The results of the seventh and latest JLT 250 Club report (canvassing the views of large private sector employers) have highlighted that nearly half of respondents (47%) believe a Scottish parliament should introduce tax breaks for the provision of health and wellbeing programmes, with nearly one-third (31%) saying they would introduce such a programme or extend an existing one if such tax breaks were introduced. This is set against the backdrop that the cost to the Scottish economy of work days lost through sickness is more than £1bn p.a., with 1.7m days lost in 2011/12, the majority of which are caused or made worse by work.
"There has been a lot of talk about Scotland having lower State pension ages than the rest of the UK because average life expectancy in Scotland is lower. However, this is just addressing the symptoms and not treating the disease. The real issue is 'how to improve life expectancy in Scotland?' and at least part of the answer has to be through positive lifestyle changes to improve the health of the population. Scotland's label as 'the sick man of Europe' has to be addressed!
"Previous research has demonstrated that employee wellbeing programmes can achieve a positive cost benefit ratio ranging from more than 2.3 to 10. In other words, for every £1,000 spent on the programme, the cost benefit can be up to £10,000 in well run programmes. Providing tax breaks for wellbeing programmes could therefore have a very positive effect on the Scottish economy."
"According to the Quality Outcome Framework statistics and the Scottish Health Survey, the national prevalence of lifestyle and other related diseases in Scotland are all increasing year on year, and 46% of the population have a long term health condition. Furthermore, healthy life expectancy in Scotland is the lowest in Europe, and these problems will only get worse as by 2024, fifty percent of the Scottish population will be over the age of 50.
"I would therefore wholeheartedly support any initiative to encourage employers to implement or improve employee wellbeing programmes."
With less than one year until the referendum, the independence debate has been gaining momentum. In November 2013, Scotland's First Minister, Alex Salmond, launched his party's 670 page blueprint for an independent Scotland. This treatise contained, among other things, a number of pension specific proposals, including a review on an appropriate State Pension Age for Scotland given its lower life expectancy.