Wrexham Council employees to spend less in local shops and make money
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Wrexham Council have this week launched a scheme that will give all employees a discount in a wide range of shops- looking at the list it would appear the cards issued are for use in branches of national chains- coffee shops etc.
It looks like they have yet again put a nail in the coffin for local independent shops driving trade to the national chains or to internet shopping.
Where is the Council rationale- as these schemes require the employer to pay for the card-
Why coiuld they not have promoted the Wrexham Saver Card?
extract below from the Vectis web site the company running the scheme- http://www.enjoybenefits.co.uk/company-paid-voluntary-benefits/discount-card-from-logbuy/How does the Discount Card work?
You provide your employees with a corporate High Street & Family Savings Discount card
You stand the cost of each card and it gives your employees a gateway to savings on a whole range of household and leisure spending.
There are year round savings on leading brands and regular seasonal offers that can add up to £100’s and potentially £1,000’s.
There are three options available:Option 1 – E-Vouchers, or a code, which is emailed or texted to your employees phone to input online or at a till, items like cinema discounts accessed there and then
Option 2 – Discount card, a reloadable card from the Family Savings website. For example, every £1 the employees load to the Boots card gives them 8 pence discount
Option 3 – Cash back on the Family Savings website. The retailer credits their account for purchases made through the Family Savings site. This credit can be transfered to their bank accountsI had one of these cards through the post as well which is interesting as my employment has ceased with the Council so the circulation may be to ex employees as well. It is rediculous if the Council have spent a single penny of ratepayers funding in estblishing this scheme.
I agree with Council Warcher this is a kick in the teeth for local indendent shops as they are highly unlikley to be able to afford ti adveretsie through these tryppes of scheme.
Hope Wrexham.com make more enqiries on this issue and people like Nigel Lewis who set up Wrexham Savers has a view as well.Bloody council workers [or should I say shirkers?] they get all the benefits and are bleeding this county dry!
Didn’t the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the autumn budget just stop the tax/ NI advantage of salary sacrifice perks? There are a few exceptions like child care, but almost everything else is included.
In response to Wrexview the Council is still in a postion to save employer NI if they encoruage staff to buy bikes, childcare vouchers etc on salery sacrifice- this card schem looks like a beniefit to staff but a cost to ratepayers
Salary sacrifice
Some employees choose to have different benefits as part of their remuneration package. The Government has now announced that following its consultation, the tax and employer National Insurance advantages of salary sacrifice schemes will be removed from April 2017, except for arrangements relating to pensions, childcare, Cycle to Work and low emission cars. Arrangements entered into before April 2017 will be protected until April 2018, and arrangements for other cars, accommodation and school fees until April 2021.
Surely local councils should support LOCAL Business, In an ideal world office supplies, pc’s and tech maintenance would also be contracted to local small business, after all they are part of the vital local economy.
So they encourage the staff to drink Starbucks Coffee, buy imported clothing and hey why not offer discounted shares for Royal Dutch Shell while your at it.
Local Council = Anything BUT Local
TJB.
It sounded to me like a standard discount scheme that a lot of large employers offer.
Usually you have to buy a minimum value of gift vouchers/gift cards online at a slight discount and wait for them to come in the post. The Wrexham scheme sounds much more convenient.Council watcher there is no need to take the spoilt brat, they are gettin’ something that I ain’t gettin’approach and instead ask someone who ‘benefits’ from the scheme what it is about and what they are getting out of it.
I asked and was told “Its a bag of shite” or words to that effect!
So there you go, case closed!
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