How to Compare Staff Absence Insurance Policies

What Should You Compare in Staff Absence Insurance?

A useful comparison should answer eight basic questions.

1. What type of protection are you buying?

For your staff absence insurance comparison start by understanding the arrangement itself.
Staff absence protection can be structured in different ways. Depending on the arrangement, you may be considering a contract of insurance, a discretionary benefit arrangement or another form of contractual protection or reimbursement.
The important point is not simply the label used. It is understanding who is responsible for providing the benefit, what right the school has to receive payment and which terms govern that payment.
Where insurance is involved, you should also be clear about who the insurer or underwriter is and which organisation is acting as the broker, intermediary or administrator.

2. Who and What Is Covered?

Next, check whether the quotation actually covers the people and absence risks that matter to your school.
Look at the definitions carefully. Does the arrangement include teaching staff, support staff, leadership and part-time employees? How are fixed-term, temporary or other categories of staff treated?
Then consider the causes of absence.
Sickness and injury may be the starting point, but schools may also want to check how the terms treat mental-health-related absence, maternity, paternity or adoption, compassionate leave, bereavement, jury service and other absence events relevant to their workforce.
Do not assume that the same label means the same protection across different quotations. Record whether each important area is included, optional, restricted, excluded or requires further clarification.

3. Compare the Waiting Period

The waiting period — sometimes described using terms such as deferment or excess period — determines how much of the initial absence cost remains with the school before payments begin.
For example, two policies may both show the same daily benefit but begin paying at different points in an absence. Their headline benefits may therefore look identical while their practical financial protection is different.
Check how the waiting period is calculated and whether it differs according to staff category or type of absence.
It is also worth confirming how recurring or related absences are treated, rather than assuming that every later absence starts a completely new waiting period.

4. Compare the Benefit Period and Amount Payable

The daily benefit is only part of the calculation.
You should also establish how long payments may continue, whether there are limits per employee or claim and whether any overall policy limit applies.
A higher daily benefit does not automatically mean greater overall protection if another quotation provides a longer benefit period, begins paying earlier or includes a wider group of employees.
You should also understand how the payment itself is calculated.
Some arrangements use a predetermined benefit calculation. Others may link payment to eligible costs actually incurred by the school.
Where costs or replacement staffing affect the amount payable, check what evidence the school would need to provide.
The useful question is:
What event actually converts the figure on this quotation into money received by the school?

5. Compare Exclusions and Existing Absences

Exclusions and limitations can materially change the practical value of two quotations that initially appear similar.
Areas worth checking include pre-existing conditions, employees who are already absent, known future treatment or absence, recurring conditions, phased returns and any restrictions applying to particular staff or absence types.
These are separate questions.
For example, an ongoing absence is not necessarily the same issue as a pre-existing medical condition, and a planned future absence may be treated differently again.
The safest approach is to compare the actual wording rather than relying on broad statements such as “pre-existing conditions included”.
If something matters to the school and the quotation is unclear, ask how it would be treated before making the purchasing decision.

6. Look Carefully at Maternity and Mental-Health Cover

Terms such as maternity cover or stress cover can sound straightforward but may hide important differences in how the benefit actually works.
For maternity, consider the amount payable, eligibility requirements, how pregnancy-related sickness is treated, what evidence is required and how an employee who is already pregnant when cover begins or renews would be treated.
For mental-health-related absence, check whether it falls within the standard sickness terms or has separate conditions. Consider the waiting period, maximum duration, evidence requirements and how recurring or related periods of absence are handled.
The important question is not simply whether a quotation has a tick beside the word “included”.
It is how that cover operates in practice.

7. Compare the Claims Process Before You Need to Use It

A policy’s value is not determined by cover alone. The school must also be able to meet the requirements for making a valid claim.
Before choosing an arrangement, establish how quickly an absence must be notified, whether there is a final submission deadline and what documentation may be required.
Depending on the terms, this could include self-certification, medical evidence, maternity documentation or evidence of eligible replacement costs.
It is particularly important not to assume that normal employment rules around fit notes or self-certification automatically determine what an insurance policy will accept as claims evidence.
The policy or arrangement can have its own requirements.
For longer absences, also check whether further evidence needs to be supplied while the claim remains ongoing.

8. Check What Happens at Renewal

This is one of the easiest areas to overlook but extremely important for your staff absence insurance comparison.

1. If a member of staff is already absent when the policy renews, what happens to that claim?
2. Does it continue under its existing terms? Does the renewal affect the benefit? Are there additional conditions or costs? How would an absence that spans two policy years be handled?

Terms such as annual and continuous are used within the staff absence market, but the label alone does not tell you everything you need to know.
The important comparison is the actual treatment of ongoing claims and absences at renewal.

While great customer service is important to us, providing comprehensive coverage is our top priority. Our staff absence insurance policy (underwritten by AXA) stands out in the market by including extra benefits as standard – benefits most providers simply don’t offer.

• Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
• Covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme.
• 100% of all valid claims are guaranteed to be paid, no questions asked.
• Paperless claims submission with clear progress updates.

To make things even easier, we provide a state-of-the-art claims system with live push notifications, so you can track the status of your claim in real time, 24/7.

Staff Absence Insurance FAQs