The human touch

By guest blogger, Westfield Health Chief Executive, Jill Davies

In the wake of the Government’s comprehensive spending review, low-cost, high-return options could become ever more popular contenders for employers looking for suitable employee benefits for staff.

When you combine this with increased attention on the importance of health and wellbeing in the workplace, you can see why corporate health cover is going far beyond simply renewing staff health insurance plans. Companies are, understandably, reviewing both outlay and cover. Employers want to maximise value for money without minimising benefits.

This is where the health cash plan (HCP) comes in. It’s low cost and it’s high impact. Traditionally a mainstay during tough times, the cash plan is, in some instances, finding itself to be the must-have product in the portfolio for many HR managers.  

But, what makes a good HCP?

HCP providers have always reflected the changing provision of the NHS to ensure their products are relevant. You’ll find many similarities between the plans on offer, from cash back at the opticians and dentists to physiotherapy. It’s easy to tell the difference here, the amount of cash back your employees will be entitled to is an obvious one. But, there are other details to look out for that could mean a lot to your workforce; are existing medical conditions covered? Is there a qualifying period before they can claim? These are some important variables.

One key differentiator is anticipating and matching changing healthcare needs, the proactive provider is the one striving to identify where provision and availability is diminishing, and expanding the range of benefits beyond the traditional HCP by developing innovative new products accordingly.

So what does this mean? Not all corporate HCPs are aligned to business needs and if an employee needs healthcare but has to wait, the business suffers. Leading providers recognise this and have developed products that are not just employee benefits, they are business benefits too.

Introducing scanning to the plan makes it easier for employees to achieve a quick diagnosis and a faster route to treatment, which means a quicker return to work. MRI, CT and PET scans, can help to diagnose serious conditions such as heart disease and cancer early, potentially at a treatable stage. So your workforce is likely to thank you for this too.

This need for maximum value at a time of increasingly squeezed budgets has helped to create a new perspective on HCPs for employers and employees alike - one of mutuality, where both the employer and the employee benefit. So what makes a good HCP? One that goes beyond the traditional cash benefits and takes care of the business needs as well.

Jill Davies is the Chief Executive at Westfield Health, an EEF Advantage Partner, find out more at www.eef.org.uk/membership/advantages

Lord Young of Graffham, the new ‘enterprise tsar’, recently confirmed on Radio 4's Today programme that the government is considering increasing the qualifying period for unfair dismissal.

As you will be aware, under the current legislation, an employee must in most cases have one year’s continuous service in order to be able to bring such a claim. The government is apparently considering doubling the length of that qualifying period by upping it to two years.

We think it likely that there will be a consultation period before any definite decision is made, but as yet there has been no announcement as to when that might be. What is clear is that an act of Parliament is NOT required to make the change. All that would be required would be an order made by the Minister for Employment Relations.

Readers may recall that the length of service needed to qualify for unfair dismissal rights has changed over the years. From 1985 to mid-1999, employees needed two years’ service to qualify for the right, but since then employees have required one year only.

Our view is that even if this change proceeds, employers will still not be able to be complacent with regard to how they treat their employees. Certain unfair dismissal claims do not require a qualifying period, for example where the reason for the dismissal is that the employee has made a protected disclosure or where it is a maternity-related dismissal.

In addition, employers still need to be aware of unlawfully discriminating against their workers under any of the ‘protected characteristics’ listed under the Equality Act 2010, namely sex, race, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, age or gender reassignment.

That said, we do think that the proposed change could be of assistance to employers particularly in genuine redundancy situations where they currently need to show that certain procedures have been followed to defeat an unfair dismissal claim – consultation, consideration of suitable alternative employment, fair and objective selection.

As soon as we hear more on the potential timetable for the proposed change, we will of course keep you posted!