Why Private Medical Insurance

Private Medical Insurance (PMI) is designed to give you reassurance by offering access to eligible private health treatment; from seeing a specialist for diagnosis to receiving the appropriate care during a stay in hospital. These, plus flexible appointment times and a large choice of private hospitals, are just some of the benefits available to employees through Private Medical Insurance, helping to keep you at work and enabling you to live life well. With the current challenges within the NHS, Private Medical Insurance works to complement the care available to you through the NHS.

With Private Medical Insurance for Education from AXA Health, whether you want quick access to diagnosis and eligible treatment, mental health support or speedy physiotherapy access, or access to health and wellbeing benefits to support you to live life well, we’re here to give you peace of mind by taking care of you every day and when you need us most.

About AXA Health

When life throws you an unexpected challenge, fast access to diagnosis and treatment are what matter most, along with genuine help, support and understanding from people who care.

We’ve always aimed to make a real difference for our members. We were founded by doctors and hospitals working together to give more people better access to healthcare, in the 80 years since, we are one of the largest Health Insurers in the UK and are part of one of the largest insurance groups in the world, with all the reassurance that brings.

Introducing PHC

AXA Health has appointed its’ wholly owned subsidiary The Permanent Health Company (PHC) to assist in the administration of these Group Plans. For further information on how these Group Plans are administered, you can access a Roles and Responsibilities document here.

PHC is a specialist Private Medical Insurance business, that for over 30 years has been providing first class service and specialist healthcare insurance solutions to UK businesses. At PHC we focus on what sets us apart from other providers, and why our members choose us both now and in the future. Our core focus is providing PMI and related health and wellbeing services to support you through life's ups and downs. PHC's products and services are designed to meet our members' needs - with added value to support what matters most - members' health and wellbeing.

PHC pride themselves on the services they provide to clients and members, which has been recognised through an independent 5-star provider service rating through the 2025 Corporate Adviser Awards. We hope that you find the information within this site useful as you can discover more about the services available to you and how to access them, plus review and download important documents.

We look forward to supporting you and being there when you need us.

You can find the policy literature for the Education Payroll Deduct healthcare plans here.

For policy year starting between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026:

For members covered between 1 April 2025 and 30 September 2025, please refer to the plans Important Changes Leaflet below. This details the significant changes that have been made to the benefits available under the plan, with effect from 1 April 2025.

Important Changes Leaflet

For policy year starting between 1 April 2025 and 30 September 2025:

For members covered between 1 October 2024 and 31 March 2025, please refer to the plans Important Changes Leaflet below. This details the significant changes that have been made to the benefits available under the plan, with effect from 1 October 2024.

Important Changes Leaflet

Welcome and thank you for considering the Education Cover for your employees.

Amidst the whirl of working life, there are few better feelings than providing support for your employees. The comfort from knowing that they’re supported by PMI in case they fall ill cannot be understated.

Here you’ll find valuable information to help you understand and decide whether the healthcare cover offered by PHC is right for you and your employees. This includes useful information about the cover, how to make a claim, your rights under the cover, how to make a complaint and your important policy literature.

What’s covered and who’s involved in it?

Private Medical Insurance (PMI) is designed to give you reassurance by offering access to eligible private health treatment; from seeing a specialist for diagnosis to receiving the appropriate care during a stay in hospital. These, plus flexible appointment times and a large choice of private hospitals, are just some of the benefits available to employees through PMI, helping to keep you at work and enabling you to live life well. With the current challenges within the NHS, PMI works to complement the care available to you through the NHS.

Why AXA Health?

At AXA Health, we’re here to help your employees bring out their best self. That means a healthy employee – they can be reassured that they can access the clinical expertise they need, whenever they need it. It means a confident employee, up-to-date on the latest health, lifestyle and fitness information, and feeling fully supported in finding their own route to wellbeing.

We’re the health partner they can rely on: at their side to motivate them, and in their corner to support them when they are receiving private eligible treatment. Whatever healthy looks like for them, we’re here to help them get there. Cover includes:
Private hospital and day-patient unit charges paid in full at a facility in our Directory of Hospitals.

