Group Protection Claims Impact

I’m Lyndsey, I’m a Claims Case Manager for Group Income Protection here at Aviva.

We get notifications every day from employers looking to make a claim, or receive rehabilitation support for their employees.

Alison’s employer contacted me to let me know that she was struggling at work, due to ongoing symptoms regarding her Stiff Person’s Syndrome diagnosis.

This meant that she was struggling with pain in her upper torso, arms, legs, but also being off work had impacted her mental health, so she was struggling with anxiety and depression.

Alison described her feelings as ‘living in a pit of darkness’. She was really struggling and feeling isolated and alone.

I could see this was a sensitive situation and that Alison needed support straight away.

Alison was really worried understandably that she may lose her job and have to rely on friends or family for support financially. This is where the Group Income Protection policy comes into place.

I obtained Alison’s medical information and referred over to our Consultant Medical Adviser to understand treatment pathways.

She was getting frustrated within the workplace, as she was needing more and more time off, and just wanted to excel within her career.

Her employer were worried that this role was no longer suitable for her, but she really enjoyed her job, and was really eager to be able to stay within the workplace and be able to return to her role at some point.

This is a really tricky situation for both her employer and for Alison to be in.

The stress of the situation, being absent from work, and feeling the frustration of not being able to carry out her role further exacerbated Alison’s symptoms of anxiety and depression.

I became her dedicated case manager. I was Aviva for Alison, from the minute we started talking together, right through the claims process.

We spoke about her claim and any further support we may be able to offer.

As Alison had had previous absences due to her ongoing symptoms associated with Stiff Person’s Syndrome, I was able to piece those absences together to form a deferred period. So I was able to pay her claim sooner rather than later.

The policy meant that she receives 67% of her salary every month, the benefit basis that her employer put into place.

Alison will continue to receive this until she returns to work, or reaches retirement age if she remains medically supported. These payments give her a financial safety net, doing exactly what the policy is designed for. And she was struggling financially before the claim, worrying about how she would pay for her home, or if she would need to ask her family to help her out.

The payments have alleviated her stress, and its allowed her to concentrate on her health and getting better.

Although Alison didn’t want to be filmed herself, she’s happy for me to share her story on her behalf, and she’s allowed us to use a voice actor to share her thoughts.

I am really glad I was given my case manager as she has made such an impact on me personally. She made me feel so comfortable in our first call, I was able to be open and honest with her about my past mental health history.

She was so kind and never lost that human touch - something that you never expect with insurance.

Aviva has given me control over my financial life again and I could not be more grateful.

For more information on Aviva Group Income Protection, contact your employer, financial adviser or usual Aviva contact. Or visit us online at aviva.co.uk or search Aviva advisers.

Hi, my name's Kate Meads, and I'm director of Kate Meads Associates, otherwise known as KMA.

We provide vocational rehabilitation services to customers of Aviva under the Group Income Protection Scheme. 

Aviva will refer employees over to us who are either on long-term sick or at risk of going off sick, and the ultimate goal of what we do is to facilitate somebody returning to work in a sustainable manner. 

It doesn't matter if you've got mental illness, a physical illness, an injury. It is purely looking at, okay, what's this person require to return to work? 

We might be recommending a phased return to work, but prior that it might be we need to do a work preparation program to get the person to the point of being able to return to work.

It could be developing fatigue management skills, building cognitive resilience as well as physical resilience.

And at every step we link in with the employer, so that's HR, maybe the line report or whatever team is around that employee. 

A good example of someone we've worked with is, a man called Simon.

He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Not only did he have multiple sclerosis, he had social issues in terms of his wife was very poorly and complexities of home life as well.

What we did with him was to empower him, to identify what his needs were, what needed to be different at work.

During the process of working with us, he developed another lesion, which impacted on his function. And for him, there was that fear that he was not going to be able to get back to work. He felt that he was doing things wrong. 

