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14 Jan 2020
by Katharine Moxham

Employers’ role in protecting employees’ wellbeing is set to expand in 2020, says GRiD

It’s that time of year when we all become clairvoyants. Fortunately we don’t all use the same crystal ball and there’s a great variety of predictions to choose from, so here’s my take on what employers might expect in 2020.

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Improving financial resilience

Behind the scenes during 2019 there has been a cross-industry direction of change via the Access to Insurance Working Group (which is now reporting into the Cabinet Office), and this initiative will continue into 2020 and beyond. As charged by the then Minister of State for Disabled People, Health and Work, Sarah Newton MP, the working group’s priority is to improve consumer access to protection insurance, particularly for those with long-term health conditions and disabilities, thus improving outcomes and financial resilience for the UK’s population.

The workplace is key to this aim. Group risk (employer-sponsored life assurance, income protection and critical illness) is inclusive in nature and, generally, a generous level of cover can be given to all members of a group policy regardless of their state of health and without them having to go through the tedious process of submitting medical evidence. It’s also easy for employees as they don’t have to find a financial adviser or worry about it being affordable, good value or the cost of advice, as their employer has done all that for them.

It's important to acknowledge that employers don’t have to offer any of these benefits. However, those that do make a significant difference to support the financial, physical and emotional health and wellbeing (not to mention, peace of mind) of nearly 13 million employees who have access to material levels of financial protection through the group risk market, according to Swiss Re Group Watch 2019 figures.

The industry will be working with government during 2020 to help make it easier for more employers (especially SMEs) to protect their people against the financial devastation that households experience following a loss of earnings as a result of death, disability, illness or accident. In turn, we’d urge employers to consider what more they can do to improve their workforce’s financial resilience.

Statement of written particulars

Following the Taylor Review, there are legislative changes under the government’s Good Work Plan coming into force in April 2020. This means that employers must give employees access to a written statement of various particulars of their employment on day one or before, and amongst other things, this now needs to include their entitlement to sick pay. The period of “purdah” in the run up to the general election means that guidance for employers hasn’t yet been issued (as at the time of writing). So employers, HR and advisers will need to move quickly to get on top of these changes.

Over time, this change means that employees will have a better grasp of what, if any, sick pay they are entitled to from their employer. This, in turn, will rightly eliminate the guesswork and head in the sand/my-employer-will-take-care-of-me approach, which commonly means that people don't buy personal income protection because they think they won't need it. Employees need to move beyond guesswork and assumption so they can make a better-informed decision on whether they need to make their own provision. It may well transpire that employees move towards lobbying their employer to do more for them if there is little or no provision beyond Statutory Sick Pay.

Health and wellbeing

The government’s expectations that employers take an active role in supporting the physical, mental, social and financial health of their employees is likely to continue to gather momentum during 2020. Employers with group risk in place will find help is readily available for this, not just because they’ve insured their financial liabilities, but also because there’s a whole host of extra help, support and advice that comes along with a group risk policy.

This can include access to an Employee Assistance Programme, second medical opinion, fast-track access to counselling and physiotherapy, advice on workstation modifications and making reasonable adjustments under the Equality Act, mediation and more.  Often the extras are focused on proactive health, e.g. access to a GP service 24/7, dietary advice, encouragement for getting and staying active, apps and much more. 

Employers, without all this inbuilt help, will need to consider how they’re going to meet government’s expectations.

Equality and diversity

We live in an ever-changing and diverse society, and employers will be looking at how they can continue to meet the needs of their evolving workforce. The recently published CII/Scope good practice guidance – Achieving an inclusive working environment for disabled people – lays down five challenges to employers:

  • sign up to the DWP Disability Confident scheme
  • help raise awareness of disabilities, seen and unseen, to remove barriers – for example, sharing the CII animation on invisible illness could help educate people on the different forms they can take
  • implement the suggestions outlined in the report (if you haven’t done so already)
  • collect disability data and report this information publicly, perhaps even in the careers section of your website
  • celebrate achievements and progress made in supporting employees with disability.

Hopefully 2020 will see more employers rising to these challenges.

There is a lot of change afoot, all very positive in terms of supporting staff. Many employers already do a lot to look after their staff, and those that do via group risk products will find such changes easier to implement. For those that fall short, now is the time to review how staff are supported, and consider what processes and benefits will help, and they’d do well to start by looking at what can be offered within group risk.

The author is Katharine Moxham, GRiD spokesperson.

This article is provided by GRiD.