NEWS
BT helps staff cut cancer risk
BT is helping its employees reduce their cancer risk by encouraging changes in their behaviour.
Landmark ruling on new age laws
A claim that forcing employees out at age 65 is discriminatory has been thrown out by the European court.
New tax rule suspended
Fears that tax changes to health screens would lead to a reduction in the numbers using them has forced a government rethink.
Will it be a merry Christmas for EAPs?
The campaign to confirm the tax status of Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs) has become a race against time.
PMI policies must be clearer on cancer cover
Health insurers must give more detailed descriptions of the cancer cover they offer says the Association of British Insurers (ABI).
Bupa boosts IP payouts
Employees with Bupa group income protection cover can now receive a maximum benefit of 75pc of their income, regardless of any state incapacity benefit entitlement.
Prudential "revolutionises" the protection market
Life insurance, income protection and critical illness can now be bought on a points-basis like PruHealth's private medical insurance (PMI).
HR professionals working longer hours
More HR professionals are working longer hours, according to the CIPD.
Norwich Union tackles absence with automated reporting system
Norwich Union Healthcare has launched a telephone-based recording and reporting system to help employers manage absence and speed up the return to work.
KPMG offer staff modern musculo-skeletal therapy
KPMG is offering its staff a new and sophisticated way of managing musculo-skeletal problems.
Axa PPP expands well-being offering
Increasing demand for employee well-being and rehabilitation services has led to two new alliances in the health sector.
Health is valued benefit
Bupa's Health of the Nation survey has revealed that private medical insurance (PMI) comes second only to a pension as a desirable employee benefit.
Health screens get new tax rules
Health screening must be offered to all employees or will become eligible for tax from next week
Virgin Media sets up healthcare trust
Virgin Media is setting up a healthcare trust to provide BUPA private medical insurance to its 13,000 employees for the next three years. The trust was set up to provide for the combined operations of NTL and Telewest which merged earlier this year to form Virgin Media.
Poll reveals employers will drop benefit if EAPs are taxed
A staggering 86pc of employers who offer an employee assistance programme (EAP) would consider withdrawing it if it became taxable.
BUPA customers get free well-being assessments
Bupa has unveiled free online health assessment tool for all of its customers. The service, which was exclusively revealed in Employee Rewards & Benefits magazine in June, will give employees confidential 24/7 online access – at home or work – to a series of health assessments focusing on nutrition, fitness, sleep and stress.
Risk benefits under threat
Half of employers believe age legislation has made the provision of life cover, income protection and private medical insurance less sustainable. The findings come from Watson Wyatt’s 2007 Risk Benefit survey, which quizzed 130 UK employers.
EAPA to create guidelines to avoid tax charge - exclusive video interview
A set of guidelines is being drawn up to prevent employee assistance programmes becoming liable for tax. In an exclusive interview with ERB the chairman of the Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) Eric Marshall explained that he hopes the framework will help provide clarity on what is and what is not allowed within EAPs.
New guidelines offer hope for EAPs
A set of guidelines is being drawn up to prevent employee assistance programmes becoming liable for tax. The Employee Assistance Professionals Association (EAPA) hopes the framework will help provide clarity on what is and what is not allowed within EAPs.
Well-being soars in use
Well-being strategies have soared in use at employers over the last year according to a new survey from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). Its annual absence management survey of more than 800 organisations, reveals that 42pc of organisations have implemented a well-being strategy compared to just 26pc for the previous year.
NHS authority goes private for staff healthcare
NHS Blood and Transplant has commenced private sector occupational health services for its 6000 employees. The special health authority, which provides blood, organs and associated services to the NHS, will have medical assessments for its employees carried out at 15 national treatment centres.
Revenue spells out the law on EAPs
The Revenue has spelt out situations in which an EAP would be liable for tax and where it would not. This follows commotion among benefit professional following the Revenue’s move to charge another government department £1.5m on its use of an EAP – the most high profile instance of an EAP being taxed.
Whitbread chooses Bupa
Whitbread has chosen Bupa to provide healthcare to around 1500 senior employees for the next three years.
EAPs under threat from taxman
An urgent campaign is underway to overturn HMRC’s decision to tax a government department £1.5m for their employee assistance programme (EAP). EAPs are generally exempt from tax because they are viewed as a wellbeing service, but because they provide financial and legal assistance they can fall foul of the taxman.
