Managing
Staff
Absence
2015
Telephone 0800 862 0077 www.absenceprotection.co.ukAs long-standing
experts in staff
absence insurance to
the education sector,
we understand the
challenges that schools
face when teachers
and support staff are
unexpectedly absent.
Regrettably absences are inevitable and can be financially costly, disruptive and time-consuming to deal with. But to help schools negotiate some of these challenges we have developed a suite of services designed to mitigate the financial risk, minimise disruption and reduce staff absences. We are the only provider to offer policies from an insurer with an ‘AA-‘ credit rating from Standard and Poor's, and with an unrivalled level of expertise we are best placed to support you with your staff absences.
We have created this brochure to offer our schools the information necessary to understand the role that staff absence is playing in their school and look at ways to manage and minimise it.
We hope you find this brochure useful, and if you have any questions or would like us to support you with your staff absences please contact one of our schools team today.
[email protected] 0800 862 0077
Welcome
to
Absence
Contents:
Introduction 01 Understanding staff absence03Why should staff absence 05
concern me?
Short-term staff absences 06
Long-term staff absences 06
Non-teaching staff absences 06
Budgeting for staff absences 07
Benchmarking 08
Dealing with staff absence 11
How to plan for staff absence 12
Is insurance the answer? 13
Choosing the correct insurer 14
Financial stability 14 Specialisms 14 Claims handling 15 Stress 17 Maternity 17 Additional services 17 The small print 17
Other ways to manage 18
your staff absences
Pre-employment checks 18
Access to counselling 18
Occupational health support 18
Employee benefits and 18
motivation programs
Reward low absence rates 18 Our staff absence solutions 21
Standard insurance policy 22
Premium insurance policy 24
01.
Understanding
staff absence
Why should staff
absence concern
me?
Schools and academies have an obligation to cover teacher absences.
Since 2005 there has also been a statutory requirement for teachers to be provided at least 10% of their teaching time for planning, preparation and assessment outside of the classroom. Where this cannot be found from existing non-contact time cover will be required.
However covering absent teachers can be financially costly, particularly for schools who need to engage supply teachers or who choose to directly hire staff to cover absences.
Staff absences can also result in lost productivity and can be unsettling for the students, as well as putting increased pressure on existing members of staff. Despite the difficulties that staff absences can cause schools they can be very common, with approximately 57% of teachers taking a sickness absence each year.
57%
of teachers take sickness absence
at some point throughout the year.
5%
Short-term
staff absences
Regular, short-term staff absences can be time consuming to deal with. Because of the nature of the absence, usually a minor illness such as a cold or stomach ache, your school is unlikely to receive much notice of the absence. This can make it a challenge to engage cover staff.
Short-term absences also often come in batches, for example when a virus is going around a school. Given the urgency, covering a short-term absence can be disproportionately costly and multiple short-term absences can be logistically tough to deal with.
Long-term
staff absences
Long-term absences are costly and can also have an emotional element involved too. Having a contingency plan in place helps to manage the effects that a long-term absence has on your school. In our experience stress and mental health are the most common causes of long-term sickness, and in many instances preventative measures could have been put in place by the school to reduce the length of absence or even prevent the absence altogether.
We team up with leading
occupational health providers APL Health to offer counselling, 24-hour
Non-teaching
staff absences
Non-teaching support staff play a fundamental role in the smooth operation of a school. Whether they are involved in administration, maintenance, finance or any other function, a staff absence could be costly to the school.
Non-teaching staff account for almost 25% of an average school’s workforce, so it may also be important to ensure that any strategies put in place to manage staff absences also include non-teaching staff.
If you work with Absence Protection to manage your staff absences it is entirely up to you whether you choose to include your
non-Budgeting for
staff absences
A final step to fully understanding the implications of staff absence is also understanding how to budget for it.
Staff absence can be a complete unknown and therefore is particularly difficult to budget for. However there are measures you can put in place to mitigate the risk of unbudgeted expenditure and in some instances, completely protect you from the financial burden of unexpected staff absences.
There are many different possible solutions to budgeting for staff absence, not all of which work for every school. Some schools opt to employ full-time cover teachers, whilst some are able to cover absences with their existing teaching staff.
