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Staff Absence Insurance

Staff absence can have a huge impact on the running of your school. The Education Broker offers one of the widest staff absence insurance covers on the market, providing the essential protection you need.

  • Find the right policy for your school and budget with School Safe or our new policy, School Assist
  • Option to include maternity, paternity and adoption leave cover
  • Supporting schools for over 25 years
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One of the UK's leading independent insurance brokers

The Education Broker

Specialist cover

Supporting schools
for over 25 years

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Overall service rating 4.6 / 5

Based on 4822 customer reviews

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Why choose staff absence insurance with us?

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Offering one of the widest staff absence insurance covers on the market

We can cover you for protection of pre-existing illnesses, long COVID, pre-planned operations and more.

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Access to a leading health and wellbeing hub

Wellbeing support is included as part of your policy, providing counselling, medical, legal and financial support for each insured person to make use of.

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Approved staff absence partner of ISBL

We are trusted by established bodies to work together to support schools reduce absences throughout the UK.

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Valid staff absence insurance claims are paid in an average of just 5 days

All claims are managed by our in-house claims team with access to a dedicated person. In addition, you can use our online portal to submit claims.

About staff absence insurance

Supporting schools for over 25 years

As one of the longest standing insurance specialists in the education sector, The Education Broker offers a complete staff absence management package that provides access to one of the widest covers on the market, a leading health and wellbeing service, occupational health support and maternity leave cover.

Our team of specialists includes people who previously worked in the education sector, so we know how disruptive, time-consuming and costly staff absences can be. 

All our clients receive a personal service from our friendly, knowledgeable and reliable team, who can be contacted in a manner that suits you. Whether it be by phone, email or our online portal, you can be assured that you have access to the support and advice you need, when you need it.

We know that every school is different and that education provider budgets need to be carefully managed. Therefore, we’re dedicated to supporting schools to identify the most suitable cover for their circumstances. From making initial enquires to obtaining comparison quotations, we can help you every step of the way, ensuring you’re confident you have the cover you need at a price you can afford.

Staff absence insurance covers you against increased costs as a result of staff absence. We know how disruptive and costly staff absence can be. To help schools with these challenges, we have designed a package to mitigate financial risk and reduce staff absences.

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Flexible staff absence maternity options

We offer flexible maternity options to suit your requirements including covers for paternity and adoption leave. We can cover known maternities from the start of your cover, and unknown maternities – as long as the staff member is less than 8 weeks pregnant at policy inception. 

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Optional stress cover

Unlike some providers, we can tailor your cover to meet your needs and budget, including varying levels of stress cover.

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Access to our Health and Wellbeing Hub

With every staff absence policy, we include access to a leading Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) to help the schools that we protect.

Available for all insured staff, The Health and Wellbeing hub will help you with your ‘duty of care’ to your colleagues and may help prevent long and short-term absence.

Unlike some health and wellbeing services that offer passive support, The Health and Wellbeing hub actively works to put your staff in control, meaning they can focus on the job you need them to do. This package:

  • Increases employee wellbeing

  • Enhances your school’s reputation to aid recruitment

  • Supports absent team members

  • May enhance staff retention

When you need to make a claim, we'll guide you through the process and get your claim settled as quickly as possible.

  • Find your insurance documents and make sure you have all your information at hand, including your policy number.
  • Submit your claim using our online portal https://portal.theeducationbroker.co.uk/or call our claims team on 0800 783 3500 and explain exactly what happened.
  • We’ll settle all valid claims in an average of just 5 days.
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  • Fill in our online quote form or call us
  • Purchase your policy
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Staff absence insurance FAQs

If a member of staff is unable to work, there can be unexpected costs. Supply cover can be an unforeseen expense for long periods and often isn’t budgeted for. Having an insurance policy is like having a safety net. Staff absence insurance helps to protect you from these unplanned expenses by paying you a benefit, allowing you to budget more accurately.

All of our policies have the option to include maternity, paternity and adoption leave cover. These are all different so that you can choose the right level of cover for your school’s requirements.

Our School Assist policy provides protection for:

  • Sickness and accident*
  • Bereavement
  • Compassionate leave
  • Phased returns to work
  • Jury service
  • Suspension
  • Long Covid
  • Religious observance days (2 per insured person per period)
  • Training days (1 per insured person per period)
  • Pregnancy related illness until 20 weeks before the expected due date. Stress cover and maternity/paternity cover can also be added to our School Assist policy if you require either of them.

