Private medical insurance: getting the treats without the tricks!
Make sure you’re armed with plenty of ‘treats’ this Halloween to avoid the ‘tricks’ meted out by scary skeletons, ghoulish ghosts and … Little Bo Peep (there’s always one, usually my little girl!).
Don’t miss a trick
We all relish a fright or two at this time of year but in terms of our business and home lives, most of us agree that it’s best to plan for the worst. To keep unpleasant surprises to a minimum from a business perspective, we keep up to date on new legislation (watch this space for news on the upcoming pensions changes from our partner, Mercer) and make sure we have adequate insurances in place. For many businesses, this means making sure that vehicles and premises are covered and that there is a public/employers’ liability policy in place. Those businesses may be missing a trick (!).
Employee benefits
By making sure relevant employees are protected by private medical insurance, employers take the next step in minimising surprises. Who wants Tom, their top performing sales manager, out of action for months? More importantly, who can afford for that to happen? With private medical insurance, you can protect your people (and your balance sheet) by helping them to avoid ever-spiralling NHS waiting lists. What’s more, private medical insurance means that Tom can choose a convenient time for his treatment. Good news for him: no need to cancel his holiday plans. Good news for the business: you can rely on him to bring in sales during your busiest period.
Employee benefits for small businesses?
Sounds like an all year round treat? Maybe not as for some small businesses, their private medical insurance costs, especially renewals, can actually contain a fair few frights. Research by Mercer reveals that small and medium enterprises face higher premiums for providing private medical insurance in 2011. On average, premiums for smaller businesses have increased by 10% since 2010 (while large firms have seen an increase of 4.9%). Donna Biggs, principal at Mercer, says “We push our financial advisers for the best deals in our personal life but SME owners seem to largely forget these lessons when addressing private medical insurance for their staff”. Maybe there is something we can learn from the ‘trick or treaters’ – if we don’t ask, we don’t get.
Here at Sage we are excited to have teamed up with Mercer, a leading employee benefits consultancy, to level the playing field between larger and smaller employers when it comes to employee benefits, like private medical insurance and income protection. Check out www.sage.co.uk/employeebenefits for full details.
We look forward to keeping you updated on employee benefits issues but in the meantime, good luck on fright night! Preparations are in full swing here, time to help Little Bo Peep find her…
Lucy Cook, Small Business Team