Whatever your strategy, it’s important to know that there are still further measures which you can take to minimise the impact that staff absence has and reduce the financial risk. For example, even if you do not wish to engage a supply teacher, you are still able to claim against our staff absence insurance policy.
You and your staff could also benefit from some of our
occupational health or HR services which will reduce your levels of staff absence, help absent teachers back into work and help to avoid employment litigation issues.
By learning more about how to manage your staff absence and what services you can engage to support you with this, you will be able to budget a little more accurately for any related but unexpected costs. The upcoming sections of this brochure should help you with these.
Schools lose time
to the value of
over
£500 million
every year through
teacher sickness
absence.
In this section:
Dealing with staff absence 11How to plan for staff absence 12
Is insurance the answer? 13
Choosing the correct insurer 14
Financial stability 14
Specialisms 14
Claims handling 15
Policy management 15
Choosing the correct policy 16
Annual vs continuous 16 Indemnity vs benefit 17 Daily benefit 17 Waiting days 17 Stress 17 Maternity 17 Additional services 17 The small print 17
Other ways to manage 18
your staff absences
Pre-employment checks 18
Access to counselling 18
Occupational health support 18
Employee benefits and 18
motivation programs
02.
Dealing with
staff absence
How to plan for
staff absence
Planning for staff absence is about being prepared. Many of the disruptive elements of absence can be minimised if arrangements have been made in advance.
The best place to start is by drawing up an absence plan, which includes clear guidelines about:
RHow you will be arranging cover – using existing staff or a preferred supplier of cover staff
RWho will be arranging cover
– deciding who is responsible for arranging cover, setting work plans and managing external supply teachers
RAvailability of cover
– always be sure to check that the type of individual you need is available, particularly for specialist members of staff
RThe daily cost of cover –
RCommunications to other staff – how absence will be
communicated throughout the school
RCommunications with the absentee – how the absent member of staff will be contacted and supported throughout their absence
RCommunications from the absentee – how the absent member of staff should inform the school of their absence and their return to work date
Is insurance
the answer?
Many schools choose to insure themselves against staff absences, however this isn’t for everyone. Before deciding whether or not to take out a staff absence insurance policy (sometimes known as staff sickness insurance or supply teacher insurance) it’s important to understand what this can do for your school.
At its core the purpose of insurance is to protect an individual or a business against any unexpected costs, and in the case of staff absence insurance this refers to costs incurred as a result of staff absence.
This is particularly useful for schools who have a strict budget to adhere to and cannot risk exceeding their budget due to staff absences.
Some schools choose to self-cover by employing full-time self-cover teachers or supervisors. This usually isn’t a financially viable option for smaller schools but may work effectively for larger schools. However schools who choose to self-cover should still consider any additional risk. For example absences often happen in clusters, such as when an illness is going around a school, and in such instances you might still need to
You may also still need to engage a supply teacher for any staff who particularly specialise in an area and can’t be covered by more ‘general’ cover staff.
It is also important to note that if you choose not to employ external cover teachers, you would still be able to claim against a benefits insurance policy (but not an indemnity policy) because no proof of supply is required. You can read about the difference between benefits and indemnity policies in the ‘choosing the correct policy’ section.
The average length of a stress related absence is
27 working days
. Can your school afford to cover that?
Choosing the
correct insurer
As well as choosing a policy that is right for your school or academy, it’s also important to choose an insurance provider that you trust and are comfortable with. These are some of the key things to look out for and ask an insurer before you make your decision.
Financial stability
When taking out an insurance policy you need to know that your insurer has the financial strength and stability to pay claims, so it is worth asking…
What insurer underwrites the policy and what rating do they have?
Our answer: Great Lakes Reinsurance, part of Munich Re (Group). Both insurers have an 'AA-' rating by Standard and Poor's, the highest of any provider in the staff absence insurance sector.
Specialisms
Beware of ‘general’ insurance providers who offer teacher absence insurance. Often their lack of experience in the education sector means the policies are not relevant and will therefore exclude a lot of claims that you would expect to be paid, so ask them…
Are you specialists in the education sector?
