Long service awards: what to give at every milestone in 2026

Quick answer: The best long service awards feel personal, not procedural. They acknowledge what someone's contributed - not just how long they've stuck around. A thought-through gift, a genuine message from their manager, and the freedom to choose something they actually want will say "I'm so glad you're still here!" miles better than a certificate or a company-branded pen.

Huggg is a UK employee gifting platform. Companies use it to send staff and clients a gift the recipient chooses themselves, with no home address to collect and UK trivial-benefits reporting handled.

Why long service awards still matter

Long service awards might seem old-fashioned. But that's kind of a sign of the times. Average tenure is shorter than it used to be, and a lot of companies have dropped formal recognition programmes altogether.

But that's exactly why staying for the long haul matters more than ever. An employee who has been with you for five, ten or twenty years has sweated through restructures, leadership changes, battled off dozens of recruiters waving 'better offers' in front of them. Recognising that is a retention signal to everyone else in the business.

Our own UK Employee Gifting Benchmarks, based on what 85 UK HR professionals told us, found that teams using choice-based gifting reported stronger belief in its retention impact than those sending a fixed gift.

The problem isn't whether to recognise loyalty. It's how to do it without making the whole thing feel like a box-ticking exercise.

What makes a good long service award?

It should feel proportionate

A five-year milestone and a twenty-year milestone shouldn't get the same treatment. The best programmes scale the value and the gesture as tenure increases. A thoughtful gift at five years, a more generous one at ten, and something genuinely "oh wow, really?!" at twenty or beyond.

Most UK businesses spend between £50 and £250 at the five-year mark and £250 to £1,000+ for longer tenures. The exact figures will depend on your budget, but the logic is simple - the award should reflect the commitment.

It should offer choice

Generic gifts are the biggest pitfall of long service awards. A crystal vase or a company-branded watch might have been fine in 1985, but today's employees expect something they actually want.

Gift with Choice solves this neatly. You set the budget, the recipient never sees it, and they pick the gift they want from a curated range. No guesswork, no awkward returns, and nothing sitting in a drawer because it was not to their taste.

It should come with a genuine message

The gift matters, but the message matters more. A long service award that arrives as a parcel with no context misses the point. Pair it with a personal note from the employee's direct manager - not a template, not a company-wide email, but something that references what they've actually done.

It shouldn't be a surprise to managers

If the employee's manager doesn't know about the milestone, something has gone wrong. Long service awards work best when the manager is involved in the delivery - they're the person whose recognition carries the most weight day to day.

Long service award ideas by milestone

The best long service award is one the person would have picked for themselves, so treat these as budget tiers with a steer, not a shopping list. Every one of them works as a gift with choice, where you set the value and they choose the actual gift.

One year: mark it, don't overthink it

The first anniversary is about being noticed, not about the money. A good coffee, a lunch on the company, a bookshop, or a treat from somewhere they actually go.

• Coffee and cake at an independent near them, or a chain if that is what they drink
• A takeaway on the evening of their anniversary, which lands better than a daytime gift for shift and deskless teams
• A small gift with choice budget, so they pick between coffee, lunch and a treat

Three years: something they would not buy themselves

Three years is where a generic gift starts to feel thin. Aim for a small luxury rather than a useful object.

• A nice dinner out, with enough on it to cover a guest
• A skincare, fragrance or homeware treat from a brand they recognise
• Flowers or plants, if you know them well enough to know that lands

Five years: a proper moment

Five years deserves a gesture the person will talk about. This is the tier where choice starts to matter most, because tastes diverge wildly and a fixed gift will miss half your people.

• An experience: a climbing or treetop day, a tasting, a spa afternoon
• A department-store or lifestyle budget they can put towards something bigger
• An extra day of leave alongside a smaller gift, if your policy allows it

Ten years: generous and public

Ten years should be visible to the rest of the business. Pair the gift with an acknowledgement somewhere people will see it.

• A weekend away or a travel budget
• A significant homeware or tech item they choose themselves
• A donation to a cause they pick, if that is more their thing. Some people would genuinely rather that

Twenty years and beyond: the one they remember

Twenty years is a career, not a job. This is also the tier where the tax rules turn in your favour, so it is worth being properly generous.

• A large choice budget, so they decide entirely
• An experience for them and a partner, rather than for them alone
• Something commemorative alongside the gift, if your culture suits it. An engraved item on its own tends to disappoint, but next to a real gift it works

Whatever the tier, the gift lands better when it comes with a message from their manager that references something they actually did. On Huggg the range runs to 10,000+ gift options across 200+ brands, so the choice is genuinely theirs rather than a shortlist of three things you happened to pick.

Wingstop UK and Ireland built theirs into their People strategy. "It was in our People strategy to roll out a long service benefit. Having Huggg where you can click a button," says Leanna Brennan, Senior People Partner at Wingstop UK and Ireland, whose team recognises staff across 88 locations.

How to structure a long service award programme

Choose your milestones

The most common milestones are 1 year, 3 years, 5 years, 10 years, 15 years, and 20+ years. Some companies start at one year (especially in high-turnover industries like hospitality and retail), while others begin at five.

There's no single right answer. If your average tenure is two years, a one-year milestone might make sense. If it's eight years, starting at five is more proportionate.

