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I N SICKNESS
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AND IN HEALTH
As drivers are the lifeblood of truck firms, it's in everyone's interests to make sure they get treated quickly when they become sick. Adam Hill checks up on private health schemes.
Company health benefits have been big news recently.Tesco's headline-grabbing trial of a scheme under which it would not, in certain circumstances, pay employees for the first few days of sickness absence was a major talking point in firms nationwide.Yet there are signs that employers are thinking carefully about offering private help to staff who require medical attention.
Private healthcare or medical insurance (PMI) has long been seen as an attractive perk for senior employees, but companies are realising that it is generally cheaper to get all of its people back to work quickly in good health. And when it comes to recruiting and retaining staff, PMI follows pension schemes as the most-valued employment benefit.
In the road transport sector in particular, there are good reasons to consider PMI.
Fiona Harris, BUPA actuarial and risk manager,explains:" One of our most frequently claimed for conditions is back pain, which may be particularly relevant to people who work in the transport industry. We also offer the self-employed a 10% discount from personal scheme prices."
Yet smaller operators might be tempted to think this is a luxury product that only large companies can offer. Schemes can be expensive, depending on factors such as location, the age of your workforce, their existing ailments and conditions, and how many claims you have made over the years. Employees will be taxed if you provide PMI as part of their employment package, since it is a "benefit in kind".
But think about it,says Douglas Rice, manager of corporate accounts at BUPA."For less than I% of your wage bill, you can provide cover," he says. "For example. for an operator with four to five drivers. aged 30-35, based in the South East and doing quite a bit of travelling, we can work out how to run a scheme: £600 per year per employee would give you quick access to healthcare."
Mike O'Brien.head of small corporate business at AXA PPP Healthcare, is equally sure that small operators can lind a scheme to suit. -We can't offer a bespoke product to a group of six people,he says."But we offer a range of products:I:500 a year per employee would give you full in-patient and limited out-patient cover."
Time is money
Of course. these are hardly negligible amounts of money for a small operator .Yet with the Confederation of British Industry suggesting that the cost to a business of one day's sickness is three or four times the absentee's salary in terms of reduced production, colleagues covering and the subsequent dent to morale it is at least worth considering.
O'Brien goes on:-If a sales manager at Barclays Bank takes time off and has to wait 10 months for an operation, the size of the organisation means that his work is covered. Take that scenario into a company with 20 employees and key customers lose their point of contact and relationship with the company so the MD says: 'I have to take on that role'. That means your head honcho becomes parttime sales manager as well.Transport businesses don't have a surfeit of drivers waiting for work. If a driver is off on holiday and another goes down with something, someone still has to shift that freight. Either you pay an agency or you take the keys off the hook and deliver it yourself." Whether either of those represents a better use of your money than PMI is a matter for individual businesses.
Anyone taking up healthcare provision needs to look very carefully at exactly what they want and what they get for their money. Cheap cashplan schemes, for a few pounds a week, are unlikely to offer you private hospital stays, for example. Chronic conditions are often not covered by any policies. For ownerdrivers, who may find PM! more of a problem due to age or uncertainty of business. the Electrical Contractors Association could point to away forward.Around 30,000 self-employed electricians act, in effect, as a corporation in terms of buying cover from BUPA. If the transport industry followed this lead,a 50-year-old driver with a previous health history would become part of a scheme that spreads its risk among members. Food for thought, at the very least, for the transport sector.
Dave Young, editor of Truck cft Driver magazine,supports the idea of PMI for drivers. "With a few creditable exceptions.health schemes come far down the list for haulage companies," he says. "ideally they would be provided by an employer, but the reality is that this may well be something drivers have to consider for themselves. But in doing so, they've got to ask the right questions before they start.The devil's in the detail."
Improved working conditions
However, not everyone sees the provision of PMI as a good idea for drivers. AT&G spokesman says: "We are not in favour of it. We wouldn't want to see PMI brought onto the bargaining agenda [by employers] in some way. We want to see improvements in occupational health and safety by looking at working conditions: the provision of quality rest time: decent roadside facilities: the full implementation of the WorkingTime Directive; and improvement in cab design to take the sting out of back pain."
Of course,PM1 doesn't work for every company. Driver Hire offers its drivers mortgages and personal loans through Norwich Union but has not yet found a PMI scheme which suits, says marketing director Joe Cahill. "We looked at it four years ago [with another provider] but found it difficult, We could put drivers into the scheme for a minimum of six months but couldn't bring in new drivers during that time."Ttlis also meant the company still paid premiums for drivers who had left the company without any chance of receiving a benefit."But we're conscious of the need to make Driver Hire as attractive as possible, so we will review it from time to time."
NHS reforms
One interesting offshoot to the PMI debate is that Labour's proposed NHS reforms already seem to be putting pressure on private health providers. Dermot Cox, MD of Carehealth, which offers an independent guide to PMI services.says:"My impression is that individual PMI is staggant.There are signs that NHS reforms are going to shorten waiting lists. It's yet to be proved, but if we are going to get this radical choice of hospitals for treatment, including private ones, then the main reason for buying PMI disappears."
If this is the case, such a change will not happen overnight. Until then, small companies need to assess what an investment in PMI could he worth. •
USEFUL CONTACTS
www.bupa.com 0800 600 500 www.norwichunion.com 0800 142 142 www.axappphealthcare.co.uk 0800 335 555 www.axa4business.co.uk www.hsa.co.uk www.healthshield.co.uk