Our answer: Yes, we only work in the education sector. We would be happy to provide you a list of schools we cover in your area with a reference for each.
Claims handling
It’s important to deal with a company that can handle claims efficiently, so that you receive the correct reimbursement quickly and easily. Make sure you find out…
What is your average claims payment time?
Our answer: 5 days
Do you handle claims in-house or do you use external loss adjusters?
Our answer: We have a dedicated in-house claims handling
department who will keep in touch with you throughout the process. This means your sensitive data will not be passed onto a third party and we can handle your claim quickly and efficiently.
Policy management
If you take out a staff absence insurance policy the chances are you will need to amend staff lists and make a claim, so it’s worth asking…
How do I manage the policy? Our answer: We have an excellent online client portal which enables you to manage staff lists, make claims, track claims progress, change term dates and much more. No need to fax your personal information to an open office.
Is sensitive data kept secure? Our answer: Absolutely, the online client area is SSL secured and because we don’t use external loss adjusters we never have any reason to pass your details onto any third parties.
Our average claims payment time is
5 working days
5
Choosing the
correct policy
There are many different policies out there and lots of different options to choose from. It’s important that you choose a policy that’s right for your school, whether it is a cost effective no frills policy, or a comprehensive insurance and staff absence management service.
Here are a few things to look out for when choosing your policy.
Annual vs continuous policy
The difference between an annual and continous policy is mostly relevant when it comes to renewal. A continuous policy will carry over your ongoing claims from one year to another, also recording your exact claims history.
An annual policy resets everything and effectively starts again with any pre-existing conditions being taken from the 'renewal date'. Any ongoing claims will not be paid from the renewal date or will be added at an extra cost to your new premium.
For this reason you will find an annual policy to be significantly
Is it a continuous or an annual policy?
Our answer: We can do either. We can also insure any ongoing claims from your previous provider, just let us know.
Indemnity vs benefit
An indemnity policy pays you back the costs you have incurred such as engaging a supply teacher, minus any excess or waiting day period. Therefore if you have a staff absence which is covered by an existing teacher, you may not be able to claim. It is also time consuming and involves paperwork to prove lengths of absence and costs incurred.
A benefits policy pays you a fixed amount (called a daily benefit) for every day of absence over the waiting day period, regardless of what costs have been incurred. Therefore no proof of supply is required, and you can still be covered even if you employ full-time cover teachers.
When choosing your policy make sure you ascertain…
Is it an indemnity or benefits policy?
Our answer: Both of our policies are benefits policies, we believe that is a fairer option for schools.
Daily benefit
Your daily benefit is the amount you can expect to be paid per full day of absence. Ensure you ask…
What is the daily benefit? Our answer: You can choose any daily benefit up to £300.
Waiting days
Waiting days are like an excess on a car insurance policy – you will only be able to claim for absence days over and above the waiting day period. So if you have a 20 day absence and a five day waiting period you can claim for 15 days. Before you take out a policy it’s important that you know…
What is the waiting day period? Our answer: You can choose any waiting day period up to 30 days.
Stress
16% of absence days are due to stress. For that reason some insurers will exclude this from their policy. Be sure to ask…
Does your policy include stress cover?
Our answer: It is an optional extra. We offer stress cover for any length of time of your choosing up to 190 days.
Maternity
Maternity leave means a long period of absence and can be expensive for schools to provide cover. Therefore schools may also wish to include this in their policy, so you may want to ask…
Can I include maternity in my policy?
Our answer: We offer maternity cover at a fixed sum of your choice
Additional services
Some insurers offer a no frills policy with no additional benefits at the cheapest possible price, while others offer a range of services to help prevent and manage staff absence. It depends what you require, but make sure you ask…
Does your policy include any additional services?
Our answer: Yes, lots, please see the ‘our staff absence solutions’ section of this brochure to see what’s included.
The small print
Some policies will try to tie you up with small print and unexpected exclusions, or will leave certain things to the insurers’ discretion. For example, some policies will exclude ‘chronic conditions’ but define things like asthma or high blood pressure in their definition of chronic conditions. You should never accept a policy without reading it first, a policy summary or key fact sheet probably isn’t enough, so always ask…
Can I see a copy of the policy first?
