Health | April 2020: the government push for proactive employee wellbeing begins

By Tracey Ward, Head of Business Development & Marketing at Generali UK Employee Benefits

The imminent amendments to the Statement of Employment Particulars represent just one change in a series of many expected over coming years, all designed by government to try to ensure employers - of all shapes and sizes - play a more proactive role in both preventing and managing employee absence.

Why? Because governments (recent past and present) see a vital role for employers in helping shoulder the state burden with regards to disability and long-term ill health. The goal is to help more people return to work, to proactively support their health and wellbeing throughout their employment and to ensure fairness and transparency whatever their employment status.

All of this arguably starts with the changes to the Statement of Written Particulars this April, which is designed to – amongst other things - help employees take better informed decisions with regards to making their own provisions around aspects such as income protection (where bare minimum statutory sick pay is provided) or to ask their employer to provide company sponsored disability provision.