Aviva UK Health has introduced a new healthcare trust option on its optimum private medical insurance (PMI) healthcare cover, called Corporate Excess.

Employers choosing the new option will have a corporate excess of about 80% of the predicted claims set on the policy, from which employee claims are paid.

The advantage of funding employees’ healthcare cover through Corporate Excess is that it will not attract insurance premium tax (IPT).

HM Revenue and Customs have confirmed that employee taxes are charged on the average annual cost of the product per employee, where the corporate excess is held in trust and is not refundable.

The option is available to employers with over 250 employees taking out Optimum PMI cover.

Aviva UK Health head of PMI Nick Reynold said: “We’re pleased that with the introduction of the new Corporate Excess option on our Optimum PMI scheme, a wider range of employers can benefit from the same cost efficiencies that our larger corporate healthcare customers enjoy.

“We know from our corporate customers that they place high value on providing health cover for employees, but with economic challenges they increasingly require flexibility in how their scheme is funded, as well as the level of cover offered.”

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