Group Income Protection. Helping staff get better and back to work quicker. Retirement Investments Insurance Health

Transcription

1 For financial adviser use only. Not approved for use with customers. Group Income Protection Helping staff get better and back to work quicker Retirement Investments Insurance Health

2 Contents 3 Protecting the things that matter 4 Why Group Income Protection from Aviva is great for your clients business 5 Why Group Income Protection is great for your client s employees 6 Rehabilitation and claims service built around your clients needs 7 How does the policy work? 8 Your questions answered 10 Aviva - a great choice 2 Group Income Protection

3 Protecting the things that matter Unfortunately when people are off work for long periods, due to illness or injury, the effects can be far reaching for their workplace. Employees don t want to worry about their finances when recovering from an illness or injury. Yet there remains a need to make sure an employer s business is running smoothly and costs aren t doubling to pay an absent employee and their replacement. Fortunately, Group Income Protection can help overcome both of these problems. About our Group Income Protection Our Group Income Protection is designed to provide practical rehabilitation services and financial support should an employee be absent long term. Created to fit around the needs of your clients, it offers: l Cover for up to 80% of normal earnings an employee can be covered for up to 80% of their usual salary when absent from work due to long-term illness or injury up to a maximum of 425,000 income benefit. l Cover for client s pension fund contributions these can be insured for up to 75,000. Your client s National Insurance contributions can also be insured based on the income benefit. l Choice of deferred periods your client can decide when the benefit payment is to begin: after 13, 26, 28 or 52 weeks. This allows them to dovetail the benefit with other existing sick pay arrangements that are in place and the longer the deferred period the lower the premiums. l Free cover limits our maximum free cover limit is 150,000 benefit. All schemes are normally offered a free cover limit, which means that if the income benefit required for an employee is below this limit, no medical evidence is needed. This normally means that most employees covered will not be subject to medical underwriting. l Once-only underwriting this applies to members with benefits above the free cover limit and means that medical underwriting will normally only take place once regardless of any subsequent increases in benefit. l Tele-interviewing enables essential medical information to be captured by a specialist telephone interviewer which in most cases leads to a quicker underwriting decision and reduces the need for further information. l Choice of benefit payment term from selecting a policy cease age to choosing a limited benefit term of two, three, four or five years, this allows clients additional cost control. l Lump sum option allows the choice of a benefit payment term, after which if your clients employee is still unable to work and eligible for benefit, they will receive a lump sum payment which can for example be used to help fund an employee s early retirement. l Pay direct option clients can choose to have the income benefit paid directly to the employee, saving the additional costs associated with retaining long-term absentees on the payroll. l Early notification our focus is on supporting early notification of any potential claim, as our experience shows the earlier an absence is notified, the more effective the outcome for both the employee and the employer. l Dedicated rehabilitation case managers we have specialist claims consultants and Rehabilitation Case Managers assigned to each individual claim, to support employees throughout the entire process. l External support and resources From Physiotherapists to Psychiatric networks, we work with a number of rehabilitation partners to provide appropriate support and treatment to help prevent employees being absent from work long-term. l Joined up approach where appropriate we can ensure our Group Income Protection policies are joined up with our other offerings, for example our Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), particularly if an employee is showing stress related symptoms. This is a summary of the benefits available for this policy. Full terms and conditions are available on request or visit aviva-for-advisers.co.uk aviva.co.uk 3

