Choosing a staff absence insurance policy

These are the number of days at the beginning of each absence that the school must wait before a claim can be made. This is another way in which you can control your spending on sickness absence. Again, it is important to look for a provider who can offer you a wide choice of Waiting Days. Some providers do not offer first day cover, others only have limited choices of Waiting Days. In a similar way to an excess on a motor policy, the higher the Waiting Days, generally the lower the premium.

If you choose to have zero Waiting Days, you have practically fixed your absence costs; as each absence would be claimable from the first day. However, ‘first day cover’ is more expensive, and you must take into account the administrative burden involved in entering a claim for every headache and upset stomach.

First-day cover can be a good idea for small schools where each absence would have a disproportionately high impact, or for schools with an excellent claims history.

On the other hand, you could choose a very high number of waiting days (such as 30, which equates to six school weeks or approximately half a term). This would bring the cost of your policy down considerably. The realistic impact would be that you manage your own absences except that you have cover in case something dreadful and unexpected occurs, leaving you with an extended absence to manage. Remember that serious accidents and illness and many stress absences can often last months. More Waiting Days can be a good idea for schools with very low absence rates, or for schools that are so large that the insurance premiums would be prohibitive otherwise. It may be practical to combine this approach with the employment of permanent cover supervisors.

Most schools select three, 5 or 10 Waiting Days. Reviewing your existing absence data for the average length of your absences may help you make this decision. Insurance providers should be willing to provide quotes with different Waiting Days so that you can see the impact this makes upon the price you would pay.

The decision is about balancing what is practically affordable with what claims you would be able to make. Some providers insist upon longer Waiting Days for certain conditions, such as asthma, gynaecological conditions, back pain or pregnancy related illness.

Make sure you know what each provider is offering when you are comparing quotes. Other providers exclude certain “chronic” conditions, these can be ailments such as blood pressure or asthma.

Question to ask your prospective provider: What is the waiting day period?

Our answer: You can choose any waiting day period up to 30 days.

Research by the Health and Safety Executive in 2000 found teaching to be the most stressful profession, with 41.5% of teachers reporting themselves as "highly stressed". Another way in which you can manage the costs of your absence insurance policy is to select the level of stress cover it includes.

If you are fortunate enough to run a school with low levels of stress absence, and you are confident that this will continue, you may wish to consider a policy without cover for stress related absences. This would reduce your premium significantly.

Alternatively, you may feel that stress cover is essential and that you should choose a policy that covers stress related absences in full. Many providers offer these options, as well as a compromise of ‘limited’ stress cover which means that stress related absences are covered but that the claims would cease to be paid beyond a certain time limit.

Make sure that you understand these options, and how your provider defines ‘stress’, when you are comparing quotes.

For more information on stress related absences, please see our section on stress.

Question to ask your prospective provider: What stress cover options do you offer?

Our answer: We provide schools with the choice of two stress cover options – Standard or Premium.

Standard stress cover. This provides your school with 30 days of cover for absences which occur as a result of work-related stress causes.
Premium stress cover. This provides your school with 190 days of cover for absences which occur as a result of a wide range of stress causes.

For most schools, a maternity absence is inevitable sooner or later. It can be disruptive and expensive to provide cover when a teacher takes time off to have a baby. Whilst National Insurance repays most of the absent teacher’s salary, most schools need some assistance to help pay for the replacement teacher.

If your payroll is contracted out, or done for you by the LEA, they should be able to explain the role that National Insurance plays in maternity pay. Some LEAs make provision for maternity through a pool scheme, so you should find out whether or not you need to include this cover as part of your policy.

Most providers make a fixed sum payment to the school when a teacher returns from maternity leave. You should be able to select your preferred amount. Look out for small print regarding any maximum length of absence, or the time for which you teacher must return to work before the benefit would become payable. Also make sure that you understand what will happen if the person chooses not to return to work – will the policy still pay out? It is possible to get maternity benefit that pays in a similar way to sickness absence throughout the leave, whether or not your staff member returns to work. Think carefully about the best value option for your school.

Question to ask your prospective provider: Can I include maternity in my policy?

Our answer: Yes. We offer three maternity cover options:

Lump sum – You can choose any lump sum maternity benefit up to £10,000, the highest available in the market.

Non-return dependent – This maternity option is not dependent on the absentee returning to work and is paid as a lump sum up to £10,000.

Daily benefit – We are also the only provider to offer maternity paid as a Daily Benefit of your choice.

What’s more, if your school only requires maternity cover, lump sum maternity benefit is provided under a separate policy and provider, which means it can be purchased as a standalone product.

Who should you include on your policy? Some schools cover only the teachers, but an increasing number include some or all of their administration and support staff. When deciding who to cover, you will probably need to think about varying the Waiting Days and the Daily Benefit from that you have chosen for the teachers. For example, you may wish to cover your teaching assistants for significantly lower Daily Benefit (reflecting lower replacement costs) and with more Waiting Days (so that you only bring supply cover in for extended absences). It might be interesting to ask your providers for alternative quotes showing the financial impact of these variables.

If your plan includes an element of ‘self-cover’, or using existing staff to cover the absence of another, you should make sure that the policies you are considering all allow for this eventuality. Some policies are “Indemnity Policies”. These policies will only reimburse you if you engage a supply teacher. Others are “Benefits Policies”, which provide a fixed daily benefit and they pay you that amount regardless of how you cover the absence.

In other words, some providers require ‘evidence of supply’. This means showing the invoices for your spending on supply cover to reclaim your costs. Should you be able to self-cover in some circumstances, or for part of each absence, you need a policy that does not demand evidence of supply in order to claim for the full absence. Another factor to consider is the availability of a supply teacher at short notice, especially if you are considering a zero or low Waiting Days policy.

You are unlikely to be able to source insurance cover for all the absences you may grant. For example, compassionate leave to care for dependents in a domestic crisis is unlikely to be included. However, there are some absences, such as attending jury service or court as a witness, paternity or adoption leave, union duties, training days, or following a bereavement, that can be included. Make sure you know what is included from each provider when you compare quotes. If you have selected a long period of Waiting Days, find out how this applies to these types of absence, which tend to be sudden and short.

Always ask for a Specimen Policy before you make your decision – and read it! Remember that exclusions or restrictions that you are not expecting could cost the school thousands. If you are not confident about it, you can always ask the policy provider to come and visit you to explain the policy in more depth. There is no such thing as a stupid question.

The individual needs and circumstances of each school vary so widely that it is impossible to offer advice to suit everyone.

It is always important to understand the type of policy you are considering, in particular whether it’s a “Benefits Policy” or an “Indemnity Policy” and whether the policy is “annual” or “continuous”.