All areas of workplace protection have grown in 2022, with the biggest growth seen in the group PMI market, up 10.9 per cent amongst providers sharing consecutive years’ data, according to figures from the Workplace Protection & Wellbeing Report 2023, published by Corporate Adviser Intelligence. CLICK TO RECEIVE YOUR COPY
Axa Health is the largest group private medical insurer to disclose the number of employees it covers. Bupa was the biggest
provider last year, but did not provided updated information for this year’s report, citing ‘commercial sensitivity’, despite
having disclosed its figures in previous years.
Group income protection and group critical illness both increased the number of employees covered by over 5 per cent, while there are now more than 10.1m employees covered on group life policies – a 1.3 per cent increase on 2022, according to data collected by Corporate Adviser directly from providers for the report.
Canada Life has increased its market share in the group risk market, and remains both the largest group life and group critical
illness provider — in terms of both employees and employers covered.
Unum has seen the fastest growth in the group life sector – with the number of employees covered up by more than a third
year on year. L&G has increased the number of employers it works with by more than 20 per cent.
In the GIP sector Aviva has now overtaken Unum to be the largest provider in terms of number of employees covered. Unum
though remains the biggest provider in terms of number of employers’ schemes. Unum has overtaken Aviva in the group
critical illness sector, becoming the second largest provider.
YuLife has seen some of the strongest growth in 2022, particularly in terms of number of employer schemes, albeit it from a
much smaller starting point.
The report shows that 1.6m employees are now covered on corporate cash plans, a 1 per cent year-on-year increase. This is the fourth consecutive year the cash plan market has grown, and advisers predict even greater growth in 2023, with a strong start for the year in the sector.
More than 2.3m claims were made on cash plans in 2022 – making it arguable the most called-upon employee benefit.
Medicash is the biggest player in the cash plan market, in terms of the number of employees covered. Claims ratios on cash plans have regained much of the ground lost during the pandemic, when the numbers able to claim cash plan benefits fell significantly.
There has been a surge in launches of specialist standalone wellbeing providers, with an increased focus on digital services
Most standalone wellbeing providers offer physical and mental health support services. A far smaller number offer genuine
financial wellbeing support. Almost all wellbeing providers included in this report now offer digital apps and capability, with the option of face-to-face options for services such as talking therapies
The report concludes that standalone wellbeing providers demonstrate a focus on delivering extensive MI to employers to help demonstrate ROI.
Corporate Adviser Intelligence head of research John Greenwood says: “The workplace healthcare and protection sector has proved itself to be remarkably resilient against a challenging inflationary background. There has been grown in all main product lines, with more employees now covered on group life, group income protection, group critical illness, private medical insurance and cash plans than there were a year ago.
“This growth comes amid surging NHS waiting lists, and a renewed focus on all aspects of health and wellbeing post Covid,
particularly in relation to mental health. At the same time well-documented labour shortages across many sectors has led to
some employers reviewing benefit packages with a view to boosting recruitment and retention policies.
“These factors have clearly driven interest in a range of health and protection policies, although this demand will have been
dampened by budgetary pressures at many employers, particularly as medical inflation is again causing premiums to rise.
Providers have looked to address these concerns by focusing on overall value, and have continued again this year to add to
the number of support service that are now available to access digitally via these main product lines. As the cost-of-living
crisis started to manifest in 2022 some of these propositions have been extended to address financial wellbeing. There has
also been an increased focus on flexibility and better management information, helping employers understand and monitor
improvements in the wellbeing challenge faced by many employees today.”