4 Why Group Income Protection from Aviva is great for your client s business In today s economic climate, ensuring a business has adequate protection is paramount. Our Group Income Protection not only provides replacement income, but can also help employees get back to work quicker through rehabilitation services: l Where possible, claims are handled over the phone and all claimants will have a dedicated case manager who will work with them throughout their claim. l Our range of early intervention services provide additional support to those off work, and are designed to help prevent or reduce a longer-term claim. Getting employees back to work helps them and helps to reduce long-term absence costs for your client. l We will pay proportionate benefits if an employee makes a phased return to work to ensure they don t experience a drop in monthly income eg if an employee initially returns on a part time basis, we will pay benefit in proportion to their reduction in earnings, subject to the terms and conditions of the policy. l The extensive range of rehabilitation services available to claimants ensures they have access to the treatments available to get them back on their feet, for example our Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) services for stress related conditions. l Dedicated wellbeing services that help to promote good working practice in the workplace thereby helping employees stay healthy and helping to mitigate risk for your client. We can put you in touch with some of our specialist wellbeing partners to support your training needs covering a range of topics from resilience through to managing musculoskeletal conditions in the workplace. They can also be delivered in a method to suit you whether it be virtually or face to face. l Flexibility to tailor a Group Income Protection plan to the needs of your client s business and budget. This includes the ability to provide benefit for a limited term only, as well as providing a lump sum and pay direct option to limit additional financial implications associated with long term absence. l Executive solutions, an enhanced service specifically for our larger Group Income Protection clients, which helps manage claims experience through expert analysis and recommended actions. l Added-value benefits to help employees, their families and colleagues adjust to stressful or difficult situations, we provide additional support. For example, we provide an EAP, which is available to all of your client s employees whether they are covered by the policy or not. The EAP is designed to help employees deal with the stresses and strains of life. l Helps retention and hiring offering Group Income Protection also helps clients to demonstrate commitment to their workforce and secure the best staff. l Corporation tax relief in most circumstances Group Income Protection premiums count as a business expense and therefore qualify for corporation tax relief. This is based on our current understanding of tax rules and legislation and is subject to change. l Depending on size, we are able to tailor our offering to suit the needs of your client s business, and work in harmony with other employee benefits that may be in place. 4 Group Income Protection

5 Why Group Income Protection is great for your client s employees For employees, our Group Income Protection also has many advantages including: l Peace of mind that it helps to protect them financially in the event of long-term illness or injury which prevents them from working. l Expert guidance and support our dedicated, specialist rehabilitation and claims teams understand the issues that employees are facing and can provide real support at what can be a very difficult time. l Free cover limits all our schemes offer a free cover limit, below which medical underwriting is not normally required. l Tax efficient Under current tax laws, Group Income Protection, in most circumstances, does not count as a P11D benefit in kind. This is based on our current understanding of tax rules and legislation and is subject to change. Employee Assistance Programme Our Group Income Protection EAP is designed to help employees deal with the stresses and strains of life. This can help them focus on their work and keep productivity up in the workplace. We offer our EAP to your clients when they take out a Group Income Protection (GIP) policy. The EAP is available to all of your client s employees regardless of whether they are covered by the GIP policy. Our focus is on helping people to stay healthy, which means offering practical support as well as financial guidance. An EAP helps employees deal with things like financial worries, stressful relationships, concerns about childcare or legal issues things that could significantly affect their productivity. We offer eight face-to-face counselling sessions with our EAP service. The EAP is a non contractual service, which can be withdrawn at any time. Offering a Flexible Benefits plan Group Income Protection can form part of a flexible benefits package for clients. Employees can select and fund additional benefit to suit their individual circumstances, while benefiting from a lower cost than they would expect to pay on the open market. aviva.co.uk 5

6 Rehabilitation and claims service built around your clients needs Our aim is to start actively working with your clients and their employees after four weeks absence. This is because our experience has shown that working with employees at an early stage of absence is more likely to result in a successful return to work. Early intervention Once an employee has been absent from work for four weeks or more, we would encourage your client to contact us as soon as possible. At this point a dedicated Case Manager is assigned to the individual case and we will discuss with your client whether we need to provide support to their employee, or whether it is more appropriate to agree a future date at which to review the potential claim. This discussion, after four weeks, is irrespective of the deferred period applicable on the policy, because there are often instances when providing support to an employee at this point can prevent a significant claim. If we feel rehabilitation support is appropriate, we will ask for consent to speak to the employee in order to gain further information. We will liaise with our clinical team for their input on any support we can give and would also seek approval from the employee s General Practitioner (GP) of any treatment plan where appropriate. The Case Manager will work together with the appropriate rehabilitation partners, clinical experts and your client s employee and will remain in contact with them while they are having any treatment. When the employee is fit to return to work, the case manager will work with all parties to put together a return-to-work plan. This could include a gradual phasing of duties, changes to hours or responsibilities, or even retraining requirements. Should this plan include any of these activities, the case manager will be in regular contact throughout the process. An example of early intervention A 51-year-old male was absent from work for six weeks. He d been showing symptoms of anxiety and depression due to a family bereavement together with the breakdown of his marriage a few years previously. His GP had advised that the NHS in his area had a lengthy waiting list for counselling. Although his employer s Group Income Protection policy had a 52- week deferred period, they notified us of his absence after six weeks. Through talking to him and his employer, we were able to fund a course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) once his GP had provided approval. Following therapy, the man returned to work on a phased basis. Thanks to our help he resumed full-time employment well within the deferred 52-week period and did not need to make a claim. This case study is fictitious and for illustrative purposes only. Alternatively, we can arrange for one of our Rehabilitation Claims Visitors to come out and visit all relevant parties to help manage the return to work programme. We have a separate claims brochure which explains in detail the claims and rehabilitation process and services we offer. 6 Group Income Protection

