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   Insight: What If - postcodes and mortality
The use of postcodes in mortality investigations has become increasingly common in the UK pensions sector. The mortality-related characteristics of postcodes seem to make this a potentially useful tool; however, much popular comment on this use of postcodes seems driven by commercial interests and may be less than complete in explaining the pitfalls of this analysis. This publication considers the pros and cons of ‘mortality postcoding’.

   Insight: Cancer Treatment in medical plans

Thanks to some high profile media coverage, many human resource professionals will be aware that Herceptin® is a drug which is used to treat breast cancer. However many of those professionals will be less aware of the potentially significant cost and design implications that Herceptin® (and many similar ‘monoclonal antibody’ treatments) could have on their group private medical programmes.

The purpose of this document is to explain from a layman’s point of view how these monoclonal antibody treatments operate and their likely impact on medical programmes in the future.

   Insight: Age discrimination legislation - the coming of age for UK employee benefit provision.
Recent experience of dealing with new legislation from Europe has taught us to not always expect the smoothest implementation into UK law - just think of the complications caused to the alleged simplification of pensions as a case in point. It is without surprise therefore, that the final strand of anti-discrimination legislation did not go ahead without some unexpected last minute alterations.

   Insight: The impact of legislation on the provision of health-related benefits to employees
Conducting business is a progressively risky thing to do. Employers are only too aware of the burden of regulation on all areas of activity, and the provision and management of benefit programmes for employees in ill health is no exception.

   Insight: Absence management
It is certainly true that, over the last 10 years or so, sickness absence as a topic has remorselessly worked its way up the Human Resource agenda for businesses. There are a number of reasons why this is the case, which we will discuss in this paper, but anyone doubting the importance of the debate on levels of sickness absence would only have to have picked up a newspaper in the last 12 months to see the evidence. Changes to sick pay policy or methods of managing absence adopted by major employers are national news nowadays.

   Insight: The lifetime allowance and death-in-service benefits
The purpose of this note is to consider the Inland Revenue’s (IR) proposals for the introduction of the lifetime allowance and its impact on death-in-service benefits currently provided by employers.

   Insight: Managing your post-retirement medical liabilities - getting the balance right
With skyrocketing medical costs,can you afford to provide coverage to your pensioners? Few employers promise medical benefits in retirement to new hires, but they may still have a large number of retirees and a legacy of existing employees expecting cover for the duration of their retirement.

   Insight: Group income protection: designs for the future
Ever since it was first introduced in the UK – and despite recent growth in total insurance premium income – Group Income Protection (GIP) has remained surprisingly unpopular, whether insured or self-financed. There are many reasons for this. Cost is an obvious issue for many employers, even though UK GIP policies are actually some of the most generous and cost-effective benefits available anywhere in the world. Complexity is another frequent complaint, even though those involved in GIP have worked hard to make the product simple to understand and implement.

   Insight: Insurance or self-financing of private medical benefits and long term disability – an employer's choice
Historic two-dimensional financing choices have become multi-dimensional. The opportunity now exists for companies to tailor their healthcare plans in order to make them relevant to the overall ‘health deal’ for employees.

   Insight: Ill-health benefits in a DC environment
As the move from Defined Benefit (DB) to Defined Contribution (DC) schemes continues, many employers are beginning to realise replication of DB ill-health early retirement benefits is anything but straightforward in a DC world.