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Changes to salary sacrifice pensions are coming in 2029. While the benefits they offer to employees and employers will still ring true, there are some important implications to consider. Here’s how to maximise the benefits before the changes take effect – and what you need to know to prepare for what’s ahead.

Salary sacrifice is often viewed as a pensions-only mechanism. But if you’re looking for ways to stretch budgets further, support employee wellbeing and create long-term cost stability, it’s worth looking again. The opportunities extend beyond pensions, and many employers are finding that big savings come from areas they hadn’t previously considered.

When used well, benchmarking provides a clear external reference point for internal pay decisions and helps maintain a balance between competitiveness, fairness and affordability.

As pay constraints continue to dictate the employment landscape, budgets are feeling the squeeze as increasingly expensive benefits are stretched to fill the gap.

Many HR and benefits teams are finding the traditional standalone life trust model increasingly unwieldy and difficult to maintain.

Supporting employees’ mental and physical wellbeing has been at the forefront of people strategies for years. But more recently, support initiatives have expanded to include financial wellbeing too.

Since the Budget announcement in November, salary sacrifice has been getting some undeserved bad press.

2026 is shaping up to be a year of tough choices for employers.

Employee benefits only create value when they strike a chord with the people they are designed for. Yet, in many organisations, there’s still a disconnect.

Without proper job architecture in place, job data becomes inconsistent and undermines every aspect of pay governance.

Zest’s marketplace partner, GoodPAYE, look at the benefits of payroll giving, whether it can be deemed as the most underrated employee benefit of all time and why it helps companies attract and retain talent.

Employers have a vital role to play in workplace health, but government action on significant hurdles will also be required, explains Hannah Larsen, policy officer at British Chambers of Commerce (BCC). This article is taken from REBA’s Forecasting future health costs: developing sustainable employer-funded health strategies report, in partnership with Mercer Marsh Benefits.

Digital tools can help employees make better decisions before financial stress kicks in, and let employers accurately measure evidence-based benefits.

How do employers stay up to date with everything from tax implications to compliance with employment laws, surrounding employee reward and recognition programmes in the UK?