Terminology explained

Staff absence can be a complete unknown and therefore some of the terminology used may be confusing. Here we provide you with easily digestible definitions of the most commonly used industry jargon.

Daily benefit – Your daily benefit is the amount you can expect to be paid per full day of absence.

Waiting days – Waiting days are like an excess on a car insurance policy – you will only be able to claim for absence days over and above the waiting day period. So if you have a 20 day absence and a five day waiting period, you can claim for 15 days.

Full time equivalent (FTE) – FTE is the number of working hours that represents one full-time employee during a working week. FTE is calculated by dividing the 'number of hours worked' by `full-time hours for the week`, to give a figure between zero and one.

Premium - An insurance premium is the amount of money that an individual or school must pay for an insurance policy.

Staff categories – You can choose to set different daily benefit rates and waiting times for teachers, support, administration and all-year round staff.

Continuous policy - A continuous policy will carry over your ongoing claims from one year to another, also recording your exact claims history.

Annual policy – An annual policy resets everything and effectively starts again with any pre-existing conditions being taken from ‘renewal date’. Any ongoing claims will not be paid from the renewal date or will be added at an extra cost to your new premium.

Self-certification - Self-certification allows a member of staff to verify their absence without the need to retrieve and submit external medical evidence such as a Doctor’s Report or Medical Certificate.

Discretionary Mutual policy - A discretionary mutual, commonly known as mutual societies or a funding group, is a form of protection to cover members against a certain event or risk, such as staff absences. However, mutuals such as these are discretionary, where the member only has the right to have their claims considered, and not necessarily paid.

Indemnity policy – An indemnity policy pays you back the costs you have incurred such as engaging a supply teacher, minus any excess or waiting day period. Therefore, if you have a staff absence which is covered by an existing teacher, you may not be able to claim.

Benefits policy – A benefits policy pays you a fixed amount (called a daily benefit) for every day of absence over the waiting day period, regardless of the costs incurred. Therefore, no proof of supply is required, and you can still be covered even if you employ full-time cover teachers.

No proof of supply – This means you don’t need to submit evidence that a supply teacher has been engaged to claim.