Mental health concerns have been high on the agenda of late, from adviser corporate client discussions to Association of British Insurers conferences and Labour leader Ed Miliband's speeches. How significant is this issue for employers and are insurer employee benefits packages doing enough to tackle the problem?
Katharine Moxham, spokesperson, Group Risk Development (GRiD)
Department of Health statistics show one out of four adults experience mental illness at some point during their lifetime and one in six experience symptoms at any one time – making mental ill health the largest single cause of disability in our society.
Not surprisingly then, it is the top cause of claim under group income protection (group IP) policies.
The business case for managing mental health more pro-actively in the workplace is clear – mental health problems are estimated to cost the economy £105bn annually. Impaired work efficiency associated with mental health problems costs £15.1bn a year.
As an industry, we understand perfectly the need for effective early interventions and for managing mental health more proactively. That is why the group IP product has been re-engineered to include added-value services such as HR support, employee assistance programmes, vocational rehabilitation, fast-track access to cognitive behavioural therapy and counselling.
These services can be used on a daily basis – even if a claim is never made – and they can be extremely effective in keeping people in the workplace, giving them the support they need to make their lives better and achieving a sustainable return to work for those who have had to take time off.
So, for employers who have group IP, it is really important to understand the value of and how best to use these additional services to ensure they better support those with mental health conditions to remain in the workplace.
Holly Potts, relationship manager, PMI Health Group
The issue of mental health has become a bit of an issue recently. It is something we are experiencing with our clients and it is definitely increasing.
The claims we have been receiving in particular point to a lot of stress in the workplace and mental illnesses are increasing. It is probably a sign of the times and the economy because things are just more stressful at the minute.
Clients definitely want the support from group schemes to tackle the mental health issue in the workplace.
It has become something now which needs to be dealt with more pro-actively and not just when it happens, but to manage employee wellbeing and keep on top of absences before they occur and nip things in the bud before it gets to claims stage.
The extra services like employee assistance programmes are very important but group cover is just a small part of a very big picture of managing mental health issues in the workplace.
It needs to also be about making sure employees are happy and well so those problems do not start. The cover is there but that does not solve the whole issue.
We have seen a change in the last three years or so, where insurers are taking a much more integrated approach and it is no longer about just the policy.
They are looking more and more at how their policies operate.
