Income protection provider UnumProvident has developed a new group income protection product called Capital Option to add to its Sickness Absence Solutions range.
Eugene McCormack, UnumProvident's director of marketing, said: "The pensions crisis has put a new pressure on employers who may need to retire employees early on grounds of ill health."
Capital option will provide income benefits for two, three or five years, followed by a lump sum to finance an employee's early retirement or leaving service benefits.
UnumProvident said sickness absences cost UK businesses approximately £11bn a year, and that 70% of that total can be due to long-term absences. It said an estimated 78% of SME owners had never calculated the cost of sickness absence in their company.
Nearly two million employees are off work at any one time due to sickness or disability, and an estimated 750,000 people of employment age were not currently working due to long-term sickness, said the company.
