Broadway Insurance is set to branch out into offering employee benefits group protection.
The firm’s expansion into this area of business will be led by director Stuart Lowe, who joined the insurer from Howden this month.
Lowe specialises in group risk employee benefits, which include group income protection, group life, and group critical illness.
Lowe told Benefits Expert that group life and group income protection were key drivers behind the insurer’s decision to launch its new protection arm.
“We tend to find that since pensions auto enrolment was introduced, group life is a relatively cost saving employee benefit that can be rolled out to attract and retain staff.
“Group income protection offers the early intervention and rehabilitation piece. It’s not just designed for when the client is off sick, it’s there for beforehand which separates it from the private medical insurance,” he said.
“It gets people back to work as soon as possible without pushing them too much.”
Lowe said that employers that do not offer group income protection have no structure in place if someone goes on long term sickness, adding that employers would be left to “fork out for their salaries”.
“Group income protection pays out a salary, so as an employer you can recruit someone else if needed or pay for temporary staff to cover them in their absence for sickness.”
He emphasised that group income protection is “heavily weighted towards early intervention”, meaning that the benefits provider will be looking after an employee before they become ill.
“It means they are not going off sick and it’s not a risk to the employer. The employer can also ask for further assistance as well. You want to protect your employees, but you also want to protect yourself as an employer.”
