Skip to main content
Jobs and Training

Why work for us?

  • Our vacancies

    Our current vacancies

    Find out more about the benefits we offer when you work for us.

  • Pay

    We offer competitive salaries, determined by the council in line with that determined by the National Joint Council for Local Government Services. 

    We are Living Wage (logo)

    Grade

    SCP Point

    Scale from 1 April 2024

    Grade 1 2 £23,656
      3 £24,027
      4 £24,404
      5 £24,790
    Grade 2 6 £25,183
      7 £25,584
      8 £25,992
      9 £26,409
    Grade 3 10 £26,835
      11 £27,269
      12 £27,711
      13 £28,163
    Grade 4 16 £29,572
      17 £30,060
      18 £30,559
      19 £31,067
    Grade 5 21 £32,115
      22 £32,654
      23 £33,366
      24 £34,314
    Grade 6 25 £35,235
      26 £36,124
      27 £37,035
      28 £37,938
    Grade 7 29 £38,626
      30 £39,513
      31 £40,476
      32 £41,511
    Grade 8 34 £43,693
      35 £44,711
      36 £45,718
      37 £46,731
    Grade 9 37 £46,731
      38 £47,754
      39 £48,710
      40 £49,764
    Grade 10 42 £51,802
      43 £52,805
      44 £53,886
      45 £54,971
    Grade 11 45 £54,971
      46 £56,073
      47 £57,183
      48 £58,341
    Grade 12 50 £60,694
      51 £61,858
      52 £63,025
      53 £64,189
    Grade 13 56 £67,686
      57 £68,865
      58 £70,017
      59 £71,190
    Grade 14 59 £71,190
      60 £71,546
      61 £71,903
      62 £73,531
  • Pension scheme

    This is a valuable and important part of our employment package.

    Our pension scheme is the Local Government Pension Scheme (Northern Ireland) (LGPS NI) and it is administered by the Northern Ireland Local Government Officers’ Superannuation Committee (NILGOSC).

    This scheme allows you to save while you are working in order to enjoy a pension when you retire.

    If you are appointed to a post in Belfast City Council, you will automatically become a member of the scheme, in line with scheme regulations. You may opt out of the scheme.

    The council will however be required to comply with the automatic enrolment provisions and will automatically enrol you as required.

    As an employee, your contribution rate depends on how much you are paid, but it will be between 5.5 per cent and 10.5 per cent of your pensionable pay. The council’s contribution rate as your employer is currently a very generous 19 per cent.

    We also hold pre-retirement seminars to help those planning for retirement.

  • Annual leave and public holidays

    This is a very attractive element of our employment package.

    For posts up to and including Grade 14, annual leave and extra statutory, bank or public holiday entitlement is calculated in hours and minutes.

    Posts up to and including Grade 14

    Contract type Standard full time (37 hours per week) Annual leave entitlement calculated in hours and minutes Annual leave entitlement calculated in days - based on a standard day of 7.4 hours
    Minimal leave entitlement 177 hours 36 minutes 24 days
    After five years’ continuous service 214 hours and 36 minutes 29 days
    After 10 years’ continuous service 236 hours and 48 minutes 32 days
    Extra statutory, bank and public holiday entitlement calculated in hours and minutes Extra statutory, bank and public holiday entitlement calculated in days - based on a standard day of 7.4 hours
    88 hours and 48 minutes 12 days

    For individuals who do not work the standard full-time hours, annual leave and extra statutory, bank or public holiday entitlement will be calculated on a pro rata basis to their contracted hours, based on the standard full time hours of 37 per week and a standard day of 7.4 hours (seven hours and 24 minutes).

    Employees are entitled to a holiday with a normal day’s pay for each of the statutory, general and public holidays as they occur. Where the balance of the employee’s public, bank and statutory holiday entitlement has been exhausted, additional leave taken for public, bank and statutory holidays will be deducted from the employee’s annual leave entitlement.

    All employees required to work on extra statutory, bank or public holidays will be remunerated in accordance with Part 3, paragraph 2 of the National Joint Council for Local Government Services National Agreement on Pay and Conditions of Service.

    The leave year commences on 1 April. If an employee starts part way through the annual leave year, the employee will receive annual leave entitlement on a pro rata basis, calculated on the number of days remaining in the current leave year from the first day of employment.

    Chief Officer grades

    A person appointed to a Head of Service post will be entitled to 30 days' annual leave plus 12 bank or other holidays. Leave entitlement will be increased by three working days after five years’ continuous service. The leave year will commence on 1 April and new starts will be entitled to leave proportionate to completed months of service.

    A person appointed to a Director post will be entitled to 32 days annual leave plus 12 bank or other holidays. Leave entitlement for will be increased by three working days after five years’ continuous service. The leave year will commence on 1 April and new starts will be entitled to leave proportionate to completed months of service.

  • Sick leave scheme

    We offer a very generous sick leave scheme to try to maintain normal pay for you during defined periods of absence.

    Our employees are entitled to receive sick pay for the periods listed in the table.

