FAQs

Equipsme is FCA regulated, like a broker, and we develop our own products with insurers and service partners. We’re an intermediary, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, under the name Equipsme Insurance Services Ltd. We’re based in London and you can contact us at hello@equipsme.com or arrange for a call back at 020 3965 6410.

We develop our own exclusive health insurance and wellbeing support plans, aimed specifically at businesses throughout the UK. We don’t sell personal policies to consumers.

Equipsme will act on behalf of insurers when promoting, selling and administering any insurance benefits in our plans.

We’ll help you decide – but not tell you what to buy.

We provide all the key information about what is and isn’t covered by our plans and answer questions to help businesses decide what they want and need from an employee health insurance and wellbeing plan. As we distribute and sell our own products, we don’t review the whole market, so we can’t give recommendations or advice!

Equipsme Plans are available directly from us, or through certain Insurance Brokers. Your broker may be able to offer recommendations and advice.

We’re digital, so you and your employees can do pretty much everything you need to online. We’ve focussed on the things we know people really value, which is why our plans include things like 24/7 GP access, and physio appointments.

We don’t have a long eligibility criteria, just an age range for people we’ll cover, and a three year pre-existing conditions exclusion.

We let individual employees manage their own plans and pay to add their family or extra cover if they need it.

We try and keep everything simple, transparent, and practical. Take a look at our why us page for more information.

Members can download the Equipsme App, and use it to request an appointment, any time of the day or night, subject to availability. You’ll speak to a GP on the phone, or by video call. They can talk through your condition, and even prescribe medication.

Yes. The price will depend on the medication you require and is usually more expensive than a standard NHS prescription.

However, you get the convenience of speaking with a GP quickly, and you can choose to get your prescription sent electronically to your local pharmacy to pick up your own medication, or to get it posted out to you directly.

If you need to be referred to a specialist for diagnosis and treatment, you’ll be able to contact AXA Health directly to find out if your condition is covered and they can help you make your first appointment with an approved consultant.

Existing health conditions are covered when you use the GP services, the health check, stress support and dental and optical extras.

For physio, diagnosis and treatment, there is a 3 year pre-existing conditions exclusion. That means that if you’ve had any disease, illness or injury, or other symptoms that you have received medication, advice or treatment for in the 3 years before the start of the insurance cover – you’re not covered for these under your plan.

Our aim is to help protect you from unexpected health issues, and excluding pre-existing conditions means we don’t have to make everyone complete detailed health questionnaires or price variations based on the answers.

Yes, and full benefit and exclusion details are contained in your Membership Handbook. To help, we’ve included some of the main conditions we DON’T cover below. For any health queries you can always contact the Health at Hand phone line from AXA Health who can help and support you with any questions.

Cancer – we don’t cover cancer treatment, but we know the key thing with cancer is getting a fast diagnosis. So if your symptoms aren’t pre-existing and diagnosis is included in your plan, you’ll be able to get to the right specialist to help you find out faster. Then, for cancer treatment the dedicated cancer support nurses available under the Equipsme plan will guide you back into the NHS. That’s because treatment for cancer can be incredibly complicated. It’s expensive which could lead to higher prices in future, it requires a team of specialists working together – and we believe all of that is best co-ordinated by the NHS.

Pregnancy and childbirth – we do cover certain related conditions during pregnancy, but we don’t cover other anti-natal or midwifery care.

Mental health conditions – if stress support is part of your plan we can help with telephone and face-to-face counselling, but we can’t provide other psychiatric treatment or support.

Ongoing, recurrent and long-term conditions – we call these “chronic conditions”. Examples include things like Crohns’s Disease.

Overseas treatment – we don’t cover treatment received outside the UK.

You can add your partner to your Equipsme plan if you’re married, in a civil partnership or living together permanently in a similar relationship. You can also add your children and your partner’s children (a maximum of 6 children can be added at a cost of 50%). Children can stay on the plan up to the age of 25 when they will come off the plan at the renewal date following their birthday.

