Are you a local authority which runs their own mutual fund to cover schools staff sickness costs?

Many local authorities are either moving to or considering setting up new mutual schemes. Once they understand  the definite advantages over  staff sickness insurance it can be viewed as an obvious “no-brainer” solution.

Once the penny has dropped, some authorities wonder how they can set up and run the scheme in the best possible way. We can provide you with a complete holistic approach to operating a schools’ staff absence scheme. From advising you on best practice, telling you what the insurers do, good and bad, how to avoid the pitfalls and how to play to the strengths of a mutual fund, and importantly giving you the tools to implement a scheme in the best way with the least possible cost. Once underway, we can review performance to ensure it is inline with expectations and help at difficult and confusing times such as end of year renewals to make the scheme as attractive, valuable and as low cost as possible.

So there are really just two steps

1. Understanding that providing a mutual scheme is “the right thing to do” (as many councils have said) as it saves schools that require some form of cover a huge amount and can be done without costing the local authority any money at all. Doing this saves schools in excess of 30% instantly  if done correctly.
2. Understanding that by having an Esphera backed scheme, you can do it correctly and will further reduce time, effort and money spent, probably by another 15% compared to conventional methods and more importantly that your scheme will remain strong, viable and best value for the majority of participants for the longest possible time.

We can help you professionally manage your staff sickness fund and offer the answer to your absence and attendance management headaches. The Esphera Absence & Claims Management System is a fully outsourced Internet based absence and claims processing and reporting application specifically designed to replace paper and spreadsheet based claims processes. Once using the system you will be able to receive absence returns and subsequent claims much more easily and monitor and manage absences and supply staff payments more effectively.

Essentially a scheme manager is able to configure the system for its own scheme rules and then allow schools to submit returns electronically to the authority. These contain details relating to the school itself, holidays for the school, staff members, their absences and claims for payment against the authority held fund. These are then easily checked on-line by the authority administrators where feedback and claim outcomes can be notified to the schools immediately.

The reporting side of the system will enable you to report on absences across many different areas. This includes reports detailing or summarising all absence and claim details for particular returns, dates, individuals, causes and many other subjects of interest. An extensive search facility will allow you to find information on all or any of the submitted returns using detailed and complex search criteria where required.

One of the most useful features of the system is the Renewals Module. This analyses the absence and claims history for a school over a number of time periods and compares it to the average figures across all schools. Using appropriate weighting algorithms the estimator will provide figures on the expected absences for that school and allow the authority to set a membership contribution which is expected to cover the expected expenditure. These figures can be utilised in the quotation part of the module where schools can choose from a myriad of cover options and be sure that they are offered an equitable payment which external insurance providers will find difficult to match without reducing cover or adding restrictive caveats. Not only does this module make setting the contributions a breeze but it also considerably reduces the time taken for the whole renewals process each year. By taking advantage of this facility an authority can refine the scheme to match their schools’ wishes and be confident of running a minor surplus which can then be used to safeguard future years and provide the best value scheme for the schools. In turn this will result in higher takeup for the scheme, reduced risk and less uncertainty.