For employers, government health initiatives targeted at employees are normally a good thing. After all, a healthy workforce is more likely to be a productive workforce. Earlier this year, it was announced that the government was proposing to ask employers to invest in vaccinations and medical check-ups for employees. While this would be a huge benefit to employees, it may not be universally welcomed by employers.
Employers have already suffered a marked government-led increase in employment costs over the past few years, mostly recently the hike in employer national insurance contributions and increases to the national minimum wage, which came into effect in April. Taking on yet more cost will simply be out of the question for many, particularly for smaller employers.
While, thankfully, the government has indicated it will not force employers to take on this additional responsibility, the bitter pill of additional employment cost will need to be sweetened before employers will swallow it. Certain labour-intensive sectors, such as retail and construction, are likely to feel the squeeze more acutely.
A good start would be overhauling the current tax rules on health-related matters to make them more straightforward to administer and to widen their scope. For example, employers can provide tax-exempt flu vaccines to employees, but this must be done in a specific manner, including via the use of vouchers or directly procuring vaccines for use in the workplace. Employers cannot simply reimburse vaccination costs to employees under the current rules.
More widely, to make this more attractive for employers, the government should look at significantly widening the scope of tax-free employer provided medical insurance and treatment. Currently, medical treatment in the UK is only normally exempt where it is needed to get someone back to work, and the relief is limited to £500.
Lee McIntyre-Hamilton is an employment tax partner at Keystone Law