You can see all your plan details and make changes to your account on our Equipsme members portal. When you’ve been added to the plan, you’ll get an email from us explaining how to set up your account and create a password. We’ll send a code to your mobile phone (just so everything is secure) and then you’ll be able to access the portal by going to the top right of the Equipsme homepage, and logging in.

At Equipsme we focus our cancer support on early diagnosis but if cancer is diagnosed our plans do not pay for private treatment. We can help plan holders get a telephone or video appointment with a private GP, and depending on the chosen plan level get fast-track referrals for private diagnosis, see a private specialist/consultant, as well as helpline support with any questions if they have to go back into the NHS for treatment – all designed to help cut the waiting list for diagnosis which can also help speed up access to treatment back in the NHS

Terms and conditions do apply so if you are interested in an Equipsme plan we do recommend reading our full documentation. If you have any questions on what can be a complicated subject, please feel free to contact us. Find out more about our cancer cover here.

Your Equipsme plan includes some health insurance benefits (which attract IPT) and some health services (which attract VAT). This means that IPT and VAT must be charged on certain portions of your price.

We therefore include both of these taxes (at the prevailing rate) in our monthly prices quoted.

Equipsme is registered for VAT.

If the company that pays for an Equipsme health insurance plan is also registered for VAT, we can provide the business with a VAT Invoice upon request.

Healthcare cover is one of the most popular benefits that employees want. It helps retain and motivate a healthy workforce, which can benefit business performance. When this is paid for by the employer, HMRC treats that ‘premium’ as extra earnings and will therefore charge income tax on it.

Employers confirm what they have paid to HMRC (via a P11D form) – or can register with HMRC to deduct the tax from payroll instead. Tax is charged at the employee’s current income tax rate (i.e. 20%, 40%, 45%, etc).

Please don’t forget though:

• You are only taxed on what the employer pays – not on anything you, the employee, pay for yourself
• If your employer buys our £33/mth plan – at 20% rate, your tax deducted may increase by about £7/mth but that is still only a fraction of the cost of a health insurance plan that provides access to private GPs, physio, diagnosis, treatment and a health check!

We’re not tax experts so it’s always best to discuss with an accountancy professional but we estimate the P11D costs per level for someone on 20% tax are as follows:

• GP+ £8/mth plan: Tax deduction of around £1.60/mth
• Level 3 £20/mth plan: Tax deduction of around £4.00/mth
• Level 2 £33/mth plan: Tax deduction of around £6.60/mth
• Level 1 £48/mth plan: Tax deduction of around £9.60/mth

Employers pay this on the cash value of taxable benefits (BIK) provided to their employees, other than for those employees earning below a certain minimum.

If your business is registered for Corporation Tax (CT), you may be able to offset against profits (as a business expense) the total you pay for the Equipsme plan for your employees. This business expense can include the National Insurance tax you pay for providing the benefit – and when CT is higher than NIC, this can result in a ‘net’ reduction in what you pay for the plan.

For example (based on figures as at April 2023):

• 10 employees on our £33/mth plan = £330/mth or £3,960 over a plan year
• PLUS Class 1A NIC (currently) at 13.8% = £546.48 over a plan year
• LESS Tax relief on CTax on profits (currently) 19% = (-£856.23) over a plan year
• Net effect being £3,960 + £546.48 – £856.23 = £3,650.25 over a plan year OR £30.42/mth per employee

The above may represent the typical tax treatments of company-bought benefits for employees (such as health insurance). We are not tax advisers so you should refer any specific questions about your own business circumstances to HMRC or your accountant.

Your company has bought you an Equipsme health insurance plan. It means you can access all sorts of practical health benefits like a 24/7 GP, a nurse advice line, and physiotherapy appointments. Using the link in your email, log in to create your members account, see your plan benefits and make changes to your plan.

You’ll see your plan start date in your Welcome email. You’ll need to set up your account before the plan starts, so you can add your partner and children to your plan, if you want to.

When you set up your account using the links in the email, you’ll be sent an OTP or one-time-passcode. This is a 5 or 6 digit code sent to the mobile number provided by your employer when they added you to the plan. We’ll send you a message that will allow us to verify your email address, and make sure we’ve got the right person! When you receive the passcode enter it, and you’ll be able to set up your members account on our portal, including a new password to access it.