Specialist consultations, diagnostic tests and practitioner charges with no yearly policy limit.

Cover for an adult to stay with a child in hospital when they are receiving private treatment.

Hotel accommodation benefit of up to £100 a night, up to £500 a year towards the costs for one close relative or friend to stay near to the private hospital where a member is having eligible treatment.

Providing award winning customer service and an impressive range of healthcare support services.

Treatment by experts in their field, so you can be confident you will receive appropriate treatment and care.
Cover doesn’t include:
Pregnancy and childbirth

Treatment of medical conditions you had, or had symptoms of, before you joined.

Dental treatment

This section gives you a summary of the two plans available

Benefits table

	Platinum	Gold
In-patient and day-patient
Specialist fees, diagnostic tests and treatment at a hospital or day-patient unit in our Directory of Hospitals	No yearly limit	No yearly limit
Psychiatric treatment	45 days	28 days
Ambulance transport, if medically necessary, to transfer to another medical facility	Paid in full	Up to £250 per year
Out-patient
CT, MRI and PET scans at a scanning centre listed in our Directory of Hospitals – under specialist referral	No yearly limit	No yearly limit
Active treatment of cancer including radiotherapy and chemotherapy	Paid in full	Paid in full
Surgery	No yearly limit	No yearly limit
Specialist consultations and practitioner fees	No yearly limit	No yearly limit
Diagnostic tests performed by your specialist, or when your specialist refers you	No yearly limit	No yearly limit
Specialist consultations for psychiatric illness	No yearly limit Overall maximum of 20 sessions in a year with a physiotherapist and up to 20 sessions in a year with a therapist	Combined overall yearly limit of £1,000 Overall maximum of 10 sessions in a year with a physiotherapist and up to 10 sessions in a year with a therapist or acupuncturist
Psychiatric treatment by psychologists or psychotherapists
Fees for out-patient treatment by physiotherapists
Fees for out-patient treatment by therapists or acupuncturists
Additional benefits
Cash payment when you have free in-patient treatment under the NHS, which would have been covered by your plan	£200 per night up to £6,000 a year	£100 per night up to £2,000 a year
Cash payment when you have free day-patient treatment under the NHS, which would have been covered by your plan	£150 per person per claim	£50 per person per claim
Home nursing following in-patient or day-patient treatment	No yearly limit	No yearly limit
Provision of external prostheses	Up to £5,000 for the lifetime of the membership	Up to £5,000 for the lifetime of the membership
New child benefit (available when parent has been a member for a minimum of 10 months before the birth or adoption)	£200	£100
24/7 health support line	✓	✓
Counselling and Support service (members aged 16 and over only)	✓	✓
Recuperative care	£500	N/A
Cancer cover
Cash payment if you have chemotherapy or radiotherapy free on the NHS, which would have been covered by your plan	£50 a day up to £2,000 a year	£50 a day up to £2,000 a year
Hospice cash benefit	£75 per day up to 15 days	£75 per day up to 15 days
Wigs or external prostheses needed when receiving treatment to kill cancer cells	Up to £400 a year for wigs Up to £5,000 a year for prostheses	Up to £400 a year for wigs Up to £5,000 a year for prostheses
Nurse to give you chemotherapy for cancer or antibiotics by intravenous drip at home	Paid in full	Paid in full
Health coaching	Cover for a 6-month course each year, with an AXA Health Coach via an app on your smart device, to help make appropriate health and lifestyle choices, focusing on diet and nutrition	Cover for a 6-month course each year, with an AXA Health Coach via an app on your smart device, to help make appropriate health and lifestyle choices, focusing on diet and nutrition

Limits are per person, per policy year (unless otherwise stated). For more details on what is and isn’t covered, including any limitations, please refer to the membership handbook.

