Legal & General Retail has announced the publication of the inaugural edition in a new series of Chief Medical Officer’s (CMO) reports.

Bringing together aspects of both individual and group protection, the report series aims to help evolve industrywide thinking on the role of protection insurance and illustrate how good work is beneficial for health.

The insurer says the future for the UK protection industry is now as much about helping employers and UK workers with prevention and early intervention, as it is about providing financial peace of mind when long-term illness or injury strike.

Featuring a foreword by Legal & General’s newly appointed managing director for UK Protection, James Shattock, the report helps explore not only ‘why’ the role of protection insurance needs to evolve, but also the ‘how’.

The first edition includes:

• An interview with Professor Sir Michael Marmot of the Institute of Health Equity at University College London, with whom Legal & General partners to help further the role of business in reducing inequalities in health in the UK.
• Legal & General’s thinking on why good work is beneficial for health and the role of protection insurance in enhancing wellbeing at work.
• A case study to demonstrate how this philosophy can play out in practice.
• The similarities and differences between individual and group protection.
• The similarities and differences between Occupational Health and Vocational Rehabilitation.

Dr Tarun Gupta (pictured), chief medical officer – UK protection, Legal & General Retail, said: “This is about helping drive better wellbeing outcomes for more people. In many ways, the discussion isn’t new. This represented the rationale behind the design and launch, a couple of years ago, of Legal & General’s Be Well. Get Better. Be Supported. framework. Unfortunately, there seems a disjoint, with income protection – whether individual or group – in that the benefits of the first two aspects of that framework need to be much better communicated. Not only that, but early intervention when an individual isn’t able to work long term due to illness or injury, simply isn’t a feature of most individual income protection propositions.

“The Covid-19 pandemic acted as a catalyst for change, presenting opportunities for businesses and employees to re-think their organisational and personal attitudes to wellbeing and work. It’s time for the protection insurance industry to seize this opportunity and work together to help employers and individuals tackle the wellbeing challenges they face. For employers, it is as much about workplace culture as it is about recruitment, retention, absence and engagement. For employees, it’s about understanding how to access and benefit from everything their employer is providing them with. It’s the reason why I was appointed Chief Medical Officer this time last year. And it’s the rationale behind today’s launch. A new series of reports for a new era of workplace wellbeing.”

Vanessa Sallows, group protection claims & governance director, Legal & General Retail, added: “Work can and should positively impact wellbeing. It serves as the cornerstone of our Vocational Rehabilitation support for individuals and employers. And it’s a central tenet of our income protection proposition. Our in-house Vocational Rehabilitation specialists can help employers proactively manage employee sickness absence. This in turn helps at a societal and economic level as employers face into the multiple challenges of: growing long-term sickness absence in the UK; work-related stress at an all-time high; increasing expectations that employers can and will help with various societal pressures – levelling up health and wellbeing, making a tangible effort to evolve all aspects of environment social governance [ESG] and, in turn, improving UK productivity.

“The protection insurance industry has a strong role to play, but education and understanding about the propositions of today and the future needs to be ramped up to avoid commoditising highly valuable features and benefits. Today’s launch of the CMO report series is about playing our part in helping evolve and support new and essential thinking.”

To download a copy of the first edition of Legal & General Retail’s CMO report, click here.