August/September 2007 (vol. 04/2)

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Dilemma: Tax incentives for OH

Are fiscal incentives – tax breaks and NI offsets – the way forward to encourage employers to buy in rehab services?

Summary:

In October 2006, two separate reports argued for fiscal measures to encourage employers to invest more in services to improve return to work from illness or injury1,2. Not everyone agrees.

JOHN HUMPHREY

On the face of it, any incentive to increase the take-up of OH services would seem to be a good thing. However, I do see some problems with attempts to.…

Despite many years working in the occupational health provider sector John Humphrey remains unconvinced that the key to greater take-up by employers of return to- work healthcare services lies in providing fiscal incentives. Instead, he argues that employers need convincing that getting workers back from ill health and reducing long-term absence is cost effective.

NADINE MIDDLETON

Workplace absence and employee ill-health costs are well articulated: most obvious is the impact on the employer. Nevertheless, as the length of absence grows, other stakeholders begin to bear an.…

Nadine Middleton believes that while society as a whole would benefit from increased uptake of return-to-work healthcare, individual employers tend to consider only their own costs and benefits and need incentives to encourage their investment.

 

Author: Humphrey J, Middleton N

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Occupational Health at Work August/September 2007 (vol. 04/2) pp32-33

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