We鈥檝e co-signed a letter to the Prime Minister asking him to commit to his pledge to tax exemptions for businesses that support their employees鈥� mental and physical health.

We believe these exemptions would be instrumental in giving businesses an extra incentive to invest in their employees鈥� wellbeing in ways such as paying for workplace counselling.

The letter to Boris Johnson has been signed by us and other members of the Working Well Coalition, led by the John Lewis Partnership.

Hadyn Williams, our Chief Executive Officer, who signed the letter on our behalf, said:

Transformative

鈥淲e know that counselling can have a transformative effect on employees鈥� mental health and wellbeing.

鈥淚nvesting in workplace counselling should be a key priority for employers when it comes to their employees鈥� because of the positive impact on individuals and its wider organisational benefits, including improved morale, creativity and retention of staff.

鈥淭hese tax exemptions would be yet another strong argument as to why businesses should fund counselling.

Powerful call

鈥淲e鈥檙e pleased to be among the signatories of this important letter and hope the Prime Minister will act on this powerful call for change.鈥�

The letter calls for all occupational health services to be a non-taxable benefit in kind to encourage employers to invest in early interventions, such as workplace counselling.

At the moment, employer-provided occupational health services are a taxable benefit and subject to National Insurance and Income Tax.

This can result in an effective tax rate of more than 40 per cent for those employers that settle the taxes on behalf of their employees.

This letter is the latest part of our work with the Working Well Coalition, where we鈥檙e represented by our workforce lead Kris Ambler.

The group aims to spearhead a revolution in workplace health and wellbeing.

In July, we were among the signatories on a letter asking the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care and the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions to ensure more is done to improve the health of the nation鈥檚 workers.