Set a budget per tier

A typical structure looks like this:

• 1 year - a small gift or gesture (£10-£25) to mark the first anniversary
• 3 years - a meaningful gift (£25-£50) that says "we notice you've stayed"
• 5 years - a proper recognition moment (£50-£150) with a personal message
• 10 years - a significant gift (£150-£500) and ideally a public acknowledgement
• 20+ years - the big one (£500-£1,000+) with personal involvement from senior leadership

These are guidelines, not rules. What matters is that the value scales visibly so employees can see that staying longer is genuinely valued.

Decide who delivers it

The manager should always be involved. HR can coordinate the logistics - tracking dates, ordering gifts, managing budgets - but the actual moment of recognition should come from the person who works with the employee every day.

This is where recognition budgets help. Give managers a budget and the tools to act on it. They send the gift, they write the message, they own the moment. HR stays in the loop without being the bottleneck.

Track it without making it a burden

Spreadsheets work for small teams. For anything over about 50 employees, you need a system. HRIS integrations are increasingly available to automate milestone tracking - flagging upcoming anniversaries and triggering a reminder to the manager.

Until automation is in place, a simple calendar reminder with three weeks' notice gives managers enough time to write a personal message and choose a gift.

Common mistakes to avoid

Making it entirely HR-driven. If recognition only ever comes from a central team, it feels institutional. Manager involvement is what makes it personal.

Giving the same thing to everyone. A £50 gift card at five years and a £50 gift card at fifteen years sends the wrong message. Scale it.

Forgetting remote and hybrid employees. If your office-based team gets a public presentation and your remote staff get a parcel in the post with no fanfare, you've created a two-tier experience. Huggg solves the logistics here: no addresses needed, no login required, and the recipient sorts their own delivery.

Waiting too long to start. You don't need a 20-page policy to begin. Start with your next round of five-year milestones. Use a platform like Huggg, set a budget, let managers deliver the moment, and build from there.

Are long service awards taxable in the UK?

Not always, and long service awards have their own HMRC exemption which is separate from the trivial benefits rules. Mixing the two up is the most common mistake on this topic.

A long service award is exempt from tax and National Insurance when all of the following are true:

• the employee has at least 20 years' service with you
• the award is worth no more than £50 for each year of service, so £1,000 at 20 years
• it is not cash or a cash voucher
• you have not given the same employee a similar award in the previous 10 years

That last condition is the one people trip over. If you gave a 20 year award, the 25 year award is not covered, but the 30 year one is.

Awards at shorter milestones fall outside that exemption. They may still be covered by the trivial benefits rules if they cost £50 or less per person, are not cash, are not written into a contract and are not a reward for performance. Directors of close companies have a £300 annual cap on trivial benefits.

This is not formal tax advice, so check anything specific with your accountant or HMRC. The practical point is to keep a clean record of who got what and for how much. Huggg reporting covers redemption tracking, VAT receipts and P11D tracking, so the answer is there when finance asks. There is more detail in our guide to whether employee gifts are taxable in the UK.

How to make it easy with Huggg

Huggg is built for exactly this kind of recognition. You can:

• Send gift cards across eight categories - from coffee and dining to retail and experiences - in values from £5 to £300
• Use Gift with Choice for higher-value milestones so the recipient picks what they want from a curated range
• Send to anyone without needing their address - the recipient gets a link and sorts delivery themselves
• Give managers their own recognition budgets so they can act in the moment without waiting for HR approval
• Track everything centrally with reporting and budget controls

For a full guide to setting up a recognition programme, see the 2026 Employee Gifting Handbook. And if you want to understand the wider strategy behind employee recognition, our guide to employee recognition schemes covers the detail.

Explore our plans or start gifting for free.

Frequently asked questions

What is a long service award?

A long service award is a gift or gesture given to an employee to recognise their continued commitment to the company. It's typically given at key milestones - most commonly 5, 10, 15 and 20 years - and the value usually increases with tenure.

Are long service awards taxable in the UK?

Long service awards can be tax-free under HMRC rules if the employee has been with the company for at least 20 years, the award costs no more than £50 per year of service, and it isn't cash or a cash voucher. Awards at shorter milestones may still qualify under the trivial benefits exemption (£50 or less, not linked to performance). For more detail, see our guide to employee gifts and tax implications.

How much should you spend on a long service award?

There's no fixed rule, but typical UK ranges are £50-£150 at five years, £150-£500 at ten years, and £500-£1,000+ at twenty years. The key is that the value scales visibly with tenure.

What are the best long service award gifts?

The best gifts are ones the recipient actually wants. Gift cards, experiences, and curated gift selections consistently outperform generic branded items. Giving the recipient a choice - rather than picking for them - increases redemption rates and makes the gesture feel more personal.

Should long service awards come from the manager or HR?

Both. HR should coordinate the programme - tracking milestones, managing budgets, ensuring consistency. But the actual recognition moment should come from the employee's direct manager, paired with a personal message.

Do small companies need long service awards?

Any company that wants to retain good people benefits from recognising loyalty. You don't need a formal policy - even a genuine gift and a personal note at key milestones signals that you value commitment. Start small and build from there.