*conditions that caused an absence of 5 continuous days or more in the 12 months prior to cover starting are excluded.

Our School Safe policy offers one of the widest covers on the market. In addition to all the benefits of our School Assist policy, it also covers:

  • Pre-existing conditions
  • Pre-planned operations
  • Pregnancy related illness cover up to 28 days before the expected due date
  • Enhanced suspension cover
  • Stress related bereavement absences

Furthermore, both of our policies include access to our Health and Wellbeing Hub that can support your school in managing and reducing absence.

Every case is different so please contact us to chat through your circumstances with a member of our team.

Yes. You can cover staff such as administrative staff, support staff and caretakers. Simply choose the staff categories you want to be covered. Part-time staff can also be covered, with the benefit proportionate to the hours worked.

All claims are handled by our in house claims department. You will be given your own claims handler who will be able to answer any questions you have. Remember, you need to make us aware of an absence within 30 days from the end of the month in which the absence occurs for a valid claim.

The sooner you make your claim, the sooner we'll be able to pay you. We’ve made it easy for you to log a claim with a number of ways to contact us. For more information on the claims process you can visit our client portal, phone or email us. 

If there are staff changes, it’s important to let us know as soon as possible so that your policy is kept up to date – this helps us to pay your claims promptly. Making a staff change is easy and can be done at any time. Simply contact our team or login to our portal. 

Some of the key exclusions include:

  • Any absence due to any accidental bodily injury (however, these can be considered upon request), sickness or stress commencing prior to the policy start day, unless the Insured Person has returned to work from that absence for a period of 20 consecutive working days
  • Inset days, special leave days or holiday periods (including statutory bank holidays)
  • Claims due to or consequent upon treatment or surgery which is not medically necessary to sustain or maintain quality of life

Please check your policy wording for full details of policy conditions, exclusions and limitations.

Yes. You can cover staff such as administrative staff, support staff and caretakers. Simply choose the staff categories you want to be covered.

Part-time staff can also be covered, with the benefit proportionate to the hours worked.

Read more FAQs

  • Counselling services - The hub includes a superior counselling model that comprises of up to eight face-to-face sessions, per issue, per year. Staff will have access to counselling services delivered in the most convenient way for them, whether that be face-to-face, by telephone or online.
  • Menopause support - A five-week online menopause programme includes modules that cover how to identify triggers, managing thoughts, beliefs and behaviours, stressful thoughts about sleep, being kind to yourself and support networks.
  • Life and leadership coaching - Using the GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will) coaching focuses on development, whether it is a life skill and/or professional skill. Individuals will be entitled to a session of development coaching for both profession and life skills.
  • Occupational health support - Human resources and management teams have access to occupational health information providing quality support and guidance on absence and employee wellbeing issues, such as: advice on fit notes pre-placement, support with return-to-work interviews and advice on statutory and non-statutory health surveillance.
  • Face to face health checks - A health check service enables staff to maintain or improve their health. We can arrange for a qualified health technician to visit your school to perform a quick body health check. Taking around 10 minutes to complete, each staff member will receive detailed results and a full explanation of what they mean, enabling them to understand their body better, improve their health and make a difference in lifestyle choices.

The health check includes looking at:

  • Body fat check (%)
  • Height to weight ratio
  • BMI check
  • Fat mass (%)
  • Blood pressure test
  • Metabolic age
  • Visceral fat (%)
  • Body water (%)
  • 24-hour confidential helpline access  – Providing a range of support, including health and lifestyle, legal, medical, home life, work life and financial information.    

Services provided by the Health and Wellbeing Hub are non-regulated.

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Accessing support when you need it

  • Access to the Wisdom wellbeing app
  • 24/7, 365-day, freephone, confidential helpline
  • Online Web Access
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Wisdom: wellbeing app

  • Immediate wellbeing support at the touch of a button
  • Four week plans for lifestyle changes including: quitting smoking, coping with stress and sleeping better
  • A personalised newsfeed with mood trackers, guided meditation, breathing exercises, recipes, fitness plans and yoga
  • Access to wellbeing webinars and mental health guides
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Physiotherapy

Insured staff may be able to benefit from physiotherapy sessions to help them return to work sooner in the event of certain musculoskeletal claims. Following a claim assessment and validation, they could receive an initial consultation and up to three physiotherapy sessions from one of a national network of over 300 physiotherapists.

Services provided by the Health and Wellbeing Hub are non-regulated.

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