Group Income Protection

Peace of mind during times of crisis

When someone’s unwell, the last thing they need is anxiety over financial security. It’s a prospect that can cause concern among healthy employees. While the reality can hamper recovery for employees who are absent long-term. By offering Group Income Protection you provide your employees a replacement income if they can’t work for a long time because of long-term illness or injury.

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Simple to administer and cost-effective, it’s regarded as a core component of any successful benefits package. For employees, premiums aren’t treated as a benefit in kind, and for employers premiums can usually be offset against corporation tax.

You’ll need to decide:

  • What percentage of your employees’ pre-sickness salary you want your cover to provide – most employers choose between 50% and 75%.
  • How long you want the payments to continue. Normally this will be until each employee reaches state pension age, but shorter fixed terms are also available.
  • How long an employee is unable to work before payments begin (the ‘deferred period’). Most employers will choose a period that either fits in with when their own contractual obligations end which might be 13 or 26 weeks or 28 weeks to fit in with when UK statutory sick pay ceases, but other deferred period options may be available.

The benefits of Group Income Protection

Benefits for your business

  • Many rural businesses tend to have loyal, close-knit workforces and can feel honour-bound to pay uninsured long-term absent employees indefinitely. By providing Income Protection, you rule out this significant financial risk.
  • Helps you attract and retain talent as it puts you on a similar level with large employers who usually offer cover as a matter of course.
  • Cover can help manage sickness and the associated costs. Rehabilitation support can help employees get back to health and back to work more quickly – helping to reduce the length of sickness absence and the impact on your organisation.

 

Benefits for your employees

  • Highly valued by employees as the equivalent individual insurance can often be quite expensive
  • Can help to relieve money worries at a difficult time
  • Claimant feedback highlights the value of early and ongoing rehabilitation in:
    • combating isolation,
    • maintaining a sense of belonging,
    • encouraging physical recovery
  • which combine to facilitate a successful and appropriately managed return to work.

Early intervention by insurers

Although policy payments won’t commence until after the deferred period, earlier valuable support might still be available from insurers to help both the employee and employer – even during the deferred period!  Depending on the nature and severity of the employees’ illness or injury, early notification at outset will give insurers the option to intervene more immediately. This might be by the insurer arranging specialist treatment or facilities such as occupational health, and supporting employers to manage their employees return to work.

Budget considerations

  • Highly cost-effective, as you can cover all your employees, or everyone in a clearly defined group or grade.
  • The rehabilitation service has proved so effective that income protection is increasingly seen as a wise employer investment too.
  • An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is often included at no additional cost.

Find out more

To find out more or to discuss your options in more detail, the expert team at CLA Healthcare are on hand to help.

Call 01274 717361 or email healthcare@cla.org.uk to find out more.

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