How much extra a month would I get if I wasn't in the BUPA scheme at work?

Handbags&Gladrags

Hi,

Apologies if I have posted in the wrong section, I am not too sure where this query fits best.

I wonder if any of you clever people could help me? I am currently enrolled in my workplace BUPA scheme. This is classed as a Taxable Benefit which I am liable for the tax on to the tune of £702.48 per year.

We have received notification today that we need to re-register for 2016 and if we don’t the cover will automatically cease. We are allowed to re-join at the same time next year for cover during 2017 should we decide to leave at this point. I am in the process of paying off debt (lots of) and to be honest any extra money each month would be beneficial to me but I don’t want to drop my cover if the extra money I would get every month is only a few £ because of the obvious benefits of being in the scheme. Is there any way I can work out how much a taxable benefit of £702.48 is costing me each month in take-home pay? Or could anyway hazard a guess? I earn 21K.

Thanks in advance.

Lemonsqueezer78

I'm not a complete expert on this, however my understanding is that the tax and NI you pick up is just calculated from the "value" of the benefit. The value of the benefit is the amount your empliyer pays for your BUPA insurance premium each month. So it should simply be a case of identifying how much the insurance premium is that your employer pays on your behalf and calculating the tax and NI on that amount based on your income tax rate (which should be 20% for income tax - and for your salary, 12% in NI I believe).

As an example - if your company pays £50 a month as an insurance premium to BUPA on your behalf, this £50 will be included in your tax calculation @ 20% = £10 tax and then £6 in National Insurance. So you're paying £16 in total a month. At least, that is my understanding

Lemonsqueezer78

PS. the premium your employer pays to BUPA should be shown on your payslip each month,

datlex

Normally you get a lower tax code for having Bupa. To check what you should expect to receive for your salary go to http://www.thesalarycalculator.co.uk/salary.php you can then play around with the boxes to see impact of pension/bonuses/taxable benefits. Without any your salary would be £1,447.27, if you put in the figure of £702.48 it calculates your pay to be £1,435.56 (obviously you will know if this is correct. Therefore the taxable benefit costs you £11.71.

ravilious_fan

I am really not qualified to advise on the money side, but I would think the peace of mind that comes from having private health cover might be worth those few extra pounds per month. Obviously hopefully you will stay well and healthy and not need it, but if you do happen to need medical care you might be glad of something to fall back on, should the NHS not be adequate for your needs.

Chocforever

I agree with Datlex - you will get an extra £11.71 cash per month if you give up the BUPA cover.

MargB

I have to say that I was incredibly grateful for having BUPA last year (via my employer). Serious gallstone issues. In agony, terrified to eat anything, but not enough to be treated as urgent by NHS, so would have waited about a year. Apparently I need to turn yellow or have elevated temperatures for that one :-)
BUPA - my doc wrote referral on day 1, day 2 I was seeing BUPA specialist and booked in my op for two weeks later


never thought I'd need BUPA, but oh boy, was I grateful for it


MargB

Tygermoth

Just wanted to say thanks to the lovely people on this board who replied to the OP. I was just wondering this question the other day when doing our finances as we pay out a wodge to health insurance as a taxable benefit

My thinking was any pennies (house deposit) would be better....

After seeing the calculations you provided i can see its not worth it. As i am mathematically challenged i would not have realised how little i would be getting against losing the benefit.

No brainer really.

So once again, thank you.

Handbags&Gladrags

Hi everyone,

Thankyou so much to everyone for taking the time to reply, it really is appreciated. I completely agree, an extra £11 odd a month is just not worth the peace of mind I would have knowing the cover was there if required so I shall be renewing.
Thanks again, have a great Sunday everybody x