Plan to boost employers’ occupational health provision

The government is consulting on how the tax system can support employers to increase provision of occupational health for their employees. It is accompanied by a Department for Work and Pensions consultation on the role of non-fiscal levers in supporting greater occupational health provision.

HMRC is interested specifically on how expanding the existing benefits in kind exemption for medical benefits could help employers provide more services. In particular:

• what types of occupational health services are provided by employers across different sized businesses and what factors influence the provision of these services;
• whether and how tax incentives for occupational health could encourage employer behaviour;
• whether their scope and design of the existing benefit-in-kind rules for employers on their occupational health spend is appropriate or whether they should be tailored to provide further support; and
• whether alternative tax incentives would be more effective at incentivising employer investment in occupational health.

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