And what we could do is actually then identify pacing strategies to do, ways in which he could build his physical stamina up. Encourage him to think about different ways of working.

We would set him tasks each week after each session. He would let us know how he was going. And then it was also linking in with, key stakeholders in the workplace to support him.

He resumed his full time working and his roles and responsibilities.

He is willing to share his feedback.

I was never in a position where I did not want to be at work. I wanted to be of value, but I lost my way.

I knew I needed to do things differently, but I didn’t know how, I just needed someone to guide me through it. 

Kate’s support has been invaluable in helping me get into the right headspace. I found the whole process very easy, and it all happened quite naturally.

Aviva recognised I wanted to work and were able to support with that.

Vocational rehabilitation services are non-contractual benefits Aviva can change or withdraw at any time.

For more information on Aviva Group Income Protection and these services, contact your employer, financial adviser or your usual Aviva contact or visit us online, at aviva.co.uk or search Aviva advisers.

My name is Brian Stacey, I work in engineering, I’m an NDT inspector and, I’ve done that for 35 years.

Before, I was very active. Used to go to the gym, go out most weekends and things like that.

I was at my friends shop and he noticed that my face had dropped and my speech was slurred and other things like that.

Sat at his shop and a ambulance pulls up outside. I say who’s that for?

He says you.

Did all the heart monitors and things like that and said we reckon you’ve had a stroke.

And then we went down to the hospital. They said you’ve had a bleed on the brain, on your left hand side. Which is where the weak side was. My speech was fine, to a degree. But, I was a bit slurred and things like that.

I then had a year off with the stroke and just got on with it really. I just wasn’t gonna give in and just carried on going.

My name is Anna O’Shaughnessy I work for a company called Krysalis consultancy limited.

Krysalis is a leading provider of neurological rehabilitation services in the UK, and offer a variety of different service streams to individuals with complex neurological conditions.

if an individual has a group income protection policy with Aviva, then a referral will come through to Krysalis following perhaps a diagnosis of a neurological condition or a neurological injury that an individual has sustained.

we deliver occupational therapy services and conduct comprehensive assessments with people to be able to understand and learn about the individual themselves, to establish how Krysalis may be able to support that individual through their rehabilitation journey.

The initial stage is getting in contact with Brian and having an initial chat and conversation and to introduce myself, my role, I very quickly learnt how open and honest Brian is, and started to understand him as a person right from that very first conversation.

We then arrange a more formal remote assessment where we conduct a variety of conversations, discussion and assessment to be able to underpin the challenges that Brian was facing at the time.

Additional things I worked with Brian on was relating to was things like fatigue management. The amount of energy that the brain needs to recover and heal and rewire that neuroplasticity is immense.

So its really important to help Brian to understand his symptoms, to understand why he was feeling the way he was feeling and to then look at his everyday life in order to help him. Its important for the organisation to understand element of Brians condition and how best they can support him at work.

Krysalis has been really good with me and the young lady they sent, Anna to help me out with all the different ideas and things like that to progress me on.

Its made me more confident outside of work as well. My driving has got a lot better.

I then went back to work. I cant do the job I was originally doing. I said I need something a bit simpler cause of the stroke and the memory side of it so I went on to a different job.

I feel a lot more confident in myself. That made me feel a lot better that somebody was actually being there for me and helping me out and giving me advice which is what they did.

Its really really important from an occupational therapy point of view to ensure that we have a really open, transparent with the individual, with the workplace and with the insurance company to make sure we have a consistent approach and that everybody understands first and foremost Brians needs, challenges and of course his strengths in order to support him in the best possible way.

Rehabilitation support is available to employees insured under Aviva Group Income Protection. It's a non-contractual benefit, which Aviva can change or withdraw at any time. 

For more information on Aviva Group Income Protection, contact your employer, financial adviser or use your usual Aviva contact.

Or visit us online, at aviva.co.uk or search Aviva advisers.