I believe, if I am not mistaken that a similar situation occurred with the
Inland Revenue regarding counselling! They tried to get employers to find
out whether the counselling was due to 'work related' or 'personal' problems
so that they could apply appropriate tax on non work related problems.
Perhaps the TUC, RCN or one of the unions could comment here as to what
ultimately happened but I think it was a question that whether resulting
from work or not it affected work/performance and therefore it was not
taxable as this was not a benefit!
Greta Thornbory
Consultant, Occupational health and education
www.gtentreprises-uk.com
Phone: 01235 770156
Mobile: 0777 815 027
----- Original Message -----
From: Lindsey Hall <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, July 06, 2003 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: Physiotherapy Business Proposal
> We are in the process of doing this having just run a years trial in part
of
> the organisation. You will need good data to start with particularly
> relating to Musculo skeletal absence and the length of time people are
off.
> Then you will need the costs of providing the service from whoever you
> choose to provide it. Then the cost of time of your workforce. If you do
> not do this you will need to base your business case on time saved, days
> made available to the business etc. You will need to have a good estimate
> of the time saved by providing the physiotherapy, but remember to cost in
> the time of employees being away from work while they have treatment. A
lot
> of business cases leave this out.
>
> Finally you will need to consider the tax implications. Physiotherapy for
> non work related conditions is a taxable benefit, even though it is cost
> effective to provide and bring people back to work sooner - or prevent
> absence in the first place. If your organisation decides to pay the tax,
> then that in itself is a taxable benefit and subject to more tax. - potty
I
> know, especially given the Governments drive on OH issues but you would do
> well to sort this out first. Some organisations seem to get away with
this
> if they have an understanding tax office. We have had problems. Perhaps
it
> is being a Govt organisation that needs to be seen to be whiter than
white!
> If you differentiate between paying the tax for work related problems and
> asking employees with non work related problems to pay their own, then the
> inevitable happens and you will end up with many claiming their problem is
> work related when it was not which may give you all sorts of liabilities
you
> do not want!
>
> In the end we found that providing physio to everyone regardless of cause
of
> injury was cost neutral. Good feelgood factor though. We are still
sorting
> out the details in relation to the tax and liability issues. The cost
> benefits seem to come from being reactive i.e. providing physio to
employees
> already off and bringing them back to work sooner. Providing to all means
> that you provide to many employees with minor conditions and twinges that
> would have got better without any form of intervention. This is our
> experience anyway. I can provide the full paper if you wish.
>
> Lindsey Hall
> National OH Manager
> Environment Agency
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Sue Mclaren" <[log in to unmask]>
> To: <[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: Friday, June 27, 2003 11:03 AM
> Subject: Physiotherapy Business Proposal
>
>
> > I am attempting to formulate a business proposal for the introduction of
a
> > physiotherapy service into the OH services section of the company I work
> > for. If list members could guide me as to what I need to consider or
point
> > me in the right direction towards useful links, I would be extremly
> > grateful. Kind regards, Sue Mclaren
---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.489 / Virus Database: 288 - Release Date: 10/06/03
|