Our answer: Yes of course, we have carefully designed our policy to be easy to understand and navigate with no nasty surprises or unfair exclusions.
Other ways
to manage your
staff absences
In addition to taking out an insurance policy there are also other ways to manage your staff absences. This includes ways to minimise and prevent absences through occupational health and wellbeing at work schemes, as well as supporting staff as they return to work after an absence, thereby shortening the length of the absence.
Pre-employment checks
When you are looking to hire new staff it may be worth asking them to conduct some pre-employment activities. Psychometric testing may reveal information about staff members relevant to their mental health, such as levels of stress. Similarly pre-employment checks will give you the confidence that you are employing teachers who are fit and healthy.
Access to counselling
Absence due to stress and mental health related illnesses are disproportionately high within education. In some instances these could be prevented by offering staff access to face-to-face counselling or confidential helplines.
Occupational health support
Offering occupational health support or employee assistance programs to your staff may help to reduce absences. This could be anything from ensuring your staff have the appropriate chairs at work, to offering physiotherapy sessions for any aches and pains they may be suffering.
Employee benefits and
motivation programs
Statistically, happy, motivated and content employees take up to 66% fewer absence days than unhappy or discontent employees. Therefore an employee benefits program to boost the morale of your workforce may help you to manage your staff absences.
In this section:
Our staff absence solutions 21Standard insurance policy 22
Premium insurance policy 24
APL Health 26
Stress or maternity cover 28
HR solutions 29
10 reasons... 30
Quotation request 31
03.
Our staff
absence
solutions
Standard
insurance policy
Our standard insurance policy has been carefully designed to give you the best value for money. With over ten years’
experience, and a nationwide portfolio of schools on cover, we understand exactly what services our clients expect from us. Our standard policy offers all the fundamentals of a robust policy, underwritten by insurers with an 'AA-' credit rating by Standard and Poor's.
Some of the features of our standard policy:
• Choose any daily benefit up to £300.
This is the amount we pay you for each day of sickness absence after the waiting day period.
• Choose any waiting days from zero to 30.
This is the number of absence days before we will start to pay – like an excess.
• Vary both daily benefits and waiting days for up to four types of staff.
This allows you to set different rates and waiting times for teachers, support, administration and all-year-round staff.
• Stress cover.
• Maternity cover with a fixed sum or daily benefit option.
• No chronic conditions exclusions.
• No proof of supply required.
You don’t need to submit evidence that a supply teacher has been engaged in order to claim.
• Option to pay by instalments.
You don’t need to pay for the policy up front.
• Cover for paternity leave – 5 days.
Premium
insurance policy
Our premium policy has the widest range of options available anywhere.
If you're looking to get the very best protection for your school along with the support you need to manage your workforce's absences, then our premium policy is perfect for you.
Our premium policy includes all of the standard policy benefits plus…
• Pre-existing conditions cover
• Private medical benefits up to £100,000 per person.
• Emergency dental cover
• Enhanced wellbeing services
• Blood/organ donation cover
• Personal accident cover
• Death in service cover – 30 times the daily benefit
• Cover for paternity leave – 10 days
• Cover for adoption leave – 10 days
• Cover for jury service – 10 days
• Cover for attending court as a witness or juror – 10 days
• Cover for bereavement leave – 10 days
APL Health
We know that managing your work force can be about more than just insurance. You also need measures in place to reduce teacherabsences and support absent staff back into work.
That’s why we have partnered with specialist occupational health and absence management company APL Health.
Our partnership with APL Health means that whether you choose the standard or premium policy, every insured member of staff may benefit from:
• A free confidential 24-hour counselling helpline
• Formal counselling services
• Cognitive behavioural therapy
• Occupational health assessments
• Private medical cover
• Discounts and benefits through third party partners
For more information on APL Health or for a separate APL Health booklet, please get in touch.
Stress or
maternity cover
Maternity cover
Maternity leave can be expensive and disruptive for schools. Most schools seek to protect the budget in some way, and may include this provision as part of the sickness absence policy. Absence Protection are the only providers to offer such a range of maternity options.
