BHSF is launching a new cash plan benefit enabling working parents to take up to a year’s paid leave to look after a child diagnosed with a serious illness or medical condition following an accident.
The benefit known as ChildMax Insurance is exclusive to working parents and sits within the BHSF Healthy Choices health cash plan.
It will cover the selected wages, either £1,000 or £2,000 per month, for parents taking unpaid leave to look after a child under the age of 18, after a specified diagnosis or condition.
The insurance supports working parents after a child has been diagnosed with one of seven specific medical conditions caused by an accident including blindness, coma, deafness, loss of a hand or foot, paralysis of limb(s), serious third-degree burns (greater than 5% of body surface) and traumatic brain injury.
It also supports working parents after a child has been diagnosed with one of 12 specified illnesses including aplastic anaemia, bacterial meningitis, benign brain tumour, blindness, cancer, deafness, kidney failure, loss of a hand or foot, major organ transplant, multiple sclerosis with persisting symptoms, paralysis of limb(s) and stroke.
Steve Munday, head of technical and underwriting at BHSF, said: “We are proud to be the first provider in the cash plan market offering this new benefit for working families.
“ChildMax provides invaluable financial support during such an emotionally unsettling time and has been developed in response to customer feedback and behavioural change.
“When a child is seriously ill, although the NHS provides world-class medical care, parents often become part of the care team. This clearly has a significant impact on the parental challenge of balancing the demands of work.
“The self-employed and employees alike, are better appreciating the health is wealth message, so are prioritising how to make everyday healthcare simpler and more affordable.
“By offering benefits like ChildMax, we aim to make life easier for working parents, as we want families to be able to carry on financially, as normal, while restoring their child’s health.”