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UK employees now average 9.4 sick days a year. Health insurance is the benefit your team actually values — it gets them seen in days, not months, and the premiums are usually a deductible business expense.
Muscle, bone and joint problems are among the biggest causes of sick leave. Private referral gets your people diagnosed and treated in days — and back to work sooner.
Mental ill health now accounts for 41% of long-term absence. Cover gives your team fast access to therapy and psychiatric care, plus confidential helplines.
Health insurance is consistently the most-valued voluntary benefit in the UK. It helps you win candidates against bigger employers — and keeps the people you have.
Most schemes include video or phone GP appointments for the whole team, often same-day — no more half-days lost to a ten-minute appointment.
Comprehensive schemes cover cancer diagnosis, treatment and aftercare — including some drugs not routinely available on the NHS.
For limited companies, premiums are generally an allowable expense against corporation tax. Employees pay benefit-in-kind tax — your adviser and accountant will map it out.
A short form. Age, postcode, who's being covered, what matters most. No medical exam, no phone number gymnastics.
An FCA-regulated specialist compares cover across the UK's leading insurers and recommends what actually fits — not what pays the most commission.
Cover starts from as little as the price of a gym membership. Next time you need a specialist, you'll be seen in days.
From core inpatient-only schemes to fully comprehensive cover with outpatient allowances. Mix tiers — comprehensive for senior staff, core for the wider team.
Choose what employees contribute per claim — typically £0 to £500. A higher excess brings the company's monthly premium down.
Moratorium for smaller schemes; larger groups may qualify for medical history disregarded — covering every employee regardless of past conditions.
Standard, extended or premium hospital access — including London-centric lists if that's where your people are.
Let employees add partners and children — funded by the business or paid by the employee at a discounted group rate.
Pay monthly or annually, add joiners and remove leavers as you go, and review the whole market at every renewal — we handle the legwork.
A private medical insurance policy your company takes out to cover employees (and optionally their families). When someone on the scheme needs diagnosis or treatment, they're seen privately in days instead of joining an NHS waiting list.
Most UK businesses pay between £35 and £110 per employee per month in 2026, depending on the team's age profile, the level of cover, excess and hospital list. Small schemes are priced per person — the only way to know your number is to get a quote.
For limited companies, premiums are generally an allowable business expense — deducted from profits before corporation tax. Sole traders buying cover for themselves usually can't deduct it. Your accountant can confirm how it applies to your setup.
Yes — it's a benefit in kind. The premium value is reported (currently via P11D) and employees pay income tax on it, usually through a tax-code adjustment. The employer pays Class 1A National Insurance. From April 2027, benefits like this must be payrolled in real time.
Usually just two. Proper group schemes typically start at two or three employees, and pricing generally improves as the group grows.
Core cover: private consultations, diagnostics and scans, surgery and inpatient care, and cancer treatment. Most insurers offer add-ons for outpatient cover, mental health, dental, optical, and digital GP services for the whole team.
Three reasons show up in the numbers: UK staff now average 9.4 sick days a year and faster treatment shortens absences; health cover is consistently the most-valued voluntary benefit in recruitment; and it signals you take your people's wellbeing seriously — which shows up in retention.
It shortens the long ones. Muscle, bone and joint problems and mental ill health — the two biggest causes of long-term absence — are exactly what private cover fast-tracks. An employee seen in days rather than months is back at work sooner.
On larger group schemes, insurers can cover everyone regardless of their medical history — no exclusions for pre-existing conditions. Smaller schemes usually use moratorium underwriting instead. Your adviser will tell you what your group size qualifies for.
On smaller schemes, pre-existing conditions are typically excluded under moratorium terms (often coverable after two symptom-free years). Larger groups may qualify for medical history disregarded underwriting, which covers everyone from day one.
Yes — most schemes let employees add family members, either paid by the business or by the employee at an additional cost per person. Children are usually discounted.
Yes — including one- and two-person companies. The company pays and deducts the premium as an expense; the director pays benefit-in-kind tax. For many directors this still works out cheaper than paying personally from post-tax income — worth running both ways with an adviser.
No. You define the eligible group — all staff, management only, by length of service, or by seniority tiers. The rule is it must be defined by objective criteria, not picked person by person.
Yes — tiered schemes are common: comprehensive cover for senior staff, core cover for the wider team, with employees sometimes able to upgrade at their own cost.
They come off the company scheme, and most insurers let them continue cover personally without new underwriting if they act quickly. Their replacement joins the scheme in their place.
No. There are no medicals — the scheme is set up on the underwriting basis you choose, and employees simply join. New joiners are added as they arrive.
Typically days, not weeks. Once you've chosen the insurer and cover level, the scheme can usually start from the first of the next month — sometimes sooner.
A cash plan pays small fixed amounts towards everyday costs — dental check-ups, glasses, physio sessions. Health insurance pays for private diagnosis and treatment when something is actually wrong. Cash plans are cheaper; they do a different, smaller job.
Small schemes are priced mainly on the group's age and cover level rather than individual claims. Larger schemes can be experience-rated, where claims history affects renewal. Reviewing the market at renewal is exactly what a broker is for.
If one key person being out for six months would hurt, yes. For the cost of roughly a phone contract per employee, your team skips NHS waiting lists — and UK absence now costs employers an estimated £103 billion a year. Compare quotes and judge the price against one long absence.