Maternity paid
as a daily benefit
This unique option is not available anywhere else. The benefit is paid monthly at 50% of the chosen sickness daily benefit for that person, from the beginning of maternity leave after the waiting day period. This benefit is not
Fixed sum maternity benefit
This is the standard maternity benefit option offered by most insurers. However unlike other providers, we do not fix the sum for you; Absence Protection allows you to choose any sum up to £10,000 per full-time teacher. The sum is paid in one go when your employee returns to work after her maternity leave.
Stress cover
Every year 57% of our schools eligible to claim for stress related absences will do so.
No school can be complacent about the impact that stress, anxiety and depression related absences can have. The education
HR solutions
Taking out a policy with Absence Protection gives you access to a team of more than 350 employment lawyers around the country.We know that staff sickness isn’t ideal, so we work with our schools to keep absences to an absolute minimum. Our HR solutions enable you to not just manage your staff absences, but also reduce them. Inevitably you will need to deal with HR and employment issues and you may require professional advice and support from a trusted provider with proven experience and expertise in the education sector.
Browne Jacobson are a leading supplier of professional law and HR services to the education sector, specialising in the conversion of schools to academies. Their team of more than 350 employment lawyers are experienced in all aspects of employment law including representing schools in tribunal claims such as discrimination, equal pay and unfair dismissals.
On average
16%
of all days lost within schools are due to
stress related absences.
01.
The highest rated
insurer available
Our policy is underwritten by Great Lakes Reinsurance (UK) PLC, part of Munich Re (Group). Munich Re and Great Lakes both have a credit rating of “AA-”.02.
The widest choice of
policy cover available
Our cover includes emergency dental work, personal accident, death in service, paternity, adoption, jury service, bereavement, stranded staff and suspension.03.
APL Health
Healthcare services are included at no extra cost to your school
04.
HR Support
Our HR and legal support also specialises in the conversion of schools to academies.
05.
In-house claims team
Our claims are handled by an in-house team, who have an average payment time of five working days after you submit the claim.06.
Options for maternity
You can choose any maternity benefit up to £10,000, the highest available in the market. We are also the only provider to offer maternity paid as a daily benefit.07.
08.
Experts in the sector
We are a niche company with over 10 years’ experience, specialising in absence insurance within the education sector.09.
We offer a
continuous policy
It is in most schools’ interest to opt for a continuous policy but few providers will actually offer it.10.
Outstanding client
service
You will be assigned a dedicated account manager who can deal with any queries and talk you through anything you’re unsure of.
10 reasons to
choose Absence
Protection
Staff Absence Insurance
Quotation request
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Please remove this page, complete your details and either
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[email protected]
Fax to:
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Your Contact Details:
School Name:
School Postcode:
Contact Name:
Job Title:
Email Address:
Teachers
Support
Other
All-Year-Round
Current Insurer:
Current Premium:
Is your school part of a cluster or federation?
Discounts are available for groups of schools.
FTE
Daily Benefit
Waiting Days
(any amount up to £300)
(any number up to 30)
Absence Protection are one of the few providers able to offer cover without taking the details of your claims history. However, providing the following information can significantly lower your quote.
Teachers
Other staff
Days of absence in the current year:
Days of absence in the previous year:
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04.
www.absenceprotection.co.uk
Visit our website for instant quotes, more information about Absence Protection and our insurers, details of the policies we offer, useful links and downloadable versions of this and other booklets.
Absence Protection is a trading name of Absence Protection Limited registered in England number 04136959 which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and registered under the Data Protection Act. Please note all telephone calls may be monitored or recorded for quality assurance purposes. Email communications may be monitored as permitted by United Kingdom Law.
We would be happy to visit you at school at a convenient time to discuss the benefits and exclusions of our policies.
Our aim is to make absence insurance as transparent and easy to arrange as possible. Just choose the right options for your school and we can let you know how much money you could save on your existing absence arrangements. By telephone: Schools Team: 0800 862 0077 (Quotations and general enquiries) Administration 01565 760010 and Finance: Claims Department: 01565 760025 By fax: Facsimile: 01565 621169 By email: [email protected] By post: Absence Protection Limited
2 Regent Street, Knutsford Cheshire, WA16 6GR