Members of the Education healthcare plan can find their policy literature here. Please review these documents carefully. If you have psychiatric cover, it will be noted on your Certificate of Cover. If in doubt please contact your HR Department.
- For policy year starting between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026:
  
  Platinum plan - AXA Health Education membership handbook
  
  Gold plan - AXA Health Education membership handbook
  
  Platinum plan - Insurance Product Information Document (IPID)
  
  Gold plan - Insurance Product Information Document (IPID)
  
  Contract of Insurance and Scheme Administrators Guide
  
  Directory of Hospitals
  
  Roles and Responsibilites
  
  For members covered between 1 April 2025 and 30 September 2025, please refer to the plans Important Changes Leaflet below. This details the significant changes that have been made to the benefits available under the plan, with effect from 1 April 2025.
  
  Important Changes Leaflet

FAQs

The policy is underwritten by AXA PPP healthcare Limited, trading as AXA Health. Your policy is a group contract of insurance between you and AXA Health. AXA Health will be the insurer and provider of this group plan. The members or their dependants on your group plan should contact AXA Health directly when making a claim, on 0800 068 6256.

AXA Health has appointed its wholly owned subsidiary The Permanent Health Company Limited (PHC) to assist in the administration of these group plans. If you have any queries regarding your membership, please call PHC’s Member Services on 01923 770 000.

For more information, read the Roles and Responsibilities here.
We give all members full access to the complaint resolution process.

Our aim is to make sure members are always happy with their policy. If things do go wrong, it’s important to us that we put things right as quickly as possible.

If you want to make a complaint, you can call us or write to us using the contact details below.

To help us resolve your complaint, please give us the following details:
- Your name and membership number
- A contact telephone number
- The details of your complaint
- Any relevant information that we may not have already seen
Please call us on 0800 364 524.

Or write to:

AXA Health, International House, Forest Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2 5FE

Answering your complaint

We’ll respond to your complaint as quickly as we can.

If we can’t get back to you straight away, we’ll contact you within five working days to explain the next steps.

We always aim to resolve things within eight weeks from when you first told us about your concerns. If it looks like it will take us longer than this, we will let you know the reasons for the delay and regularly keep you up to date with our progress.

The Financial Ombudsman Service

You may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The ombudsman service can liaise with us directly about your complaint and if we can’t respond fully to a complaint within eight weeks, or if you’re unhappy with our final response, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent review.

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
Harbour Exchange Square
London
E14 9SR

Phone: 0300 123 9123 or 0800 023 4567 (These numbers may not be available from outside the UK – so from abroad please call +44 20 7964 0500)

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Website: financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Your legal rights

None of the information in this section affects your legal rights.

Gold Plan

Member documents

You can find the policy literature for the Gold Education healthcare plan here.

For policy year starting between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026:

Important Changes Leaflet

For policy year starting between 1 April 2025 and 30 September 2025:

Important Changes Leaflet

Platinum Plan

Member documents

You can find the policy literature for the Gold Education healthcare plan here.

For policy year starting between 1 October 2025 and 31 March 2026:

Important Changes Leaflet

For policy year starting between 1 April 2025 and 30 September 2025:

Important Changes Leaflet

FAQs

The policy is underwritten by AXA PPP healthcare Limited, trading as AXA Health. Your policy is a group contract of insurance between your employer and AXA Health. AXA Health will be the insurer and provider of this group plan. As a member of this group plan you should contact AXA Health directly when making a claim, on 0800 068 6256 .

AXA Health has appointed its wholly owned subsidiary The Permanent Health Company Limited (PHC) to assist in the administration of these group plans.

If you have any queries regarding your membership, please call PHC’s Member Services on 01923 770 000.

