In the next two years, the average Yorkshire household will be over a thousand pounds worse off.* Higher taxes, national insurance, mortgage payments and inflation will all eat into the average family's disposable income, leaving them with far less to spend on essentials such as health care treatment.

With less disposable income and rising prices, it’s possible that many people will start to reduce their spend on everyday health care as they are faced with trying to balance the family budget. This trend was identified in research conducted by the British Dental Association (BDA) in February, which revealed that 68% of dentists reported deferrals of treatment.

Russ Piper, Chief Executive of Sovereign Health Care says: “Whilst everyday health care spend is discretionary, if minor health issues are left unchecked they can soon develop into bigger problems which ultimately may cost even more to rectify and could result in time having to be taken off work.”

Whilst family budgets are due be squeezed further, the majority of the region’s workers do not expect a pay rise in the current climate as results from Sovereign Health Care’s recent ‘Duty of Health Care’ survey highlight. However, employers can help their employees manage and afford their health care by providing a health care cash plan as part of a benefits package

A health care cash plan can help families continue to afford their everyday health care such as glasses/contact lenses, dental treatment, physiotherapy and even complementary treatments such as reflexology as they can claim tax free cash back towards the costs. Unsurprisingly in the current financial climate, the ‘Duty of Health Care’ survey also revealed that 72% of respondents would welcome added health care benefits as part of their remuneration package, particularly if they applied to the entire family.

Russ adds: “I think it’s fair to say that many of us are feeling the pinch. Not only that but many employees’ workloads have increased in most industries, whereas their pay has remained the same despite living costs continuing to rise. This unrewarded extra work can lead to low morale and discontent plus balancing the family budget adds further pressure. A cash plan can help employers recognise and reward this extra effort without heavily impacting company overheads. Not only that but helping your employees to afford their everyday health care also supports the health of your business. ”

Gill Cockroft, HR Officer at Drawn Metal Limited added: “We decided to implement Sovereign Health Care’s corporate cash plan, Asset, because our employees haven't had a pay increase for the last two years and we wanted to give them some kind of reward. Now all our employees have the benefit of a wide range of health care that they don't need to contribute towards.”

For more information about Sovereign Health Care or Asset and its various levels of cover, which start from £6 per employee per month, please visit: www.sovereignhealthcare.co.uk

*Office for National Statistics

Notes

• Sovereign Health Care is one of the UK’s longest established providers of health care cash plans to individuals and businesses
• A health care cash plan is an affordable alternative to PMI. Cash plans are designed to be used and pay tax free cash back on everyday health costs such as dental care and glasses
• Asset is a new corporate paid cash plan and it removes the need for separate standalone provisions – such as eye tests for computer users or an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) – as they come as part of the plan
• Asset is about giving employees more than just financial assistance. It demonstrates an employer is actively looking to meet their duty of care responsibilities and that they have a process in place to support their workforce; it can help businesses to address stress in the workplace and it can support an active absence management policy.
• 95% of Sovereign Health Care’s customers would recommend them to a friend."Sovereign Health Care Customers Survey"
• The Sovereign Health Care Charitable Trust has donated in excess of £3.5 million to community and health related charities over the past 6 years