Increasing the rate of Insurance Premium Tax from 6 per cent to 9.5 per cent will potentially make the provision of private medical insurance less affordable to many larger employers. Chris Horlick, Distribution Director for AXA PPP healthcare, commented:

At a time when many such employers need their people to be healthier and more engaged and productive than ever, and when pressures on the NHS are increasing. However, with over 20 years’ experience as the market leading provider of corporate healthcare trusts in the UK, AXA PPP is able to fully support employers who wish to offer comprehensive and accessible medical benefits to their people via this well established tax efficient mechanism.

In addition to being able to support employers wishing to establish their own healthcare trusts, we are also able to act as trustees on behalf of the sponsoring employer via our unique AXA PPP Master Trust.

Healthcare trusts need not be intimidating to employers or their advisers. They are relatively straightforward to establish and we welcome the opportunity to work with all employers and their advisers in this area when seeking to make medical benefit provision more sustainable in the medium term.