7 How does the policy work? Group Income Protection from Aviva is designed to provide cover for five lives or more. We ve created it in a way that can be tailored to best fit your client s business needs. l Your client decides the eligibility criteria for the scheme, for example who is covered and the level of benefit to be provided within the policy limits. l Once these decisions have been made, your client will need to provide us with the details of all the employees to be covered. l We will then process the application and issue all the relevant forms for completion and signing. What we ask from your client We have tried to make taking out a Group Income Protection policy as easy as possible, but there are some areas where we ask for your client s assistance. These include: l Ensuring all forms are completed as accurately as possible, as this may affect a claim at a later date l Paying all premiums when they are due. Cover will cease if your client stops paying all premiums l Informing us of any changes that need to be made to the policy immediately, for example any change in your client s nature of business, and keeping to the conditions set out in the policy terms and conditions. For full details, please refer to the technical guide. Schemes will usually be offered a free cover limit, which means no individual medical underwriting is required below this limit. This speeds up the process considerably. For those employees who require underwriting, we will provide cover for full benefits (in excess of the free cover limit and excluding any pre-existing conditions), for up to 90 days or until our underwriting decision is made, whichever is earlier. We also offer tele-interviewing, which enables essential medical information to be captured by a specialist telephone interviewer. They are trained in communication skills and equipped with medical knowledge to interpret and record all relevant details. This leads to a quicker underwriting decision and reduces the need for further information. Our once-only underwriting approach means that in the majority of cases, once a member has been underwritten, future increases in benefit will not be subject to further underwriting, and the original medical underwriting decision will apply to all future benefit increases. aviva.co.uk 7

8 Your questions answered How does my client decide who should be covered? After consulting with a client, you should agree any age requirements they may want their employees to meet before joining the scheme that do not breach the Equality Act They may want to include a fixed probationary period that their employees must serve before joining, or allow entry at different times, for example monthly or annually. If your client is providing Group Income Protection cover for a scheme that is currently insured, they should be able to switch terms on the current eligibility basis, subject to our terms and conditions. Equality Act 2010 It is illegal to discriminate against employees, job seekers or trainees on the grounds of age. An employer must not be discriminating or treating someone less favourably, by using age to justify not employing, dismissing, refusing training to, or inadequate/poor conditions of employment including lack of promotion or retiring before the default age. Does everyone have to have the same benefit level? Not necessarily your client can choose to group members into categories of employment with different levels of benefit. For example, directors may have a higher lump sum than other staff. What about employees who are based overseas? company, and they are subject to tax and National Insurance contributions in the UK. This is based on our current understanding of tax rules and legislation and is subject to change. You must tell us the location and nationality of any members who are working overseas. Face-to-face counselling sessions are not available to employees who are resident overseas, but they will have access to all telephone services. Calls will be charged at international rates, and the employee is liable for these costs. What medical evidence will be needed? If an employee requires medical underwriting, we will first need either a medical declaration form, or a tele-interview. Further evidence may be required after this. Employees are usually covered for their full benefit for a period of 90 days while medical underwriting is being completed, subject to any pre-existing conditions. Anyone joining the scheme will be subject to the policy actively at work criteria. For more information on actively at work, please refer to the Group Income Protection Technical guide. Can a scheme be transferred from another provider? Yes. Upon switching, providing there has been no break in cover, we usually allow No Worse Terms to apply. This is where employees switching over will automatically be given the same medical underwriting terms and levels of benefit as they had with the previous insurer, without any further medical evidence being required (subject to the policy maximum). What happens when someone new joins? Clients on unit rated policies will normally need to tell us about any new joiners or leavers at the policy anniversary date. Clients on single premium policies are required to inform us immediately about any new joiners or leavers. We also require immediate details of any members whose benefits are above the free cover limit or who do not meet the normal eligibility conditions. If someone joins mid-term we only need to be informed if they re above the free cover limit or are joining outside of the eligibility conditions basis. Any employees based overseas may continue to be covered, provided that their contract of employment is with the UK 8 Group Income Protection

