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Over the last few years, we have seen a real shift in public attitude towards health and wellbeing. The pandemic made many
people re-evaluate their health and with increased pressure on NHS services,
resulting in longer wait times and a cost-of-living crisis, we are now seeing more people prioritising their health and exploring how they can access services.
As a result, employee health and wellbeing has moved up the corporate agenda. Companies across all sectors are looking for cost effective ways to provide valuable health benefits. We are seeing a vast proportion of our new sales from companies that have not offered cash plan benefits in the past, with a real appetite from sectors which typically offered very little in terms of employee benefits. We have also seen that organisations are no longer looking for health benefits
simply for their senior employees, but for their entire workforce.
The first Corporate Adviser Corporate Cash & Dental Plans Report found there has been a YOY growth in the number of UK businesses offering their employees’ health cash
plans as part of their employee benefits (currently 1.6 million employees are covered). It was extremely insightful to be part of a discussion with intermediaries looking
at how the demand for cash plans has increased, how they can provide greater flexibility for organisations, offer a ‘whole workforce’ solution, and understand what more can be done to meet the changing demand for healthcare.
At Simplyhealth, we recognise through supporting the health and wellbeing of employees, employers are ultimately impacting the overall health of the nation. Affordable health cash plans, like those we offer, provide quick access to services like 24/7 GPs, face-to-face counselling, physio, eye-care and scans. Unlike more traditional PMI health insurance, health cash plans are affordable enough to be made available to all employees.
There are several benefits of having an employee health and wellbeing programme, for the individuals themselves, for the companies, and for the economy.
For individuals, increased pressure on the NHS and a new appreciation of the importance of good health post-Covid, means people are looking at how they can better access healthcare and support. Through a workplace provision, employers can provide access to services, which typically have a long wait time, meaning people can get support sooner and maintain good health. Indeed people are now expecting their companies to prioritise both their mental and physical wellbeing.
Absenteeism can have a significant effect on companies’ productivity. During our roundtable discussion, it was noted that sickness absence is increasing, and more conversations are taking place about what employers can do, particularly with that tranche of the working population that to
date have been largely uninsured and unsupported when it comes to healthcare benefits. This demographic is often where we are seeing the biggest increases in both absence and job dissatisfaction. A cash plan can provide companies with an attractive benefits package that is cost effective to obtain and retain staff.
Employee absences in 2021 resulted in a total cost of £20.6bn to the UK economy, with the sickness absence rate at its highest since 2010. Research released by the British Chambers of Commerce (1) found that most of the UK’s workforce exodus (500,000 people have left the UK labour market since the beginning of Covid-19) has been driven by a surge in long-term illness. Through supporting employees with health provision, benefiting them in terms of both the prevention and management of conditions, organisations can work towards reducing the cost of absence.
The opportunity to support the workforce of the UK is huge, all agreed on the day that from an employers’ point of view cash plans were low cost, had a simple product design, and the relatively high claims ratio means staff were likely to use and value the product. In 2022 more than 2.3 million claims were made on corporate health cash plans, and we’re proud to say that out of those surveyed, we paid out the highest number of claims.
However, we need to consider how to evolve these plans to meet the needs of a modern workforce, particularly in terms of wellbeing support. Intermediaries are keen for providers to broaden the range of benefits available to reflect the current situations within the wider environment. At Simplyhealth we are continually exploring how we can evolve our product, one of the ways we are doing this is through partnerships to enable us to improve access to services that customers really want and need.