{"id":83,"date":"2017-10-12T15:35:20","date_gmt":"2017-10-12T15:35:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/?p=83"},"modified":"2017-11-22T11:44:53","modified_gmt":"2017-11-22T11:44:53","slug":"non-flexible-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2017\/10\/12\/non-flexible-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"NON-FLEXIBLE BENEFITS"},"content":{"rendered":"

What has happened to the price of the staff bus pass? In 2016\/17, it cost \u00a376 per year. It was increased in 2017\/18 to \u00a399 per year (grades 1 to 6) \u00a0and \u00a3112 per year (grades 7 and up). That is a 30% increase for grades 6 and below, and a 47% increase for grades 7 and up.<\/span><\/p>\n

subtext assumes this is the result of Chancellor Philip Hammond\u2019s announcement last year that he would tighten rules allowing workers to forgo part of their salary in return for certain work benefits. As a result of having a lower salary, employees were paying less income tax and making lower National Insurance contributions. Likewise, employers saved on National Insurance as this was linked to salary. Salary sacrifices could also be used to preserve the \u00a311,500 personal allowance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nationally the most popular benefits claimed by staff through such arrangements are pension contributions, meeting childcare costs, bicycle schemes, and medical insurance. In recent years, benefits have expanded to include company cars, health screening, gym membership and even mobile phones, TVs and white goods.<\/span><\/p>\n

It would be remiss of those of us on higher grades to complain about a relatively marginal increase, and a bigger injustice is revealed when we look at the position of staff on monthly\/termly contracts. Stagecoach does not offer the university a monthly option. For someone on a short term contract, the alternative is the one-term unirider that the Students\u2019 Union sells, which costs \u00a399.99. Having your contract extended by a further term does not entitle you to a staff bus pass, so off you go back to the SU to spend another hundred quid. If your contract is then extended for a third term, you are still not entitled to a staff bus pass, so off you go <\/span>again <\/span><\/i>to the SU to spend another hundred quid. This all assumes that you will not be travelling to work during the Xmas and Easter breaks! <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

In the extremely unlikely event that your contract is extended over the summer recess for which there is no one-term unirider available, you would have to purchase a Bay megarider Xtra pass at a cost of \u00a356.99 per month for three months totalling \u00a3170.97. A total cost of \u00a3470.94.<\/span><\/p>\n

That is \u00a3100.95 more than if you had bought a yearly pass directly from Stagecoach! Which you can\u2019t!<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What has happened to the price of the staff bus pass? In 2016\/17, it cost \u00a376 per year. It was increased in 2017\/18 to \u00a399 per year (grades 1 to 6) \u00a0and \u00a3112 per year (grades 7 and up). That … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":568,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[32,31,121,33],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-bus","tag-flexible-benefits","tag-issue-166","tag-pay"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p99sHo-1l","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":719,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/09\/13\/working-at-lancaster\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":0},"title":"WORKING AT LANCASTER","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"September 13 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"The University of Lancaster is preparing to undertake another staff survey. In order to ensure that the responses are as positive as possible, we at subtext would like to take a look back at where we went wrong in 2017-18 and offer some pointers. We could start by not doing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "history"","block_context":{"text":"history","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/history\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":379,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/03\/01\/letters-9\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":1},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"March 1 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, Mr. Fleming\u2019s letter (subtext 173) is factually inaccurate, and shows complete disregard for the strength of staff feeling on this issue at his alma mater, which had the highest turnout in the ballot in England and third highest in the UK, with over 88% endorsing strike action. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/hrKIJMLUIO4\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":775,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/10\/11\/doctorin-the-pay-gap\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":2},"title":"DOCTORIN’ THE PAY GAP","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"October 11 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Following the recent rescue of her three new friends from the deadly vacuum of space, and her recollection of who she is, the Doctor is looking forward to new faces, new worlds and new times. Her trusty ship, the TARDIS, whirls through time and space, swerving exploding supernovae and sliding\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":526,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/04\/26\/never-mind-the-gap\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":3},"title":"NEVER MIND THE GAP","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"April 26 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Lancaster, the University of the Year 2018, has come near the top of yet another league table: the gender pay gap rankings, that is. According to its own recently published figures (http:\/\/www.lancaster.ac.uk\/media\/lancaster-university\/content-assets\/documents\/edi\/GenderPayGapReport.pdf), Lancaster's gender pay gap of mean 27.7%, median 26.5%, against a sector average of mean 17.8% and median\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "news"","block_context":{"text":"news","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1296,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2020\/06\/19\/editorial\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":4},"title":"subtext 194 \u2013 \u2018voluntary subtext reductions\u2019","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"June 19 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Increasingly less often during term time. Letters, contributions, & comments: subtext-editors@lancaster.ac.uk Back issues & subscription details: http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/about\/ In this issue: editorial, BLM, open letter, appeal for editors, online teaching, rent strike, liddle, phones, nuttall, elections, pandemic, letters. ***************************************************** EDITORIAL Our new Vice-Chancellor was clearly trying to strike a Churchillian note\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "editorial"","block_context":{"text":"editorial","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":335,"url":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/2018\/02\/15\/letters-8\/","url_meta":{"origin":83,"position":5},"title":"LETTERS","author":"Johnny Unger","date":"February 15 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Dear subtext, As a current member of USS (but not of any union), I must say that UCU's reaction to the proposed changes to USS seems rather over the top. Under the proposed changes, benefits already accrued will not change - all that will change is that benefits accrued from\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "letters"","block_context":{"text":"letters","link":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/category\/letters\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/568"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/84"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/subtext\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}