    During first year of service One month’s full pay and (after completing four months’ service) two months’ half pay
    During second year of service Two months’ full pay and two months’ half pay
    During third year of service Four months’ full pay and four months’ half pay
    During fourth and fifth years of service Five months’ full pay and five months’ half pay
    After five years’ service Six months’ full pay and six months’ half pay
  • Hours of duty

    This will vary depending on the post. For most office based posts, the hours of duty are 37 per week, working five days per week, Monday to Friday. Flexible working hours are in operation between 7.30am and 6.30pm, with set core times that the person appointed must be in work. For posts working shift patterns (for example dog warden, zookeeper, front office co-ordinator), the shift rota is determined on a ‘post by post’ basis and the hours of duty will be stated in the application pack.

  • Uniform

    Some posts ask post-holders to wear Belfast City Council branded clothing while on duty. If you are appointed to one of these posts (for example dog warden, park warden, cleansing operative), uniform clothing will be issued by the relevant department. Facilities for changing and storage will be available.

  • Work Life Balance

    We’ve developed a range of flexible working practices to make it easier for our employees to have a balance between the demands of work and their personal life. These include: 

    • flexi-time 
    • job-share and part-time working 
    • phased returns to work and career breaks 
    • maternity, paternity, neonatal, adoption, parental, carer, marriage, bereavement, special and annual leave 
  • Health and wellbeing

    Many of our health and wellbeing services are provided by the Corporate Health and Safety Unit and the Occupational Health Unit including: 

    • eye and ear tests 
    • general health checks and diet and lifestyle advice 
    • display screen equipment assessments 
    • employee counselling 

    We also run several schemes designed to help you improve your overall health and fitness which include: 

    • Stop Smoking programme 
    • Healthwise programme 
    • Cycle to Work scheme
  • Career Development

    We offer: 

    • career development opportunities which you can apply for on a temporary or permanent basis. 
    • a structured approach to training and development, including developing personal development plans (PDPs) for all employees. 
    • in-house mandatory training for all employees
    • financial assistance and
    • time off work for employees who have approval to study for formal work-related qualifications.
  • Careers with Belfast City Council

    Belfast City Council is made up of several different departments covering a wide variety of posts; from Cleansing Operative to Building Control Surveyor, City Events Officer to Graphic Designer, and everything in between.

  • Staff Networks

    Disability Support Network 

    The network exists to allow staff with a disability to meet in a mutually supportive environment to share experiences and express views, and provide members with an opportunity to influence council policies, procedures and practices and feed into future disability action plans.

    Proud LGBT+ Network 

    The aim of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT+) staff network is to bring together, across all areas of the council, individuals who identify as belonging to the LGBT+ community along with their allies and other supporters, in order to meet and share ideas. We firmly believe that when a person brings 'their whole self' to work, it not only benefits them but us as an employer too.

    Women’s Network 

    The network exists to allow female staff to support each other in their career and personal development, provide a forum for women to communicate and share ideas, and build a network of relationships across the council and wider community.

  • Equal Opportunities

    We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all sections of the community.

    You can call our helpline on 028 9027 0640 during office hours to help you with any aspect of the recruitment process.

    Diversity Mark

    We hold the Silver Diversity Mark in recognition of our commitment to promoting equality and diversity within our workforce.

     Silver Diversity Mark (logo)

    Disability Positive

    We hold the AAA* Disability Positive accreditation form Employers for Disability NI in recognition of our employment-related disability good practice.

    AAA* Disability Positive accreditation (logo)

  • Payroll Giving

    Did you know you can make a donation to any registered UK charity (or charities) of your choice straight from your pay? Your donation is taken from your salary before tax is deducted, which means that it actually costs you less. For example, every £1 you give will cost you only 80p (or 60p if you pay the higher tax rate) as it's taken from your gross pay.

  • Cycle To Work scheme

    Employees can also save between 25 and 39 per cent on the cost of a bicycle and equipment by joining our Cycle to Work scheme. We’ve joined forces with Cyclescheme, the UK’s leading provider of tax-free bikes, to deliver this service to our staff.

  • Recycling at work

    As a council, it’s our job to encourage residents to reduce, reuse and recycle as much of their waste as possible, so we can meet European and national legislative targets. We have a small team working to improve the standard of waste management at various premises - raising their recycling rates to around 60 per cent and saving the council thousands of pounds in the process.

  • Staff offers

    All current Belfast City Council employees and current Belfast City Council agency assignees can benefit from offers and discounts from local businesses. Categories include electronics, IT and mobile; holidays and travel; food and drink; home and garden; health and fitness and tutoring.

  • Staff news and information

    We use a range of channels to keep colleagues up to speed with useful information and updates, acknowledgements and recognition. These include a staff intranet, mobile app and digital signage screens - as well as a weekly overview from our Chief Executive.

  • Contact us

    For more information about our benefits, or any queries you have, email us at [email protected]

Contact us

For more information and advice, get in touch.

[email protected]

028 9027 0640

Human Resources, 9 Adelaide, 9-21 Adelaide Street, Belfast, BT2 8DJ

Read aloud icon Read aloud