Family-owned businesses are incredibly common across a number of different industries in the UK. In 2021, 80% of SMEs were defined as family-owned businesses.1 In 2020, the family business sector employed 13.9 million people (51.5% of all private sector employment) and contributed £575 billion to the UK economy.2
Owning and working in a family business can be very rewarding. Employing relatives can mean that you’re all more aligned on business goals and objectives, and share an equal passion in making the business a success. It can also be very all-consuming, and the line between work life and personal life can often become blurred.
How our business health insurance can help a small family business
When you own a family business, the health and wellbeing of your team is likely to be very important to you. You’ll want to make sure that your team are healthy, happy and productive, and that they’re able to be the best version of themselves.
Our small business health insurance can help you show your team that you really value what they do for you, and that you’re ready to invest in their health and wellbeing. You know your business and your team better than anybody, which is why we think that the best way for you to get the health insurance that’s right for your family business is to let you build your health insurance plan yourself. We offer a range of cover options for you to choose from, so you only pay for the cover you need.*
No matter the size of your organisation, we’ll help you build a wellbeing culture throughout your family business. We can cover 1-249 employees with our small business health insurance.
*If you are buying cover for 1-2 people only, you will need to include either the Treatment option or the Diagnostics Only option in your plan.
How easy is it to add additional employees to my plan?
It’s easy to add new or additional employees or family members to your health insurance plan at any point during your policy. The group administrator can either email us or call us on the phone number listed in the handbook (phone lines are open 8:30am-5:30pm Monday – Friday). Depending on the underwriting option chosen, the amendment to your policy can often be authorised over the phone. Once the amendment has been actioned, your new employee will then be added to your plan and can start receiving the benefits of your small business health insurance plan.
What does the plan cover and what doesn’t it cover?
What your policy covers will depend on the cover options that you choose, as well as any previous medical history and the underwriting option you select when you take out your plan. We offer a number of different cover options, so you can build a plan that suits your business and your budget. Our cover options include:
- Treatment: Cover for inpatient and day-patient treatment, as well as outpatient surgery when your employee is treated at a hospital or day patient unit in our Directory of Hospitals. Choose to include Comprehensive Cancer Cover or use the NHS for any cancer treatment
- Diagnostics Only: This option helps you or one of your employees find out what's wrong, quickly, if you become unwell
- Therapies: Cover for referred outpatient treatments by an osteopath, physiotherapist, acupuncturist, or chiropractor
- Outpatient: Helps employees with a GP referral be seen quickly by a specialist at a time and place suitable for them
- Mental health: Look after more than just your employees’ physical health with cover for mental health treatment
- Private GP: Make it easy for you and your employees to see a private GP in person, promptly, at a time that’s convenient
- Extended Cover: Provides even greater flexibility and choice over where your people are treated. Plus extra cover for planned, pre-approved treatment abroad and cover for the routine management of specified chronic conditions
- Employee Assistance Programme: If they’re going through difficult times, such as divorce or money problems, this option gives your people a professionally trained expert to talk to; on the phone, or in person, depending on the chosen programme^
- Dentist and optician cashback: Help your employees look after their teeth and eyesight with cashback towards dentists’ fees, glasses, contact lenses and eye tests
- Travel: Whether travelling for business or pleasure, cover your people for emergency medical treatment. They will also have access to other travel-related benefits
Find out more about our cover options
^Our EAP cover option is only available as part of a healthcare cover plan when chosen with at least one other cover option.
The benefits of business health insurance for small family businesses
Business health insurance can have a number of benefits for your family business, these include:
Employee retention
If you employ relatives in your family business, they may already have a strong loyalty to your business because of the family connection. However, ensuring that they have a strong benefits package, including incentives such as private health insurance, can help to retain your team. According to a survey by Drewberry, 35.3% of workers want private health insurance as an employee benefit3
Recruitment incentive
When you need to hire new people to join your business, offering health insurance as part of your benefits package can be a great recruitment incentive. The same survey found that 51.1% of workers said they’d like to see their company introduce benefits that support their health and wellbeing3
Greater flexibility over medical appointments
With small business health insurance, medical appointments can often be at a time and place that suits you giving you and your team more flexibility
Workplace wellbeing
Health insurance provides your team with access to health information and support when they need it, which can be beneficial to overall workplace wellbeing as your team will have someone to support them with their health
How much does business health insurance cost?
At AXA Health, we think that the best way for you to get health insurance that’s the best fit for you and your family business is to let you build your plan yourself. That’s why we offer a range of cover options for you to choose from. The price of your business health insurance will depend on the cover options that you choose.
As an example, you could get the below cover options for an average of £34.81 per month, per employee^:
- Treatment with Comprehensive Cancer Cover option: Cover for inpatient and day-patient treatment, as well as outpatient surgery when your employee is treated at a hospital or day patient unit in our Directory of Hospitals
- Therapies option: Cover for referred outpatient treatments by an osteopath, physiotherapist, acupuncturist, or chiropractor
- Standard Outpatient option: Helps, after GP referral, employees be seen quickly by a specialist at a time and place suitable for them. This option includes cover for up to two specialist consultations a year, as well as no yearly limit on diagnostic tests when your employee's specialist refers them
^The above example is based on six employees (aged 25, 30, 35, 40, 45 & 50), living in Guildford, with a £100 excess and a two year moratorium on pre-existing conditions. Costs are representative as of October 2024, and prices will vary depending on location, cover options and ages.
If you’d like to find out more about our business health insurance, you can call our small business experts on 0800 389 7413 or get a quote online
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