For more information, please read our Roles and Responsibilities here.
To make a claim follow the steps below:
1. Ask your GP for an open referral
  We will accept referrals from the AXA Doctor at Hand service or a GP at your GP practice. If your GP says you need specialist treatment, tell them you want to go private and ask for an ‘open referral’. With an open referral your GP doesn’t name a particular specialist, but instead gives you the type of specialist you need to see, for example a cardiologist. This means we can help you find a suitable specialist and make a convenient appointment for you. Occasionally the NHS will be best placed to provide care locally (for example specialist paediatric (children’s) care at an NHS centre of excellence). When this is the case, we will talk to you about your NHS options as well.
2. Contact us on 0800 068 6256 before you see the specialist
  Contact us as soon as you’ve seen your GP. It’s important you contact us before you see the specialist or have any treatment so that we can tell you what you’re covered for. This will mean you don’t end up having an unexpected bill for treatment that you’re not covered for.
3. We’ll check your cover and let you know what happens next
  We may ask you to provide more information, for example from your GP or specialist. You, your GP, or your specialist must provide us with the information we ask for by the date that we ask for it or you may not be covered for your claim.
Whether you can add family members, including babies, to your cover will depend on the agreement we have with your group/employer who has taken out this cover under a group insurance contract. Depending on the agreement with your group, there may be restrictions on when you can add family members. Please discuss this with your scheme administrator.

You can normally add:

a. Your partner. You must be either married, in a civil partnership, or living together permanently in a similar relationship.

b. Any of your children or your partner’s children. Children cannot stay on the plan after the renewal date following their 25th birthday.
You may not need a GP referral for certain conditions*.

For musculoskeletal conditions, call AXA Health as soon as you develop a problem. We’ll check you’re covered and refer you to our muscles, bones and joints service who will arrange an initial clinical needs assessment with a physiotherapist. During the needs assessment the physiotherapist will listen to your concerns, take you through an initial assessment of the issues you're experiencing and then advise the most appropriate treatment for you.

In addition, you can get access to support and treatment for mental health conditions through our mental health assessments and support service, by speaking to a counsellor or psychologist who will assess your condition and recommend a treatment plan, without the need for a GP referral*.

You also have access to our skin, prostate and breast cancer pathways.

For all other conditions, you will need a referral from our AXA Doctor at Hand service or a GP at your GP practice.

Please note: members under the age of 18 will need to see their GP for a referral for all conditions as these services are not available to them.

*Subject to the terms, conditions and underwriting terms applied to your cover. For example, if you are covered on moratorium underwriting, we may require some further information from your registered GP in order to assess whether your claim is eligible.
To register and activate your access to the AXA Doctor at Hand service, you’ll need:
1. Your membership number or activation code, found in your membership communications.
2. Photo ID – you can use a passport, driver’s licence, identity card or residence permit card.
3. Camera access – you’ll need to be able to take a selfie on the phone or computer you’re using.
Access using the link below to get started.

https://member.doctorcareanywhere.com/SignUp/axa/
We give all members full access to the complaint resolution process.

Our aim is to make sure members are always happy with their policy. If things do go wrong, it’s important to us that we put things right as quickly as possible.

If you want to make a complaint, you can call us or write to us using the contact details below.

To help us resolve your complaint, please give us the following details:
- Your name and membership number
- A contact telephone number
- The details of your complaint
- Any relevant information that we may not have already seen
Please call us on 0800 364 524.

Or write to:

AXA Health, International House, Forest Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2 5FE

Answering your complaint

We’ll respond to your complaint as quickly as we can.

If we can’t get back to you straight away, we’ll contact you within five working days to explain the next steps.

We always aim to resolve things within eight weeks from when you first told us about your concerns. If it looks like it will take us longer than this, we will let you know the reasons for the delay and regularly keep you up to date with our progress.

The Financial Ombudsman Service

You may be entitled to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service. The ombudsman service can liaise with us directly about your complaint and if we can’t respond fully to a complaint within eight weeks, or if you’re unhappy with our final response, you can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent review.

The Financial Ombudsman Service
Exchange Tower
Harbour Exchange Square
London
E14 9SR

Phone: 0300 123 9123 or 0800 023 4567 (These numbers may not be available from outside the UK – so from abroad please call +44 20 7964 0500)

Email: complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Website: financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Your legal rights

None of the information in this section affects your legal rights.

