcare voucher scheme closed to new entrants on 4th October 2018 so only employees who joined before 4th October 2018 can use it and receive the associated tax and NIC reliefs.

After 4th October 2018 employees wishing to benefit from tax benefits for their childcare must register for Tax-Free Childcare. Tax-Free Childcare allows eligible working families to claim 20% of their childcare costs, up to £2,000 per child per year (or £4,000 for a child with a disability), from the Government.

CSSC

For a small monthly fee (currently £4.99) FCAT members can sign up to CSSC, entitling you to a huge range of benefits and discounts such as:

·       Free family entry to all English Heritage sites, Kew Gardens and Wakehurst

·       Discounted trips and days out to local and national cultural and environmental sites

·       Huge savings at restaurants, cinemas, gyms, themes parks and attractions

·       Free health and wellbeing portal for courses and fitness classes

·       Funding for sports competitions and qualifications

·       Up to 70% off shopping with thousands of online and high street retailers

Flexible working

We understand that flexible working arrangements can benefit both employees and employers. Employees experience improved work-life balance, reduced stress and increased job satisfaction, while employers can gain higher retention rates, increased productivity and access to a broader talent pool. There are a number of types of flexible working we can consider for the right roles:

• Flexitime: Varying start and end times within certain limits

• Remote working: Working from locations other than the office, such as from home, at least for part of the working week

• Compressed working week: Working longer hours on fewer days

• Job sharing: Sharing the responsibilities and workload of a single full-time position between two or more people

• Part-time: Working part of the week or term time only.

Staff can now make a request to work flexibly from day one of employment within the trust.

At FCAT we pride ourselves on supporting flexible working requests, and we currently have 20% of our teachers working flexibly (across all roles) and a staff member currently undertaking a sabbatical.

Sabbaticals

FCAT understands that offering a period of unpaid time off to pursue a lifelong ambition, go travelling, follow a course of study etc. can be beneficial for our staff. We are therefore open to offering long serving employees a sabbatical understanding that this could be the difference between a colleague choosing to take some time off work or leaving the organisation altogether.

Family friendly policies

FCAT acknowledges the importance and value of family friendly policies. These include additions to our policies which will allow parents and carers to prioritise their children and dependants when necessary.

We understand that by introducing these policies we can:

• Help our colleagues maintain a successful work-life balance

• Reduce employee stress and enhance job focus

• Improve retention rates across our trust

Our family friendly policies cover:

·   Flexible working (please find the link to our policy here)

·   Maternity, paternity and adoption (please find the link to our policy here)

·   Shared parental leave (please find the link to our policy here)

·   Leave of absence (please find the link to our policy here)