Managing ill health

Figures recently released show that in 2009, employer- funded PMI policies fell by 4.7% which I think is mainly attributable to businesses failing or reducing their headcount in the recession rather than removing private healthcare provision.  Levels of corporate PMI are driven by levels of employment. When the economic climate is good, insurers increase their volume of business which contracts in a downturn.  But this time round there is an interesting paradox which could see some forward thinking insurers reverse this trend. (more…)

Much is said about the important role that line managers have in reducing sickness absence – particularly long term absence – yet there isn’t a great deal of guidance around for them.  A new ‘Competency Framework for Managers to Support Return to Work’  has been produced by a research consortium and funded by the British Occupational Health Research Foundation.  It’s a very straight forward and common sense approach which I think is worth sharing.  However, its success will very much depend on the organisational support available to line managers as they can’t do this on their own. (more…)

In the big debate currently going on about the level of immigration to the UK, one of the measures being considered by the coalition is to make employers pay for private healthcare for migrant workers they take on from outside the EU.  In the proposals, migrant workers who have been transferred in by multi-national companies – 30,000 since the end of 2008 -  are currently excluded but this area is also being reviewed.  I haven’t seen any employer reaction to this as yet but here are some of my thoughts. (more…)

Contrary to some commentators predictions, the Chancellor did not double the current rate of IPT to 10%.  Whilst Travel Insurance saw its tax rise to 20% from 17.5% – and I’m not clear as to why there is this anomaly – General Insurance which includes Private Medical Insurance, saw its tax rise to just 6% on all premiums.

This isn’t going to start a stampede to more self funding of health care, but bear in mind that the average rate of IPT in Europe is 10% so the Chancellor has plenty of room to play with later. Once we hit double figures, I think this will tip the balance towards greater self funding through health care trusts on which no IPT is currently levied.

UNUM, the Life and Income Protection insurer has just gone to press with research that shows that the level of stress related long term absence reported by their clients has reduced by 10% over the last four years. This seems to fly in the face of many other pieces of research by mental health agencies and service providers which I have questioned elsewhere. I have greater confidence in the UNUM stats because they are based on actual claims made rather than an arbitrary survey of employers who might not keep the best absence records. 

This news also justifies my assertion that we are beginning to see positive results from all the time and effort that employers have been putting into health and wellbeing over the last few years. Yes, there’s always room for improvement but it is certainly not the doom and gloom spread by many agencies to further their own cause or the sale of their own services.

Royal Mail has recently revealed that of the 2,900 Fit Notes it has received to date, only 31 of them gave any indication as to what an absent employee may be able to do at work.  At the same time Dr Bill Gunnyeon, Chief Medical Adviser to the DWP has admitted that one of the biggest problems employers face is the eligibility of GPs’ handwriting -  I’m not joking. All fit notes were supposed to be completed electronically on a new IT system by the end of this year, but according to Dr Bill, this is now highly unlikely. 

If they don’t contain any advice and you can’t read them when they do, I can fully understand why a large client has decided to completely ignore them in their rehabilitation process.  We’ve got a long way to go to turn Dame Carol Black’s vision into reality.