"I know the government is keen to get the over 50s back into work, but a greater focus should be those who would like to work but cannot at the moment."
According to Hamilton, research from the Association of British Insurers in 2023 showed that the majority of people who had rehabilitation as part of their workplace insurance policies stayed in employment, but sadly only three in 10 Britons have access to rehabilitation services as a workplace benefit.
Hamilton added: "The sooner you can get back to work the better. But too often people are away so long they end up on benefits and while they would like to work, they find a big challenge is the way benefits are structured.
"The process does not create a bridge from being on benefits to getting back to work, so if you go back to work and find that it's not possible to continue, you have to start again from the beginning.
"So one area we would like government to consider is how to help people flex between the two and manage that translation back to work."
The adviser's role
Beyond the government's role, Zurich is keen for members of the financial services profession to get behind the campaign, including those advisers who have small to medium-sized clients or business owner clients on their books.
"There is a financial incentive for employers to look after the staff they have got. It can seem like a big outlay on staff benefits but if you had a better sick pay, and better benefits, you would have a healthier and more productive workforce", Hamilton added.
Hamilton said even if financial advisers do not operate in the group risk advice market, if they could signpost to those who do, it would benefit the UK economy as a whole.
He said: "We've seen how ancilliary benefits such as 24-hour GPs and wellbeing services are being used more and more as part of the overall insurance package.
"Group risk products that include rehabilitation gives companies access to an HR style function that many smaller companies otherwise could not and would not be able to offer their staff."
For this reason, he has urged advisers to get involved and raise the message of the benefits of protection policies and the importance of focusing on rehabilitation back into the workplace.
simoney.kyriakou@ft.com
