Friends Life has unveiled what it is hailing as the first employer funded cancer-specific workplace benefit in the country.

Friends Life Group Cancer Cover is available to any company looking to insure 100 or more members of staff and the benefit will pay a fixed amount of £25,000 to employees who are diagnosed with a cancer covered by the plan.

Macmillan Cancer Support recently predicted that there will be a record high 2.5 million people living with cancer in the UK in 2015. It also reported that on average, 4 out of 5 cancer patients are £570 a month worse off because of the illness, partly due to travel costs to hospital appointments.

“Almost 70% of critical illness claims across the industry are related to cancer and while cancer incidence rates are increasing, so are survival rates,” said Anna Spender, head of group protection proposition at Friends Life.

“Given the research from Macmillan and an ageing work population, the prevalence of cancer in the workplace is likely to rise so we wanted to do something that would really benefit employees.

“Group Cancer Cover has been designed to be affordable and simple, providing a level of benefit to help with the additional costs that people face while going through cancer treatment. We began developing it after research by Capita Employee Benefits looked at what products employees valued against what employers actually provided. It means companies with budget constraints that may have little in the way of workplace benefits can take advantage of it and offer their staff valuable cover.”

The launch of this benefit comes as new research by Friends Life has found that half of UK workers want to be more cared for by their employer.

The survey of 2000 employed people found over 51% wanted their company to care for them more. A third, however, said they were happy with how their employer currently cares for them. However, 3% of those who responded actually wanted their employer to care for them less.

Those aged 25-34 appear to be the most dissatisfied with almost six in 10 wanting their employer to care for them more. That figure drops to four in 10 for the over 55s – the lowest of all the age groups surveyed.

The research also found that the North East has the highest proportion of workers who want their employer to care for them more (57%). In contrast, those in the North West (46%) appear much more content with East Anglia having the lowest proportion (44%).

“Making employees feel cared for is a really important part of modern business,” said Spender. “A good value workplace benefits package can help recruit and retain staff and we believe our cancer-specific policy will encourage more companies to think about what they currently offer.”