How Can Business Health Cash Plans Help Address Absenteeism and Sickness Costs?

Sickness absence can have a much wider impact on an organisation than just a few days of work lost.

Teams may need to rearrange work, cover shifts or delay delivery. For a small employer, one person’s absence can be especially difficult to absorb while for a larger organisation, the effects may be felt across multiple teams, roles and sites.

A business health cash plan can help reduce absenteeism and sickness costs by funding everyday preventative healthcare and treatments before minor issues escalate into major sick leave. It can form part of a wider approach to employee health by helping staff manage the cost of everyday care and giving them access to support, included in their plan.

Given the magnitude of absenteeism, that support warrants consideration. Across the UK in 2025, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates that 148.8 million working days were lost due to sickness or injury, which equates to 4.4 days per worker.¹ The CIPD's employer survey, which was run separately, shows an average of 9.4 absence days per employee per year.²

What does absence cost a business?

The cost of sickness absence is not limited to sick pay. Depending on the role and the length of an absence, an employer may also face additional costs from overtime and temporary cover, missed work or additional pressure on colleagues. Those costs will vary considerably between a small office, a customer-facing business and a multi-site employer.

Before estimating the potential value of any health benefit, it helps to understand your company’s own starting point. Look at how often absences occur, how long they last and where they cause the most disruption. A plan designed around the needs of your workforce is more useful as it will be more relevant to your employees.

The ONS found that minor illnesses were the most commonly reported reason for sickness absence occurrences in 2025, accounting for 30.4% of reported occurrences. Musculoskeletal problems accounted for 14.6% and mental health conditions for 8.9%.³.

Where can a health cash plan contribute?

A business health cash plan helps employees claim money back towards eligible everyday healthcare costs. With BHSF health and wellbeing plan, employees pay for an eligible service, submit their receipt through an online claims portal or app, and receive money back up to their plan’s limit. BHSF’s benefits include dental and optical care, physiotherapy and other therapies, prescription charges and defined diagnostic services. What an employee can claim depends on their cover and the limits set out.

That financial support can make routine care feel more manageable. Someone who needs new glasses, dental treatment or help with a musculoskeletal concern has a clearer way to recover an eligible cost.

We include digital physiotherapy, dental, eye-health and skin-check tools within our business health offering, alongside access to a virtual GP and Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) support. These give employees additional routes to information or advice, depending on the services included in their plan.

Musculoskeletal support

Aches, injuries and other musculoskeletal concerns can affect an employee’s ability to work comfortably. BHSF’s business plans include cashback for eligible physiotherapy and access to a digital physiotherapy tool. Those services may give employees a practical route to assessment or support, but individual outcomes will differ. They are there to complement, and not to replace appropriate workplace risk management and any adjustments an employee needs.

Mental health support

Confidential support matters when someone is dealing with a personal or work-related difficulty. BHSF has a 24/7 EAP helpline that connects employees with qualified counsellors as part of our business health plan offering. Sharing with your staff on how to access the helpline and how the service works will ensure the teams feel confident using it.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) estimates that 40.1 million working days were lost in Great Britain to work-related ill health and non-fatal workplace injuries in 2024/25. Of the days attributed to work-related ill health, 22.1 million were associated with stress, depression or anxiety and 7.1 million with musculoskeletal disorders.⁴

Can a cash plan reduce absenteeism?

It’s reasonable to consider whether easier access to support and help with healthcare costs could contribute to better absence outcomes.

Absence in the workplace depends on many factors, including the nature of an employee’s illness, job demands, workplace conditions and the support available to them when they return to work. Providing a cash plan is one part of that picture. Employers still need to manage health and safety risks, respond to individual needs and use fair, effective absence processes.

A more useful question to ask is, does this plan address barriers our employees are facing? For example, if your staff tell you that the cost of routine treatment is a concern, cashback may be particularly relevant. If people struggle to find a route to support, the benefits available through a plan may be valuable. If the principal issue is workload or poor management, a health benefit alone, will not solve it.

What might this look like for different employers?

For a business with 3–9 employees, covering one person’s work can be challenging. A small business health plan offers eligible everyday healthcare cashback and the support included in the selected cover. Its value is not that it makes a small team immune to absence instead it gives employees a practical benefit the employer can explain and budget for.

For an organisation with 10–200 employees, a corporate health cash plan can provide a consistent benefit across teams. BHSF plans include cashback on health services, digital health tools, access to a GP and counselling support, as well as marketing materials to help employers promote the plan. Clear communication matters as staff are likely to value and use the benefits if they understand what is covered in the health cash plan.

For an employer with 200 or more employees, different sites, teams and roles may have different priorities. A tailored health and wellbeing plan allows the organisation to consider the benefits it wants to include and how those choices align with its workforce and budget. The aim is ensuring the benefits are relevant to your diverse workforce, rather than assuming a one-for-all fixed package will suit everyone equally.

How to build a credible ROI case

Before you can show the value of health cash plan, you must first quantify what absenteeism and sickness is currently costing the business. A useful business case starts with costs and outcomes you can measure within your own organisation. Before introducing a plan, record your current absence pattern and what the business spends managing it. Include any indirect costs such as, overtime pay or temporary staffing costs that are relevant to your operation.

A health cash plan won’t eliminate all sick leave such as a broken leg or major surgery, but it can fast-track recovery for some muscoskeletal issues or migraines potentially caused by poor eyesight.

Then decide what success would look like. That might include employees’ understanding how to claim, getting access and using relevant services or reporting that the benefit helps with everyday healthcare costs. Review absence trends too but assess them alongside other changes that may be happening in the business.

• Establish a baseline. Record absence days, frequency and direct cover costs before the plan begins.
• Track engagement. Check whether employees know about the benefit and whether available usage reporting shows they are using it.
• Gather feedback. Ask whether the cover addresses costs or access difficulties that matter to staff.
• Review the wider context. Note changes in staffing, workload, working arrangements or absence policies when interpreting results.

In summary, a business health cash plan works best when it’s part of a broader and holistic approach to looking after your employees’ health and wellbeing. Its immediate value is easier to explain to the business and its employees – it helps employees recover eligible everyday healthcare costs and access the support included in their cover. Whether that contributes to lower sickness costs for your organisation is something to measure and test against your own internal data.

Sources:

1.https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket/2025 and 2.https://www.cipd.org/uk/knowledge/reports/health-well-being-work/
3.https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/labourproductivity/articles/sicknessabsenceinthelabourmarket/2025

4.https://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/dayslost.htm