THE boss of a Bradford-based health care cash plan provider is looking to attract more corporate clients faced with the rising costs of providing compulsory pensions for employees.

Russ Piper, chief executive of Sovereign Health Care, believes the extra expense of having to contribute to workers' pensions through auto-enrolment pensions would push many employers to seek lower cost, better value-for-money benefits for staff, rather than having to axe ‘perks’ altogether.

Auto enrolment pensions were launched in 2012 for the largest employers and will cover all firms by February 1 2018.

Mr Piper believes that cash plans funded by employers , such as Sovereign's Asset cash plan, would come into their own. Funded by private individuals or by employers, such plans allow policyholders to claim back a proportion of their treatment expenses.

Mr Piper said: "Benefit packages are often crucial for employers to attract and retain the best staff available. This is particularly important now, as the improving economic climate means competition among businesses for good quality labour is already heating-up and looks certain to intensify in the next few years.

"We saw further evidence of this in the recent figures covering the final quarter of 2014, which showed UK employment was close to 31 million, the largest figure since records began in 1971, with over 73 per cent of people in work, the joint highest ever rate."

He said employers could use cash plans not just as a recruitment tool but also as a quick and easy-to-implement alternative to salary increases or bonuses.

They could also help improve productivity by encouraging staff to manage their health proactively and have problems diagnosed and treated early to reduce time off work or affecting their ability to do their jobs properly.

A recent Mintel report , Health Cash Plans - UK, reported that the volume of employer-paid cash plans had risen by almost 150 per cent since 2007. It also stated that the costs to employers of auto enrolment could prompt some who previously offered workers private medical insurance to replace it with cash plans, to save money.

Mr Piper said: "We agree with this conclusion, but price is only one of the key differences between cash plans and PMI policies, which are designed to pay out for more acute conditions. Cash plans, in contrast, are intended to help cover everyday health care costs and are community priced - premiums are the same for everyone regardless of age, medical history or usage."