Death in Service Benefits
Death in service benefits generally refers to one or more of the following:
- life assurance
- spouses' pension
- dependants' pension
- return of personal contributions, as provided by a pension scheme, on a member's death in service before retirement.
Group Life Assurance (Including Spouse's Pension)
Group life assurance, which is a type of death-in-service benefit, provides a lump sum for an employee's family should that employee die while in an organisation's service.
It is covers all or a group of employees under a master policy and the employees usually do not need a medical examination.
Spouse's Pensions
A pension payable under a company pension scheme to the spouse of the individual in the scheme following the death of the individual in the scheme. The maximum amount payable is 2/3rds of the member's expected pension at the normal retirement age.
Income Protection
Group income protection provides replacement salary if someone is unable to work for 28 weeks or more, prior to this statutory sick pay rates apply. Many providers offer this salary replacement for set periods, such as five years.
Private Medical Cover
Group medical insurance, also known as employer paid medical insurance, always comes at or near the top of surveys of benefits offered to employees.
Benefits of Group Medical Insurance
- Employees appreciate the convenience of avoiding possibly long waits for consultations and treatment
- Hospital admissions can be at a time to suit them and the employer
- Time away from work is reduced
- Offering private cover can help with both recruitment and staff retention
How do group medical insurance policies work?
- Group medical insurance schemes can include just two employees but groups of three or more employees give access to more choice
- The employer must pay for employees but families may be included, paid for by the employer or by the employee to the employer.
- It is a benefit in kind but is very much less costly for employees than a personal policy bought from taxed income
Medical Cash Plans
Cash Plans are cheap insurance policies that pay out a sum towards the cost of a variety of treatments. Cash sums can be paid to you should you have to go to hospital , need to see a specialist, visit a dentist or an optician, give birth to a child, or seek alternative therapies. Cash plans are aimed at helping with the daily health expenses that many of us need.
Exactly what is covered varies between plans, but on the whole they encourage the policyholder to seek and receive early investigation and treatment of medical problems. Some policies will be more specialised, and may be individually expanded to include things like home illness treatment.
What are the advantages of a cash plan?
Cash plans do not require the would-be policyholder to have a full medical examination before joining. Cash plans may also be used to contribute towards dental and optical treatment, as well as other categories of treatment. When one or more parents are covered by a cash plan policy, children will often be included free of charge. Importantly, the cost of premiums does not increase as time goes on, unlike many other types of insurance.
It is important to remember that cash plans are not private medical insurance. They started out as hospital cash plans (and paid a lump sum if the policyholder had to go to hospital) but have now evolved into a form of healthcare that complements the National Health Service by paying for everyday medical problems.
Group Travel
Benefit from group rates that cover holidays/travel on an annual basis.
Critical Illness
People are living longer and healthier lives than ever before. But the risk of contracting a critical illness still remains. Fortunately, the chances of surviving a critical illness have never been better but survival creates its own set of challenges for employers and employees.
Group Critical Illness Insurance enables employers to protect their employees should they suffer any one of a list of specified critical illness events , surgical procedures or permanent total disability. Employees' children (including stepchildren and legally adopted children) may also be covered.
In the event of one of the listed critical illness occurring, policies generally provide a tax-free lump sum paid directly to the affected employee. This will ease some of the financial problems that will inevitably occur such as medical expenses, making adjustments at home and mortgage payments.
Critical Illness Insurance is an increasingly popular employee benefit which will help employers recruit and retain key staff.
Employee Assistance Programmes
An employee assistance programme (EAP) is put in place to help employees deal with any issues - at home or work - that if left unchecked could cause stress or impact well-being, with the obvious knock-on effects of lowering productivity and increasing absenteeism.
EAPs principally comprise a counselling service, provided by qualified specialists, who can address a range of issues - from personal and emotional problems, to providing legal and financial advice. Typically, the service is accessed via telephone, but face-to-face sessions can also be provided for serious problems. For an HR department that does not have as much time as it would like to devote to such matters, an EAP provides the solution.
Employers have a range of responsibilities to employees, especially in light of EU legislation. Factors such as stress management, health and safety and duty of care, must all be taken into consideration.
Looking after employees is also looking after the interests of the organisation - the number of employees citing work-related anxiety and depression has doubled in a decade to more than one million, while the mental health charity Mind claims 12.8 million working days a year are lost to work-related stress alone. Providing an independent and confidential support mechanism will, therefore, help ensure employees deal with any problems before they seriously impact on the workplace.