advice please

[teknikalty]

Hi,

Is there a website from where I can learn what benefits a company offers generally in the UK?

Or are there mandatory benefits each and every company may offer in this country? Mandatory - I mean, strictly under the law.

Some of the job ads mention Salary plus benefits. I would like to know much before hand what these benefits are made of and how much they are worth.

I recently applied to a position, went through 5 levels of interviews and got a job offer. I admit, I was a bit naive since the word benefits means a lot in the US. However, I was disappointed that the company here had a very low salary (24k) and I fell for the benefits part and I realised their benefits was like 3 percent pension matched contribution and health insurance policy premium which was like some 550 pounds. I was pretty disappointed.

I dont mean to demean the company or the efforts of many job seekers in this country. The market is very tight here, but obviously I am not here to just beg for a job. I am here for family reasons but that doesn't mean I will accept any sundry job. Also, I am here only for 2 years, until my wife finishes her research at Cambridge, which will take 1.5 years minimum.

So all I am interested in is, some pointers to where I can find out what benefits companies usually provide and how much they are worth for.

My apologies if these questions have been asked a zillion times. I would appreciate if you could point me to the posts too. Due to the different terminologies between US and the UK, may be, I am not searching with the right search keywords. Please appreciate and help.

Glenn

ps: I also read something about benefit fraud and I dont understand what it pertains to. Well, for the above job offer I mentioned, all I was entitled was 1250 pounds, I dont know what benefits fraud I could commit over it. Honestly :) nevertheless, as I mentioned, my interests are to know the employment benefits one can look forward to from companies in the UK and how many pounds they are usually valued at. Assuming there is a definitive answer.

[wunder]

There are no mandatory benefits in UK - it all depends on the company and it is very hard to predict which benefits some company offers (unless they mention it on their website or job role brief).
The benefits I've seen were: pension contribution, subsidised gym, season ticket loan, private health insurance, company laptop. Some companies offer none at all (typically that would be smaller companies).
Also in some companies (usually in financial sector) there are bonuses (based either on company's performance or personal performance) - but I'm not sure if they can be classified as a benefit.

"Benefit fraud" is something completely unrelated - in US I believe it is called "social security fraud" or "welfare fraud". Basically word "benefits" is also used for "social security" in UK.