Perhaps not the most exciting of blog titles; however, the findings of a UK group insurance paper from Group Risk Development (GRiD) revealed in its press release in mid-May 2021 do make some interesting reading, especially as it notes musculoskeletal conditions and physiotherapy.
We understand that Insurance plans are evolving, especially following the past year and its lessons, to help with rehabilitation, well being, and where possible, returning individuals to work through early intervention in the categories this survey focuses on, as you will see.
Group Risk Development, founded in 1998, aims to promote and enhance the status and uptake of corporate group protection benefits on behalf of its members within the UK insurance, reinsurance and adviser markets.
GRiD’s survey has found that employer-sponsored group risk schemes have paid record claims to employees during 2020. The main headlines of the findings are as follows:
The UK Group Risk industry paid a record £2.01bn in claims to employees and dependants in 2020, equivalent to £5.5m a day
4,476 employees were helped back to work after a period of sick leave
Cancer was the main cause of claims
The press release expands on these statistics further, as follows:
Company-sponsored group risk benefits (life assurance, income protection and critical illness) provided by employers paid out a record £2.01bn to employees and their dependants in 2020, shows industry data compiled by Group Risk Development (GRiD).
This is an increase of £255.7 million over 2019. Thousands of UK employees and their families (28,733) were helped to avoid financial hardship during the worst of times for them: after the death, illness or disability of a loved one, because of the benefits put in place by their employer.
While employers widely understand that group risk products will provide financial support when needed, it is the additional embedded benefits that increase their value for many. Help and support from insurers, such as vocational rehabilitation, case management, mediation, fast access to counselling and physiotherapy and other interventions helped 4,476 employees back to work after a period of sick leave.
Looking at the help and support from insurers further in returning individuals to work, the full press release notes:
GRiD has captured details of the cases where the insurer supported a return to work with active early intervention (such as fast-track access to counselling or physiotherapy, funded by the insurer) before that employee was eligible for a monetary payment. 2,362 people (31.8% of all claims submitted, down slightly by 2.9 percentage points on 2019) were able to go back to work during 2020 because of such early intervention (of which, 59% had help to overcome mental illness and 11% had support overcoming a musculoskeletal condition).
Full details of the May 2021 press release may be found in the weblink here:
Summary
Interesting statistics, we hope you would agree, and it is refreshing to note the early intervention of insurers, funded by insurers, to help employees back to work in a proactive process. We hope to see more of this progressive thinking in future developments within the insurance industry.