Mental health remains a huge source of working days lost to sickness in the UK. However, a large proportion of employers do not have programs in place to combat this. Bupa is responding by introducing mental health cover for all its private customers over the coming year.
On average, 15.1 million working days were lost every year in the UK for mental health reasons between 2009 and 2017. This represents a significant amount of time that people spend out of work for mental health reasons. This number is also likely to be under reported due to the social stigma surrounding mental health – although this is slowly fading.
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GlobalData’s 2018 UK SME Insurance Survey revealed that three quarters of SMEs believe they have a part to play in supporting employees’ mental health. However, only 22.4% of SMEs offer private medical insurance (PMI) to all their employees. The corresponding numbers for income protection (IP) and employee assistance programs are 18.4% and 17% respectively.
This is quite alarming given that SMEs account for more than 99% of all businesses in the UK and employ 60% of the workforce. Employees are clearly not getting the support they need from their employers. Bupa’s offering could fill this gap for its customers.
Traditionally PMI does not cover mental health. Such issues are instead covered by IP policies, which paid out £45.9m ($58.4m) in mental-health related claims in 2018 according to the Association of British Insurers. But uptake of IP products remains low because consumers traditionally find them complex and confusing. Providing mental health cover within a PMI policy is a good strategy, as these products are easier for consumers to understand and already incorporate all of the traditional PMI benefits.
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