A financial planner would recommend group income protection insurance to any small business owner to help them safeguard the well being of their staff by providing a replacement income for their employees during long-term absence from work through illness, injury or disability.

Long-term illness, injury or disability, can be a challenge for any small business owner in many ways:

• New staff must be trained to provide a replacement either temporarily or permanently
• Other staff may have to cover for sick colleagues resulting in production problems, overtime payments and an impact to employee morale
• Employees on sick leave have to be paid. Statutory Sick Pay must be paid for 28 weeks but many employers feel obliged to extend this period
• The Disability Discrimination Act, with changes in October 2004, requires all employers to make adjustments to the work environment to allow a disabled employee to come back to work

Group income protection is also designed to provide financial protection for families and dependants in the event of an employee being unable to work through ill health and typically includes the following benefits:-

• Replacement income in the event of illness or accident up to 75% of employees earnings
• Income paid until employee returns to work
• Flexibility to provide different benefit levels for different categories of employees

The benefits as a small business owner choosing group income protection are:

• Help aid employee recovery by reducing stress caused through financial pressures
• Showing genuine care for your staff welfare
• Having the flexibility to choose different levels of cover for different categories of staff
• Helping  improve staff recruitment and retention
• Providing a popular benefit to help improve employees non-salary benefits package

The cover can help you and your employees cope better with long spells off work. Employees know they can afford an appropriate recovery time and employers know they can plan their time and resources more effectively.

Due to the large difference in both premiums and quality of cover, independent financial advice is essential.

Any questions on group income protection?

If you have any questions, please call us on 01582 839280 or Email us.