Private Medical Insurance (PMI) is designed to give you reassurance by offering access to eligible private health treatment; from seeing a specialist for diagnosis to receiving the appropriate care during a stay in hospital. These, plus flexible appointment times and a large choice of private hospitals, are just some of the benefits available to employees through Private Medical Insurance, helping to keep you at work and enabling you to live life well. With the current challenges within the NHS, Private Medical Insurance works to complement the care available to you through the NHS.
An excess is the amount that needs to be paid each membership year towards the cost of treatment, if you make a claim. For example: if your treatment costs £1,000 and you have an excess of £250, we’ll pay £750 and you’ll pay £250.

If there’s more than one person on your policy (for example, your partner or child), each person will have their own excess. So, if there are two people on your policy and you both claim, you’ll have to pay two excesses - one for each person. Each person covered under your plan will have the same excess.

Your Certificate of Cover will tell you if you have an excess and how much it is. Excesses are applicable per person, per policy year.

Where there are multiple claims in one plan year, only one excess will be applied.

For full details regarding how the excess works, please see section 5 ‘Managing your membership’ of the membership handbook.
You cannot be a member of more than one PMI scheme at the same time. Therefore, if you already have an alternative PMI arrangement there will be no change. However, should you wish to leave your current arrangement and join the AXA Health MMB Education scheme, you may choose to do so. Before making any decisions to switch arrangements, please ensure you review the terms and conditions of each plan to fully understand any impacts on your plan benefits or underwriting terms.

Please refer to your current policy documents and the relevant membership handbook for full details.
It is extremely difficult to provide a like for like comparison against other providers due to the complexity of the product and the multiple product options, benefits and underwriting styles. You can however review the benefits available to you in the AXA Health Education corporate healthcare cover handbook.
Whether you can add family members, including babies, to your cover depends on the contract of insurance we have with your employer, as there may be restrictions on when you can add family members. Members who are joining the group plan may be required to complete an application form.

We are unable to add a new eligible member until we’ve received and accepted the application form or received formal instruction to add, and there are restrictions on the length of time cover will be back-dated dependent upon the underwriting terms that apply.

Who can members add?

Members can normally add:
- your partner. You must be either married, in a civil partnership, or living together permanently in a similar relationship
- Any of your children or your partner’s children
If you would like to add a new baby to your cover, you can normally do this from their date of birth, free of charge, so long as we are notified within 13 weeks of their birth.

Please note: Children cannot stay on a group member or eligible family members plan after the renewal date following their 25th birthday.

A lead member can cover up to 8 dependants.
Newborn babies can be added to the policy from their date of birth (when added within 13 weeks) and are covered free of charge up to the first renewal. If your baby requires treatment in a Special Care Baby Unit or paediatric intensive care following birth, you may not be covered for the costs. Please contact us to confirm any cover available to you in this case.
If you change your mind after opting into the scheme, changes will be subject to a life event criteria during the scheme year. Any other changes can only be made at renewal.

The qualifying life events include:
- You get married or enter a civil partnership.
- You have a divorce, legal separation, bereavement or need to remove your partner as they are no longer eligible.
- You have a new child through birth, adoption or marriage (stepchild).
Should you leave the company then your private medical insurance will cease on the day your current employer advises us to end your cover. If you are leaving your employment there is the option to continue your PMI by transferring to a personal plan.

For the vast majority of existing members, AXA Health can cover you for existing medical conditions with no additional medical underwriting, when transferring to a plan with comparable benefits and restrictions.
Rest assured that AXA Health always aims to keep pricing competitive and being part of a group scheme like this can help offset large increases.

To support providing value to our customers, AXA Health has customer value procedures in place. These procedures include regular assessments to test the products provide fair value to those using it.

