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What is Personal Accident Insurance?
Personal accident business insurance provides a financial benefit to a worker who is injured or killed at work, or their family. If one of your employees has an accident then a personal accident policy can provide a weekly or lump sum benefit which can help to replace lost wages, etc.
Personal accident insurance is not required by law but it's a benefit that many companies choose to buy anyway, considering that HSE statistics estimate that over 650,000 workers are injured in Great Britain by their work each year. Below we explain what is covered and who might need personal accident insurance.
- What does personal accident insurance cover?
- Do I need personal accident insurance?
- What to look for in personal accident insurance
- Common exclusions
- Average cost of personal accident insurance
- FAQs
What is Covered by Personal Accident Business Insurance?
Personal accident insurance can provide financial support for people who are permanently or temporarily disabled to an accidental injury at work—e.g., to help support them when they can't work.
This benefit can be in the form of a weekly benefit (e.g., a weekly sum of money) in the case of a temporary disability or in the form of a lump sum payment for a permanent injury or loss of life.
- A weekly benefit for temporary incapacitation (e.g., £250 a week)
- A lump sum benefit for permanent injury or death (e.g., £40,000)
In addition there may be a provision to cover dental injuries and physio, rehab and counselling support to employees and/or their families.
Where did the injury take place?
A lot of business personal accident coverage only protects against accidents at work. However, there are business personal accident policies that cover a wide range of situations—for example a policy could cover any type of accidental injury to an employee, whether sustained at work, home or holiday. These can be referred to at 24/7 personal accident policies.
Is there cover for the business, too, or just the employee?
In addition to providing a monetary support benefit to an employee in the event of accidental injury, disability or death, some (but not all) policies include an element of protection for the business, as well—for example, helping pay for recruiting and hiring a replacement employee.
Is Personal Accident insurance tax deductible?
Unlike many other business insurance coverages (e.g., public liability or employers' liability insurance), personal accident insurance is not tax deductible because it provides a "benefit."
Other types of Personal Accident Insurance
It's not uncommon for someone to have multiple types of personal accident insurance covering different aspects of their life. For example, they could have personal accident cover through their car insurance to cover a permanent disability resulting from a road traffic accident. Personal accident coverage can often be found in one form or another on the following types of insurance (sometimes for an extra premium):
- Business insurance
- Car insurance
- Life insurance
- Travel insurance
- Pet insurance
Do I Need Personal Accident Insurance?
Personal accident insurance it a popular type of business cover and just because it's not required by law doesn't mean you don't need it. For example, consider the scenario where one of your employees is unable to work and earn money—would they struggle financially? If so, then personal accident insurance can provide supporting funds to run a household if you or an employee is injured in an accident at work and unable to earn money.
What to Look for in Personal Accident Insurance
Check for overall policy limits including geographical restrictions; if you are in an accident and sustain multiple injuries your overall payment might be capped or even denied for overseas accidents. Illness cover can sometimes be included but this generally costs more. If the policy is attached to another type of insurance check to see if it only covers accidents/injuries related to the main policy (i.e. only road accident coverage if it's a car insurance add-on). Some policies include cover for sporting injuries but check to see if 'extreme' sports are covered, especially skiing, which is a common exclusion.
For employers buying group business policies, check if there are any payments to the business in the event of employee accidents, such as rehiring costs when obtaining temporary staff. In some cases your employees can benefit from private healthcare or fitness memberships, but these may be add-ons or require opt-in from individual employees.
Common Exclusions
There are many exclusions to personal accident insurance that you should be aware of—these will vary from policy to policy, but there are some common exclusions that include but are not limited to the following:
- Existing employees only: Employees would only be covered if they were employed by you when the accident occurred.
- Group/Aircraft exclusions or limits: Payment caps or exclusions for incidents involving groups of employees such as coach or aircraft crashes.
- Very short-term disabilities: There's usually a minimum absence period on a policy. If an employee is temporarily disabled for less time than this period, there will be no cover.
- Compassionate leave periods lasting more than two weeks.
- Geography: Cover is usually not extended to include certain "risky" areas of the world (e.g., war-torn countries)
- Pre-existing conditions may not be covered.
- Age: There is typically no cover for employees outside of a certain age band (e.g., 16 years to 70 years)
How Much is Business Personal Accident Insurance?
The cost of personal accident business insurance depends on the number of people being covered, and it usually gets cheaper per person the more people you cover. Personal accident insurance for one person can cost around £80, while insuring 10 employees usually costs in the range of £450 to £650 (£45 to £65 per person). Your line of work can also impact the cost of personal accident insurance, as can other factors.
FAQs
Personal accident insurance provides a financial benefit (e.g., a weekly payment or a lump sum amount) if someone has an accident that results in a serious injury or death. The payout is meant to protect against lost wages, pay for household bills, etc.
Group personal accident insurance provides personal accident cover to a group of your employees under the same policy, so that each person does not need their own individual policy. Personal accident insurance will then reimburse for accidents that lead to temporary (e.g., a broken bone) or permanent disabilities (e.g., loss of an eye or limb) or even death.
It depends. If you only have personal accident coverage for some of your employees then you will need to name them on the policy. However, if you have cover for all employees, then you may only need to stipulate the number of employees you have. For example, a policy could cover up to 2 directors and 10 employees.
There are some significant differences between personal accident insurance and employers' liability insurance, which you can read about here.