Group Income Protection Brokerage

The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its main responsibilities are to protect the public, provide educational publications on medical issues, set standards for medical schools in the UK and maintain the medical register. The GMC is a registered charity and is supported by fees paid by its members. The GMC is a medium sized employer and currently has a headcount of 1,500.

The GMC provides group income protection cover to its staff as one of its employee benefits. The benefit will provide cover for the majority of staff who are currently members of the GMC Pension plan and we have approximately two thirds of (1000 members of staff) who will be offered this benefit. This is a relatively new employee benefit that we wish to continue to make available to our staff on the basis outlined below:

• Income protection benefits payable monthly to an employee covered under the policy upon the employee not being able to carry out their own occupation or depending on the definition of incapacity.
• Income protection benefit payable after a period of absence, due to illness or injury, after a deferred period of 26 weeks.
• Benefit payable is 50% of gross salary.
• Benefit payable to scheme retirement default age of 65.
• Benefit to escalate in payment by Consumer Price Index to a maximum of 5%.
• Support for colleagues on their return to work

We are looking for a broker to support us in securing a group income protection provider who will deliver a high-quality service whilst ensuring that we get best value for money. The GMC has five office locations in the UK: London, Manchester, Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh, so any group income protection insurer recommended must be able to deliver services throughout the UK.

The broker should have expertise in assessing the group income protection market, the ability to provide an assessment of the market based on our claims history and offer recommendations on options that we should consider so that we can make informed decisions whilst ensuring value for money.

Key activities for the broker would be:

• Obtain quotes from leading group income protection insurers who are be able to fulfil our requirements.
• Provide a report on benefits comparison and analysis.
• Negotiate costs with insurers with a view to getting competitive rates.
• Provide pricing analysis and fund projection information.
• Provide an overview of the private group income protection insurance market to give us context for making decisions.
• Quarterly review meetings
• Meetings/telephone support to provide information and advice as necessary.
• Support to ensure the insurer provides a high-quality service
• Support in moving to a preferred provider, as necessary.

We will also consider options for the broker to manage the provider on our behalf, although this is not essential.

Data around our existing terms and claims history will be provided once a broker has been appointed.

The broker will be appointed for a three year term with the option to extend by one year, although there is no guarantee that we will continue with group income protection insurance as a benefit for the whole period of the contract, as all our benefits are under continual review.