Long Service Award Ideas: What to Give at 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Years

A long service award is meant to say one thing: we noticed what you have given us. Too often it arrives as the same plaque or voucher, whether the person has been with you for five years or twenty-five.

This guide gives practical long service award ideas for each milestone, from 5 years to 25 years and beyond. For every stage you will find experience ideas and non-experience options, followed by advice on presenting the award and a plain-English summary of how the UK tax exemption works, because it should shape which years you reward and how.

Three questions to answer before you pick an award

Before choosing anything, settle three things.

Who decides? A gift chosen by HR says "we have a process". A gift chosen by the employee, within a budget you set, says "we know you are not the same as everyone else". The more years someone has given you, the stronger the case for letting them choose.

What scale? Most schemes scale the value with the milestone, so a 20-year award is clearly worth more than a 5-year award. Agree the tiers once, write them down and apply them to everyone in the same way.

How will it be presented? The award is half the message. The words, the timing and who is in the room are the other half. There is a section on this below.

Ideas for 5 years of service

Five years is a real commitment, made through reorganisations and new managers. The award should feel personal, not ceremonial.

Experience ideas:

• Dinner for two at a restaurant they have been meaning to try

• A cooking, wine tasting or cocktail class

• Tickets to a match, a concert or a show they would choose themselves

Non-experience ideas:

• A quality item connected to a hobby, such as running gear, a board game collection or kitchen equipment

• A handwritten letter from their manager naming specific things they have done

• A donation in their name to a charity they care about

Ideas for 10 years of service

A decade is the milestone most people remember. It is also the point where the award starts to be noticed by everyone else in the team, so it signals what loyalty is worth in your organisation.

Experience ideas:

• A weekend away for two, somewhere they choose

• A spa or wellness day, alone or with their partner

• A course they have put off for years: pottery, sailing, a language, photography

• A sporting experience such as a track day, a golf lesson with a professional or a hot air balloon flight

Non-experience ideas:

• A product they have wanted for a long time: a camera, a bicycle, a good watch

• A personalised piece, such as a framed print of a place that matters to them

If you want to run the 10, 15, 20 and 25-year milestones as one consistent scheme across every office, our long service award scheme is built around the employee choosing, with a human concierge arranging the reward in any country.

Ideas for 15 years of service

At 15 years, rewards that involve the people closest to the employee tend to land best.

Experience ideas:

• A short break with their family or partner

• A celebration dinner for them and the people they choose

• A masterclass or retreat linked to a long-held interest

Non-experience ideas:

• Something for the home: a piece of furniture, a garden project, a home cinema item

• A commissioned item, such as artwork or a piece of jewellery

A UK note on 15 years. If you plan to make an exempt award at 20 years, think carefully before giving a long service award at 15. HMRC counts any earlier long service award from you in the 10 years before the 20-year award, taxed or not. More on this below.

Ideas for 20 years of service

Twenty years is where long service awards become formal in many organisations, and in the UK it is also the point where the tax exemption starts. Under HMRC's rules a qualifying non-cash award can be worth up to £1,000 at 20 years without tax or National Insurance.

Experience ideas:

• A holiday abroad, with travel and accommodation arranged for them

• A trip to a place with personal meaning, such as where their family comes from

• A once-in-a-lifetime experience: a safari day, a northern lights trip, a private chef at home

• An experience shared with the people they choose: solo, with a partner, friends or family

Non-experience ideas:

• A traditional keepsake, such as a watch or a piece of jewellery, if that is what the employee wants

• A significant product for a passion: a bike, a musical instrument, professional camera kit

Ideas for 25 years and beyond

At 25, 30 and 40 years you are recognising a large part of someone's working life. Visibility matters here: a speech from a senior leader, a gathering of the colleagues they have worked with and a written record of what they have built.

Experience ideas:

• A longer trip, planned with their partner or family

• A celebration event with colleagues past and present

• An experience they would never book for themselves, chosen with the help of a concierge

Non-experience ideas:

• A meaningful object, engraved or personalised

• A gift that marks the next chapter, particularly if they are approaching retirement

Quick reference by milestone

How to present the award so it lands

Get the timing right. An award that arrives weeks after the date says the milestone was an afterthought. Flag each one well ahead so the manager has time to make it personal.

Make the words specific. "Thank you for 10 years" is forgettable. "Thank you for building the team that runs our Leeds office, and for training half the people in it" is not. Ask the manager to name real contributions.

Choose the room carefully. Recognition in front of the team gives the award weight, but some people dislike the spotlight. Ask first, and offer a smaller setting if they prefer.

Put it in writing. A letter from the manager or a senior leader is often kept long after the award is used.

Let them choose who shares it. Many of the best long service awards are enjoyed with a partner, children or friends. Let the employee decide.

The milestones in between, such as one and three years, need the same care on a smaller scale. Our guide to work anniversary recognition covers those years. To see how Mojo flags each date, alerts the manager and lets the employee choose, read how it works.

UK tax treatment: the HMRC £50 per year rule

HMRC exempts a long service award from tax and National Insurance, with nothing to report, when all of these conditions apply:

• It is not cash. Cash never qualifies. The legislation also excludes cash vouchers.

• The employee has worked for you for at least 20 years.

• The award is worth not more than £50 per year of service. HMRC's own example is a non-cash award of up to £1,000 for 20 years' service.

• You have not given them a long service award in the last 10 years.

Awards made through a salary sacrifice arrangement must be reported.

When an award does not qualify, the treatment depends on its form. A cash award counts as earnings, so you deduct PAYE tax and Class 1 National Insurance through payroll. A non-cash award to someone with less than 20 years' service is reported on form P11D, with Class 1A National Insurance on the full value. For a qualifying employee, a non-cash award worth more than the limit is also reported on the P11D, with Class 1A National Insurance on the value above £50 per year of service.

The 10-year rule has a practical consequence for scheme design. HMRC's manual says every earlier long service award from the same employer counts towards the 10-year test, whether it was taxed or not. So an award at 15 years means a 20-year award will not be exempt, and an award at 20 years means a 25-year award will not be exempt. Awards at 20 and 30 years can each qualify. If tax efficiency matters to you, plan the years you reward with your payroll provider before you announce the scheme.

This is general information, not tax advice. Your payroll provider or accountant decides how each award is treated. For the wider rules on employee gifts, see our page on UK employee recognition and HMRC.

Make every milestone feel personal

The best long service award ideas share one thing: they fit the person, not the catalogue. Whether it is dinner at five years or a trip at twenty, an award the employee chose and enjoyed with the people they love says more than any plaque. If you would like every milestone handled this way, in every country you employ people, see how a managed long service award scheme from Mojo Gift works, with the employee choosing and a human concierge arranging the rest.