9 What happens when someone makes a claim? Our aim is to make the claims process as easy and straightforward as possible. In the first instance we would recommend that your client phones the rehabilitation and claims consultant to discuss the reason for the absence. We recommend that they tell us about any absences after four weeks. They will have dedicated contacts throughout the claims journey to assist them and help their members at what will inevitably be a difficult time for them. Each case will, of course, be different and we can talk through the best and most appropriate course of action. We have a separate claims brochure which explains in detail the claims and rehabilitation process and services we offer. When do benefit payments start? Benefit payments will start after the completion of the deferred period (which can be 13, 26, 28 or 52 weeks) should a member continue to satisfy the definition of incapacity, and other factors as defined in our terms and conditions. Payments are made monthly in UK sterling. We are able to make payments by either cheque or BACS, and where appropriate we can bulk payments together on your preferred day of the month. How long do benefit payments last? This will depend on whether clients have selected to cover their employees for a limited payment term of two, three, four or five years, or whether they are covered until a fixed cease age (which could include state pension age.) Benefit payments may stop before the end of a limited term or the policy cease age if the employee recovers and returns to work on a full-time basis. What happens if an employee receives benefit under another policy? If the employee is in receipt of any other regular income, we may need to consider this when calculating the amount of benefit we pay. Examples of other sources of income that may affect the benefit are continuing salary or profit share, pension payments and regular payments from other insurance policies, including loan and mortgage protection benefit. We will not take into account income or pension payments that were being received prior to their incapacity. What happens if an employee s incapacity returns and they are unable to work again? If within 12 months of the last monthly benefit payment, incapacity is caused once again for the same reason, we will consider the further claim without imposing the deferred period again. This is known as a linked claim. We will also link claims for different causes now, provided incapacity has lasted 30 days or more. What happens if an employee makes more than one claim? An employee can make more than one claim as long as they have not exhausted any limited payment term period, per related condition or, if applicable, received a lump sum payment. No further payments will be made until a further deferred period has been satisfied, unless it is a linked claim as above. Any limited payment term applies to incapacity from one illness or injury. So, where incapacity is from the same cause, we will combine the periods of incapacity and the total will be limited to the payment term insured. Do premiums stay the same each year? Premium rates are normally guaranteed for two years. For schemes with fewer than 20 lives, any changes in membership will be reflected by an adjustment to the premium based on any changes in benefit and the details of any members who join or leave the scheme. For schemes of 20 lives or more, any changes in membership will be allowed for by an end-of-year adjustment premium based on the membership at the end of each policy year. Get in touch If you d like to know more, get in touch with our Group Protection Sales Support Team on: aviva-for-advisers.co.uk Lines open 9:00am - 5:00pm, Monday - Friday. Calls to and from Aviva may be monitored and/or recorded. aviva.co.uk 9

10 Aviva - a great choice Choosing any Group Protection product from Aviva is a great decision - and not just because of our flexibility, ease of use and innovative approach. Our proven rehabilitation and claims management expertise and dedicated claims teams, such as the corporate case management team, allow us to deal effectively and empathetically with all the calls we receive, and where relevant enable employees to get back to work quicker. Our size and efficiency give us the strength to deliver an extensive range of value-for-money products to help meet your and your clients needs and provide a holistic end to end solution. 10 Group Income Protection

11 aviva.co.uk 11

12 Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited. Registered in England No Aviva, Wellington Row, York, YO90 1WR. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Firm Reference Number GR /2016 Aviva plc