General Insurance Article - Who should be responsible for sick pay?


Whether it’s state-funded, self-funded or employer-funded, the simple fact is, if a person is unable to work due to illness or injury, they still need an income to be able to pay the bills and maintain a reasonable standard of living. The big question is, who should be paying for it?

 It seems the government has joined in the debate, with Work and Pensions Secretary, Iain Duncan Smith being reported as saying he was “very keen to look at the possibility of people using flexible products to build up savings from which they can draw at times of need.”
  
 He went on to say, “We need to support the kind of products that allow people to dip in and out of when they need money for sickness or care or unemployment.”
 
 Mike Perry, CEO of income protection insurance specialists, PG Mutual commented, “We welcome the government taking a serious interest in the reality of how people cope financially if they find themselves on sick leave. We have been offering the kind of products Mr Duncan Smith wishes to support for over 80 years. Our hope is that if the government do take this further, they consider recommending products from mutual suppliers like ourselves, and furthermore suppliers of Holloway products which give the customer an insurance policy as well as a savings element – just one of the many benefits of not having to pay big bonuses to shareholders!
  
 “We have seen a year on year increase in the number of people taking out income protection policies. All our members tell us the same thing, they don’t want to leave things to chance hoping that if something does happen to them, someone else will take care of them.”
  
 This increase in membership is not surprising when you consider that Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is just £88.45 per week, yet the average household weekly spend is £517.00 – not nearly enough for most people to cover the bills. We should be asking ourselves, can we really expect our employers or the government to pick up the tab for our sickness bills? Or should we be taking responsibility for ourselves, and putting a plan in place to protect our financial security throughout our working lives?

Back to Index


Similar News to this Story

Sleighing the risks by giving Santa the insurance he needs
While you might be the most magical employer in the world, we know that even you aren’t immune to the risks of running a global delivery service! From
Diversity improving in insurance and long term savings
Key figures from the Association of British Insurers’ latest Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) data collection highlight the work of insurers and
Almost a third of homeowners have been victims of burglaries
Research commissioned by Co-op Insurance reveals that almost one in three (29%) homeowners have been the victims of theft from their home. The member-

Site Search

Exact   Any  

Latest Actuarial Jobs

Actuarial Login

Email
Password
 Jobseeker    Client
Reminder Logon

APA Sponsors

Actuarial Jobs & News Feeds

Jobs RSS News RSS

WikiActuary

Be the first to contribute to our definitive actuarial reference forum. Built by actuaries for actuaries.