Workplace sickness

Cirencester Friendly paid £3.3m in sick pay benefit for its income protection customers in 2014, with 94% of eligible claims paid.

Canada Life has announced that its Early Intervention Service (EIS) has seen 47% of referrals result in a return to work.

Up to 30% of adults considered to have asthma may have been incorrectly diagnosed, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has said.

Group life assurance is offered by 36% of employers a survey by Group Risk Development (GRiD) has found.

Employees aged 30-49 took an average of 2.3 sick days in the past six months, more than any other age group, research from AXA PPP healthcare has found.

Obesity, work/life balance and presenteeism are among the health and wellbeing concerns of employers, research for Group Risk Development (GRiD) has revealed.

Sickness, both long-term and temporary, was the main reason given for not working by people aged 16-64 years living in workless households across the UK, the Office of National Statistics (ONS) has found.

Long term shift work is linked to impaired brain power, research published in Occupational & Environmental Medicine has found.

Unum has launched a set of workshops to help employers spot and manage some of the most common causes of sickness absence.

The potential cost of employee mental health problems to businesses has been highlighted in two separate pieces of research from two insurers.