BUPA sells its hospitals in billion pound deal
BUPA is to sell its 25 UK hospitals to the European private equity firm Cinven for £1.44 billion. The deal is in effect a break-up of Bupa, splitting the operation of its hospitals, which generates 11pc of its income away from its much larger concern of running private medical insurance.
28 days greater
Eight additional days' statutory holiday are being phased in by the government from this October. From this date the minimum annual paid holiday will increase by four days for full-time workers to 24 days (including bank holidays). Then, from October 1, 2008 it will increase by another four days, to 28 days.
Aegon Scottish Equitable extends group life cover to age 75
Aegon Scottish Equitable has raised the termination age to 75 for its group life products, following changes in FSA legislation. Following the decision of the FSA to remove the age and term conditions from its definition of a ‘pure protection’ contract, from June 6 group risk providers are now able to offer group life cover above the age of 70.
Bupa to offer wellness to all policyholders
Bupa is to offer online health assessments to PMI policyholders from this summer. The health assessments, through wellness provider Vielife, have been offered on an ad hoc basis to clients that requested them, but it is believed that they will now become part and parcel of the Bupa offering.
Top employers campaign for eldercare tax and NI break
A coalition of employers and providers is lobbying the government for a new benefit offering tax breaks for carers. Care Vouchers would provide tax and NI exemptions in the same way as childcare vouchers and BT, Ford, HSBC, IBM and Lloyds TSB are all backing the campaign alongside voucher provider Accor Services.
Glaxo offers cut price health screens
GlaxoSmithKline has launched discounted Bupa health screens and bikes4work through salary sacrifice on a voluntary basis for staff. Both new benefits can be accessed through a special web portal, that includes the previously launched childcare vouchers, and allows employees to measure the impact on their salary before they commit to any of the benefits.
New cancer cover - £30 per year at 30 years old and £60 at 60
An affordable way of providing access to life-saving cancer drugs denied by the NHS has been launched by WPA. The health insurer's new scheme ‘mycancerdrugs’ provides £50,000 towards expensive drugs, such as Herceptin and Avastin for people who do not already have medical insurance.
Council cuts absence through EAP
Westminster City Council has attributed a large drop in sickness absence to the implementation of an employee assistance programme. It has seen rates fall from 10.5 days per employee to 8 days since April last year. The drop matches the success the DWP has seen in cutting sickness absence after it extended the services on offer in its EAP.
Flexible working moves mainstream
A report by the British Chambers of Commerce has revealed the extent to which UK employers are providing flexible working. Just under 90pc of the businesses who took part in the survey ‘Work and Life: How business is striking the right balance’ say they provide their employees with some form of flexible working.
DWP rejects incentives to beat absenteeism
The Department for Work & Pensions (DWP) has rejected using incentives to help cut sickness absence rates. The announcement made at the CBI/ Axa Absence Management Conference this week is a U-turn on comments made just over a year previously, when DWP minister Lord Hunt said that money for incentives had been set aside to tackle average absence rates of 12.6pc a year.
Public sector keeps sickness absence high
Workers took an average of seven days off sick last year – a rise of half a day on 2005. Average absences ranged from three days a year to 12 according to the latest CBI/ AXA survey, which calculates that the total days lost for all employers is 175 million at a cost to the economy of £13.4bn.
Denplan reports record growth
Denplan has seen a third of a million patients join in 2006 following controversial reforms that have cut back NHS provision. In the three months following the reforms - which have sent around 10pc of practices private - Denplan registered more new patients than in the whole of 2005.
L&G makes bold claim on income protection
Legal & General claims to have answered employers concerns over the cost and relevancy of income protection with a new plan that it bills Progressive. Key features are premiums estimated at 20pc below average, a commitment to finding alternative employment within four years and the ability, where necessary, for L&G to pay salary, pension contributions and life insurance premiums for the employee beyond that time frame.
Bupa looks to outflank PruHealth
Bupa is to challenge PruHealth by rewarding employees who do not claim on their private medical insurance.
First musculo-skeletal cash plan launched
A corporate healthcare cash plan that focuses almost exclusively on musculoskeletal problems has been launched by Westfield Health.
 |
 |
|
