Do You Have A Flex Fund At Work?

dranzer01

Nutshell , your basic salary and they also provide you with a flex fund on top of that.

Do you draw out the flex fund as cash?

Do you use it for your benefits?

What benefits do you have?

TimSynths

I do, until this year I took it all as a lump sum in December, paid for Christmas, Home insurance and Car insurance so it was good timing. This year I have taken the dental cover out from it too so my lump sum will be slightly decreased - I've already claimed on it too and it paid out in about a week.

Asking around the most popular options tend to be the childcare vouchers and discount shopping cards.

dranzer01

Hmmm, Interesting!

How did you receive your flex fund cash payout? (Did you reach out to your HR and say you want the flex fund to be transferred to you as cash and then you would receive it in your next months pay.... or?)

Im looking to select the healthcare and I believe there is a package whereby you can claim back on chiropractor/physio/chiropody etc

Marcon

dranzer01 said:

Hmmm, Interesting!

How did you receive your flex fund cash payout? (Did you reach out to your HR and say you want the flex fund to be transferred to you as cash and then you would receive it in your next months pay.... or?)

Im looking to select the healthcare and I believe there is a package whereby you can claim back on chiropractor/physio/chiropody etc

This isn't a standard benefit with standard terms and conditions, so the options open to other people, and how they've accessed them, may well not apply to you. Why not check exactly what is on offer to you?

MattMattMattUK

I really so not see the point in these "Flex funds", I have a monthly income, I use that to pay monthly expenses and I manage it over time to cover irregular expenditure. Having what amounts to a small savings account/overdraft (depending on if it is taken from accrued or future benefit) with an employer is not going to help in any way. If I was irresponsible enough to not be able to manage my finances if the money was in my possession I would imagine I the same issue would arise if the money was in an account I could draw from from at well. At best these are gimmicks, at worse they give people a false sense of security and risk a debt, albeit a small one.

Grumpy_chap

Many employers offer "flexible benefits".
I am not sure how it is of help to the OP to know what flexible benefits other receive.  
The OP can only have whatever the flexible benefits are offered by their employer.
I agree with MattMattMatt that flexible benefits schemes are often rather a gimmick

Savvy_Sue

It's not something I've met before, but I can see the benefit in having a scheme which allows you to spend on things you might not otherwise prioritise. I can see why some people would prefer to have the money in their pocket, but I know I was glad when I could book a monthly massage which my employer would pay for. 

DullGreyGuy

MattMattMattUK said:

I really so not see the point in these "Flex funds", I have a monthly income, I use that to pay monthly expenses and I manage it over time to cover irregular expenditure. Having what amounts to a small savings account/overdraft (depending on if it is taken from accrued or future benefit) with an employer is not going to help in any way. If I was irresponsible enough to not be able to manage my finances if the money was in my possession I would imagine I the same issue would arise if the money was in an account I could draw from from at well. At best these are gimmicks, at worse they give people a false sense of security and risk a debt, albeit a small one.

Why dont you agree with flexible benefits @MattMattMattUK?

I have a high level PMI policy, my employers offer a basic PMI policy, clearly I am not going to take the basic one and pay BIK on something I dont need but if my employer is declaring they are spending £1,000 a year on it (for BIK calculation) why dont I get the £1,000 if I dont take the policy?

This is exactly what flexible benefits do, they allow you to pick and choose what benefits you want, most of which are tax efficient, and then take the rest in cash. It's not some form of savings account with your employer which you seem to imply it is. 

As a Manager we used to get 15% flexible benefits so if you were on £100k and took no benefits at all your gross take-home pay was £115k. You also were free to use more than 15% of your income as benefits, so if you wanted a Rolls Royce Wraith as your company car then your gross pay became £73,000 (assuming no other benefits) and probably little take home pay after the BIK on that!

MattMattMattUK

I think it might depend on terminology, which perhaps varies. I have seen "flexible benefits" where an employee gets to choose from a range of options from the useful and tax efficient, to the gimmicky. Some employees will choose private health insurance, others will go with gym membership, a canteen pass for lunches etc. that they get at the subsidised rate, others will waste the money on random things (worst I have ever seen was doughnut deliveries to their desks). For "flex funds" I have seen these generally being a pot that the employee can draw against and top back up, essentially a way to take a wage advance, or build up a chunk it take in one go, so people would usually build up slightly ahead of Christmas, then take the whole amount that they had accrued and an advance from the next few months, essentially an overdraft supplied by the employer.