If for any reason you don’t receive an OTP to your phone, email us at members@equipsme.com and we’ll sort it out.

When you first log in to the Equipsme members portal to set up your account, you’ll be taken through your options. You can see what benefits your employer has bought for you (or you’ve bought for yourself if you’re self-employed). Now YOU can pay to add on extra benefits. That includes adding on your partner and children, so they get access to the same benefits you do. During the plan year, family can be amended, removed or new arrivals added.

You’ll only be asked to enter direct debit details if you’ve chosen to increase your cover level or add family to the plan your employer has bought for you.

Don’t worry! This happens to everyone. Click on ‘LOGIN’ which you can find in the main navigation bar on any page of our website. Below the login button is a reset/forgotten password link. Click this link and enter the email address which you registered with. You will then receive an email from us to help you reset your password! You must have set up an account with us before trying to reset a password. The link to setting up your account is in your welcome email.

Should you have difficulty logging in, please email support@equipsme.com. We will get in contact as soon as possible to help you.

Please note though, Equipsme has been built for modern browsers such as Chrome, Safari and Firefox. It probably won’t work on an older Internet Explorer browser. As a first step if you’re having problems, try downloading Chrome and launching the website from there.

You can make amends to your account on the Equipsme members portal – including a change of address, or mobile number, or adding family members. Set up your account if you haven’t already done so, the details on how to do this are in your welcome email. Log in as normal. Below the icons which show your plan benefits select ‘Make Changes to your plan’. You will see everyone covered under your Equipsme plan. Click ‘edit’ and amend the details you wish to change. Once you are happy with the changes click ‘Request the Change’ and then click ‘Accept the Change’.

As soon as you leave your employer or your Equipsme plan is cancelled, your employer will inform us and all cover for you (and your family if included) will stop on that date.

The Equipsme Health Insurance plan is exclusively available to companies to buy, and we’re really sorry, but we don’t have an individual continuation option.

We may, however, be able to pass your details onto AXA Health, with your permission. They can help you explore your options – but please note other health insurance plans may not provide the same benefits, choices or type of cover.

The best way to access your benefits and make appointments is from our Equipsme App. Download it onto your phone from the App Store or Google Play, enter your email address and password, and then follow the simple instructions to request your appointment.

The best place to start is to read your How to Use Your Plan guide, which you can find on the Equipsme members portal. It’s a guide with a simple flow diagram showing you what to do when!

We know you’re not a medical expert, so we won’t expect you to decide where is best to start. Just get in touch, and we’ll help you check what’s covered, and pick where and what to do next.

Please don’t arrange your own physio appointments or consultations with a specialist. These appointments have to be made through AXA Health. You don’t want to pick a person or clinic that isn’t recognised under your plan and risk your bills not being covered!

Don’t worry, there is an approved medical network of medical professionals, diagnostic centres and hospitals you’re covered to use. The aim is always to limit your travel distance or make initial appointments by phone or video.

After your cover has started, you’ll be encouraged to go through to set up a Thriva account. You’ll be asked to fill in some basic details online about your health, lifestyle and medical history. From here they’ll suggest some simple blood tests that you can order and complete at home (depending on the cover level).

If you’ve requested a test or have one as part of your plan, you’ll be sent it through the post. It has full instructions on how to do a simple finger prick sample. This then goes back securely in the post, and you’ll be emailed with your test results. If there’s any action to be taken, you can discuss with your own GP or make an appointment with a GP through Equipsme.

Your Equipsme plan provides cover for a year. Your membership certificate will show the dates on which your cover starts and ends.

All premiums must continue up to date for your cover to continue.

If you join your company and the plan part way through the plan year, you may have less than 12 months until the renewal date.

Please refer to your membership handbook and our privacy notice which can be found on our website.

In summary, we’ll only use your information in ways we’re allowed to by law, which means we only collect what we need, don’t sell it to 3^rd parties, and will always get your consent to process medical information when it’s necessary to do so.