Opinion
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: The benefits of group risk need to be regularly communicated
Group risk benefits, that include employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness benefits, have emerged as a must-have from the Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic as we’ve seen a fundamental shift in attitude from “it won’t” to “it could" happen to me.As well as paying out £218.7 million in Coronavirus-related death ...
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: The group risk market has risen to the challenges brought by Covid-19
The Covid-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic really has brought our human frailty to the fore. Both employers and their people have realised that during their working life there’s a real chance of dying, being extremely ill or being left with a lasting health condition as a result of contracting Coronavirus. The group ...
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: Group risk market does exactly what it says on the tin during Covid-19
Whoever says insurers do not pay out can not have come across the group risk industry, which is as ever rising to the challenge as these benefits, employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness benefits, come into their own.Over the years, whatever the catastrophic event the group risk industry ...
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: Group risk benefits can encourage better health behaviours
The group risk industry has long understood the importance, not only of early interventions, but also of preventative measures and encouraging better health behaviours in the first place. That is why group risk products, such as employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness benefits, are focused on so much ...
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: How can employers promote group risk to increase interest?
Employers want to provide an engaging package for their people. As part of that package, group risk benefits, such as employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness, throw out a financial lifeline when it is most needed. However, these benefits can be wallflowers because they provide for catastrophic events, ...
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: Why group risk protection benefits tick all the boxes
Given that the government is drawing back, no one should be without a way to protect their own financial stability and that of their family, especially because according to the Office for National Statistics' (ONS’) Quarterly sector accounts, UK: October to December 2017, published in xx the UK household’s savings ...
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OpinionChris Morgan: Key themes for employers in 2018
Every year reinsurer Swiss Re publishes a report on the group protection market, Group watch. On the face of it, more interesting to industry insiders rather than employers, there are a couple of key themes which may be of interest to employers when considering future changes to their benefit programmes.Excepted ...
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: Group risk providers go above and beyond claim payments
We all expect insurance policies to pay out when we need them and group income protection is no exception, but that is not all it does.Group risk benefits are mostly associated with catastrophic life events, such as illness, accidents, disability and death, but they can, and do, provide everyday help ...
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OpinionMark Swain: Tips for engaging younger workers with their health and wellbeing
Early-career professionals seem to have a growing mistrust of the 'big bad corporate', and anything that commits them to something over the long term. Maybe that’s symptomatic of younger people making only short-term commitments, and having many more jobs and projects over their working lifetime. And this transience is compounded ...
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OpinionSally Wilson: Simple nudges can encourage employees to look after their own health and wellbeing
There are several relatively simple steps employers can take to address wellbeing at work with the potential to reduce claims related to ill health.For musculoskeletal (MSK) health, getting the basics right is essential and display screen equipment (DSE) assessment is an important example of this. Flexible working requires a re-think ...
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OpinionDr Matthew Connell: Start the conversation about group risk benefits
In many ways, group risk benefits are the best benefits employers can offer their staff.If an employee does not have an adequate pension, they can work longer to save for one, provided they are healthy. But if someone loses their ability to work because of illness, there is no plan ...
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OpinionSally Wilson: Employers should take steps to ensure re-entry to work is sustainable after absences
Given the range of health reasons an employee may take time off for, and the variable fitness requirements for different professions, there is no one-size-fits-all role that an employer should take in workplace rehabilitation. But broadly the employer’s role is to take appropriate steps to support the individual back to ...
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OpinionKatharine Moxham: No employee should be without group risk protection
In the quest to offer a package that appeals to different generations and sectors of the workforce, there can be a tendency to over-focus on choice and flexibility, when there are some benefits that every member of the workforce needs. Take the case of a young unmarried person who might ...
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OpinionJoe Ahern: Group risk benefits and the work and health agenda
The changing nature of the UK workforce, driven by an ageing population, presents huge challenges for policymakers, businesses, and other stakeholders. Group risk benefits have a vital role to play in meeting this challenge. Group life, group critical illness, and group income protection (GIP) all address specific risks that are ...
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Opinion
Thinking differently
Remember the children’s poem ‘There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly’? There was a rather nice colourful book with holes in it that showed the strangely happy-looking woman munching her way from fly through spider through bird, cat, dog, cow and horse that ended, not surprisingly, in her ...
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OpinionClosing the digital gap
We are being bombarded by digital innovation, 365 days a year. Following a spate of ‘must-have’ apps appearing for consumers, group risk providers as a whole could still be missing one vital digital trick.Digital is everything. The internet has changed the world, and there is a world of online potential ...
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Opinion
05: What are employers' legal responsibilities when offering group risk benefits?
Most GIP policies will provide cover until retirement or a return to work, whichever is sooner, often at 50% or 75% of then current salary. Almost all potential legal problems can easily be avoided by appropriate contractual drafting.Avoiding costly errors in group risk provisionThe most costly error that employers can ...
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OpinionTom Gaynor: Employers need to demonstrate true value of employee benefits
So it is important for employers to take a long-term and holistic view of the group risk market and the issues it faces. It was evident that there is a need for insurers to explain the relevance and value of group risk benefits and demonstrate their value to both employers ...
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Opinion?Katharine Moxham: Group life assurance gives employees peace of mind
They are primarily valued for providing financial protection for employees and their families, but they can support both employers and employees with far more than that.Group life assurance gives peace of mind that families will be financially looked after if the worst happens. Any bereavement support offered alongside the policy ...
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OpinionDavid Williams: Workplace support for cancer sufferers is key
Group risk providers are now offering much-needed support for the growing number of people surviving cancer in the UK and wanting to return to the workplace. This is because cancer survival rates are increasing all the time. According to charity Cancer Research UK, 50% of adult cancer patients diagnosed between ...