The survey, which polled the opinions of 168 companies, found 82 per cent of employers thought they too should receive tax breaks. It also found 60 per cent of employers thought tax breaks on healthcare plans were the most important recommendation in the review. The second most popular recommendation amongst employers was a further review of the fit-note system, supported by 21 per cent. Only 2 per cent of employers thought a job brokering service would be beneficial.
Steve Herbert, head of benefits strategy at Jelf Employee Benefits said: “If this sickness absence review recommendation is to have any teeth, we would encourage the government to think about incentivising tax breaks for the employer first, and then the employee, and not the other way around.
“The intention of the sickness absence review was to reduce sickness absence, and clearly private healthcare has an important role to play here. The employer tax incentive could be funded by the resulting lower usage of the NHS by those covered.
“At a time when the NHS is undergoing significant reform, and charged with finding large cost savings, this must be worthy of consideration by central government as a method of both reducing NHS costs and long term sickness absence.”
