With April just around the corner, schools are planning their spending for the next financial year. We know that schools can often be forced to operate under stringent budgets, therefore it is important that they have a staff absence policy in place designed to mitigate the financial risk, minimise disruption and reduce staff absences. We know that no education provider has unlimited funding, so financial planning for this area of expenditure is essential. We offer honest, dependable and financially stable insurance that really makes a difference to our customers.
Why should my school choose Absence Protection?
1. We have 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-’ by the rating agency Standard and Poor’s. No other provider can offer you the same level of financial security.
2. The widest choice of cover available
We offer the widest choice of cover for staff absences available, including cover for pre-existing conditions, cover for pre-planned surgery, stress cover, maternity cover paid as a daily benefit or fixed sum and cover for on-going maternities. No other provider can offer you such choice.
3. APL Health
Taking out a policy with Absence Protection entitles all your insured members of staff to health and wellbeing support from APL Health. APL Health provide tailored healthcare solutions using a mixture of face-to-face, personal healthcare and digital wellbeing solutions. Together, these create a best-in-class service, ensuring fast, proactive support with effective results. No other provider has access to APL Health.
4. Health cash plan
Through APL Health, you have the option to add a health cash plan to your policy. This entitles all your insured members of staff to claim for a range of everyday healthcare treatments. These include physiotherapy, dental procedures, optical costs, prescriptions, specialist hospital consultations and wellbeing treatments such as massages.
5. In house claims handling
Most other staff absence insurers will use external loss adjusters who work on behalf of the insurance company. This means a slower claim settlement time and it is unlikely you will be kept informed throughout the process. It also means your sensitive information is being passed onto a third party. We don’t have any of these issues as all of our claims are handled by our in house claims team. Subsequently we have an average claims handling time of five working days. All schools who take out a policy with us have access to our SSL encrypted client area, allowing them to manage their policies, update their staff lists and make claims online.
6. Options for maternity
You can choose any fixed sum 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 of your choice. No other provider has the same options for maternity cover.
7. No proof of supply
We don't request any proof of supply. In other words, if you have the manpower to cover your staff absences already and don't need to engage a supply teacher, you can still claim.
8. Experts in the sector
We are a niche company with over 10 years’ experience, specialising in absence insurance within the education sector. We only work in the education sector, meaning we can devote all of our resources towards offering a comprehensive and tailored insurance policy to schools and academies across the UK.
9. We offer a continuous policy
There is a difference between a continuous policy and an annual policy. A continuous policy does not re-set all the conditions at the start of the policy each year and usually excludes claims that cross the renewal date. This is an important difference and can lead to many claims being declined in the second and subsequent years. It is in most schools’ interest to opt for a continuous policy but few providers will actually offer it. In fact many will try to disguise an annual policy to look like a continuous policy, so beware of the policy wording. We offer a genuine continuous policy.
10. Outstanding client service
We train our staff to the highest possible standards to ensure you have all the support you need when choosing your insurance policy and throughout the duration of your cover. You will be assigned a dedicated account manager who can deal with any queries and talk you through anything you’re unsure of. We can also visit you to discuss your quote, and our account managers will visit each of our schools at least once a year to check that everything is going ok with their policy.
To find out more about the services we offer or the benefits of our cover, please call one of our dedicated Schools Team on 0800 862 0077. Alternatively, you can find out how much our absence management solutions would cost your school by getting an instant quote online here.