Comment on Chancellor’s Budget, from David Williams, head of group risk, Towergate Employee Benefits.
“From sickness to prevention”
Although the headlines for the Autumn Budget will understandably follow the Government’s plans around National Insurance and other funding mechanisms for public spending, there was a quiet but welcome insight into their aims around reducing sickness absence within the working-age population.
Firstly, we will see a “Get Britain Working” white paper which will aim to explore the root causes of inactivity and poor health (amongst other things). Our employee benefits industry, which focuses so keenly on workplace health and productivity, will need to ensure that the Government listens to our collective voice and vast experience to help them formulate the right solutions. Employee benefits advisers and providers have been focusing on “getting Britain working” for decades through a host of health, protection and wellbeing tools provided under company benefits.
Secondly, there were green shoots regarding NHS funding where the Chancellor cited the aim of going “from sickness to prevention”. The employee benefits industry focuses heavily on prevention and rehabilitation for workplace sickness so this phrase is music to our ears. However, the detail is still light and any investment will take time to improve NHS capacity and waiting lists. So it’s crucial that, in the meantime, employers take advantage of private sector support available through their various employee benefits. The frustrating part though is that the increase to employer National Insurance contributions is likely to negatively impact company budgets at exactly the same time that we’re trying to encourage them to spend more on their employees’ health and wellbeing. Our role now is to ensure that the employers know that if they invest in well-structured employee support services then everybody benefits: the employers, the employees, their families and even the NHS.
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