The products are monitored on an ongoing basis throughout the product lifecycle and assessed against a set of Management Information (MI) metrics to analyse performance and ensure that they continue to meet the needs, characteristics and objectives of the customer and deliver fair outcomes.
Yes, all our GPs can write a prescription, however, these will be private prescriptions and will incur a cost as we are not part of the NHS. The cost of private prescription medication is different to the standard NHS prescription charges, and we have no control over what your pharmacy charges. Our doctors always try to prescribe the most cost-effective medicine and will let you know if it's going to be expensive.
Our Counselling and Support service is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, to help you and the family members aged 16 and over living in your household deal with life’s ups and downs. To speak to somebody, call AXA Health’s dedicated Counselling and Support service on 0800 072 7072. To access the online portal, please visit axabesupported.co.uk. To register for an online account, use access code: employee. You can then login using your own details.
As part of your healthcare cover, you are entitled to 25% off a range of Nuffield Health or Circle Health Group Health Assessments (terms and conditions apply). For more information about the health assessments available to you including prices, please visit Health assessment (axahealth.co.uk).
Whilst we currently don’t have a mobile app, you do have access to this dedicated online platform. You can access all you need to know about your AXA Health cover, from membership literature, including your Membership Handbook and Directory of Hospitals. You will also discover the value-added health and wellbeing services available to you and how to access them.
The plans do not include cover for treating emergency dental problems or any routine dental care. This includes any fees for dental specialists, such as orthodontists, periodontists, endodontists or prosthodontists.

We will cover the costs of oral surgery when you are referred for treatment by a dentist, such as:
- reinserting your own teeth after an injury; or
- removing impacted teeth, buried teeth and complicated buried roots; or
- removal of cysts of the jaw (sometimes called enucleation).

The AXA Health Member Area

Here you'll find useful information about the services that may form part of your policy with us and what to do if you need to make a claim.

For full details on what is and isn't covered, alongside any limitations, please refer to your Membership Handbook.

Online GP service

Muscles, bones and joints service

Counselling and Support service

Mental Health Assessments and Support service

Specialist appointment booking

Claims

Health support

Second Opinion Service

Gym offer

Health Assessments

Skin cancer self referral service

Breast cancer self referral service

Prostate cancer self referral service

Dermatology service

Digestive Health pathway

Children and Young People's Mental Health support

Taking care personal alarms

Leaving your group arrangement

In the event you need to make or discuss a claim, or would like to make a complaint, please contact us by:

Phone

For general queries about the policy, please contact PHC Member Services on 01923 770 000

To make a claim, please call
0800 068 6256

E-mail

You can email us at mmbeducation@thephc.co.uk

Making a complaint

If you want to make a compaint, you can call us or write to us using the contact details below. To help us resolve your complaint, please give us the following details:

your name and membership number
a contact phone number
the details of your complaint
any relevant information that we may not have already seen.

Please call us on 0800 364 524. Or write to AXA Health, International House, Forest Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN2 5FE.

PMI terms explained

Private medical insurance has some confusing terminology within in. To help you understand what we mean for of these, have created short videos.

Pre-existing conditions

We call conditions you were aware of when you joined pre-existing conditions. A pre-existing condition is any disease, illness or injury that:

you have received medication, advice or treatment in the five years before the start of your cover, or
you have experienced symptoms of in the five years before the start of your cover: whether or not the condition was diagnosed.

Chronic conditions

This video is designed to help you understand more about what we mean by chronic conditions and provide practical examples of when we will or will not cover treatment of those conditions.

Moratorium

This video is designed to help you understand more about what we mean by moratorium underwriting and provide practical examples of what we will or will not cover, and when this will be covered.

Welcome to the AXA Health Education Scheme

Welcome and thank you for considering the Education Cover for your employees.

What’s covered and who’s involved in it?

FAQs

Gold Plan

Member documents

Platinum Plan

Member documents

FAQs

Online GP service

Muscles, bones and joints service

Counselling and Support service

Mental Health Assessments and Support service

Specialist appointment booking

Claims

Health support

Second Opinion Service

Gym offer

Health Assessments

Skin cancer self referral service

Breast cancer self referral service

Prostate cancer self referral service

Dermatology service

Digestive Health pathway

Children and Young People's Mental Health support

Taking care personal alarms

Leaving your group arrangement

Phone

E-mail

Making a complaint

PMI terms explained

Pre-existing conditions

Chronic conditions

Moratorium

Pre-existing conditions

Chronic conditions

Moratorium