Information on our Simpylhealth benefit

As communicated in Team Dixons on 1 December 2023, we have partnered with Simplyhealth to provide an employee assistance programme as part of our commitment to staff health and wellbeing.

As a trust, we fully cover the cost of subscribing all employees to Simplyhealth’s Optimise Health Plan.  This includes £60 towards optical, £60 for routine dental, £150 to see a physio or chiropractor, £250 for tests and scans, and free telephone counselling services, amongst a wide range of other benefits.

As previously advised, the employee benefit is subject to a small amount of additional income tax, estimated at approximately £10 per year for the average employee. Our trust has covered the cost of the additional income tax for employees up to now, but from April 2025, you will be liable for this tax which will be collected via payroll.

As a reminder, it is very easy to claim for certain costs through this scheme such as dentist or optician check-ups by downloading the Simplyhealth app. A typical eye test cost is at least £15 which is more than the cost of the income tax.

What this means for you
From April 2025, your Simplyhealth benefit, will be taxed through payroll. You will see a monthly cash equivalent benefit of £4.79 on your payslip (£57.48 ÷ 12 = £4.79 per month).

For basic rate taxpayers (20%), this equates to approximately £1 in income tax per month.

Your tax code will remain unchanged for this benefit.

Opting out of the health plan:

If you would prefer not to participate in the Simplyhealth benefit, you can opt out by submitting a request through TOPdesk. Simply click this link and navigate to the employee benefits tile in the HR service and submit an employee benefits query to opt out.