Benefits of working for Forestry England

Aerial view of colourful forest with road running through the trees
Photo credit: Aaron Burden

A culture that values difference

We are one Forestry England

At Forestry England we want everyone to make their best contribution.

We support each other to work to our values and to be healthy, motivated, engaged experts. We are a diverse workforce representing the people we serve.

Our wide range of staff benefits helps us to achieve this

Work-life balance

  • Generous annual leave allowance increasing with service, plus additional ‘privilege’ days off.
  • Options to buy, sell and carry forward unused holiday each year.
  • We have a flexible and inclusive approach in our ways of working, with a range of options available including blended working.
Family lifting branch and playing in front of forest landscape

Family friendly

We understand the importance of supporting you and your loved ones, allowing you to thrive both in and out of work:

  • Flexible and inclusive ways of working.
  • Enhanced maternity, shared parental and adoption leave.
  • Access to the Government’s Tax Free Childcare Scheme.
  • Opportunity to apply for unpaid career breaks.
  • A variety of special leave to help cope with those unexpected times in your life.

Diverse and inclusive work environment

  • Our Women in Forestry Programme works to ensure our workplace is fully inclusive, particularly in field-based roles.
  • Our Employee Networks bring people together to embrace the range of diversity that we bring. Being part of Defra you can access a wide range of networks as well as our own.
  • Our local inclusion ambassadors are enthusiastic about making teams and workplaces inclusive spaces, modelling inclusive behaviours and knowing where to challenge.

We listen to our diverse groups to understand what they love and to find ways to make things even better. To find out more about our values, please visit Growing the future | our people and values.

Wellbeing

  • Our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)  offers free, independent and confidential support.
  • Occupational health for a safe and healthy working life.
  • Mental health awareness, including a trained team of mental health first aiders.
  • Local wellbeing champions organise events to support your wellbeing.
  • Free eye tests.
  • 'Bike to Work' scheme.
  • Paid volunteering days.
  • Free parking at Forestry England sites and free entry to our National Arboretums.
Sunlight shining through woodland scenery

Civil Service Benefits

  • Generous Civil Service pension. Further details can be found at Civil Service Pensions.
  • Generous sick pay entitlement.
  • Civil Service Sports and Social Club providing members with a variety of offers, events and savings.
  • ‘For you, by you,’ the Civil Service Charity provides financial advice and support to Civil Servants and ex-Civil Servants.
  • Civil Service Insurance Society offering various insurance products.
  • Civil Service Motoring Association Club Boundless provides discounts on car and home insurance as well as holidays and days out.
Woman sat at the base of a mossy tree drawing in a notebook

Lifelong Learning

Forestry England is committed to lifelong learning. We will support your career development in a variety of ways, including:

  • Dedicated learning days to target the skills you need to take your career forward.
  • Civil Service Learning (CSL) online platform provides training courses,  e-learning and videos on a wide variety of subjects.
  • Financial support for professional memberships.
  • Nurturing early talent: Apprenticeship and Graduate Development Programmes.
  • Dedicated technical training to support our operational functions keeps people central to everything we do.
  • Pre-retirement workshops.

Sound appealing? Explore our vacancies now: