It’s been a busy time behind the scenes at Newport not-for-profit Plutus Health, thanks to a new partnership the team has been ‘developing’.

Plutus has partnered with the Guild of Photographers to put health and wellbeing firmly in the frame for the Guild’s 2,500 members by offering its health cash plan as a new membership benefit.

Plutus Health, which has been helping south east Wales communities access healthcare for almost 200 years, offers health plans to individuals and families, as well as providing corporate packages to partners including South Wales Chamber of Commerce.

The new scheme with the Guild of Photographers is the first of its kind to offer a health cashback plan to professional photographers.

Guild members can now enjoy a range of health benefits, as well as money back for routine appointments with the dentist, optician or in hospital.

Benefiting from savings of 30 per cent on their health plan premiums, Guild photographers will also be able to claim cashback for a range of specialist medical fees, as well as maternity benefits and complementary therapies.

Plutus Health chief executive Martin Ricketts said: “We are already proud of the success of our corporate health plans and our partnership with South Wales Chamber of Commerce, and this new offering with the Guild of Photographers shows how valuable our plans are to businesses.

“We understand that freelancing can be isolating, with financial peaks and troughs, and that health and wellbeing is often low on the list of priorities for the self-employed.

"Our extremely affordable cashback health plans bring peace of mind to creative workers and provide money back for a wide range of services, allowing photographers to take care of themselves just that little bit more.”

Guild partnership and events manager Nik Proctor said: “We’re an association looking after 2,500 independent photographers based the length and breadth of the UK, supporting training and encouraging the community.

"We have just celebrated 30 years, primarily helping people take better images but also offering an increasing range of benefits, including health and wellbeing.

“We are really pleased to partner with Plutus. They were highly recommended by a couple of our members completely independently of each other and the benefits are ideal, with the health plans starting at just 17p per day. A lot of photographers work on their own; it’s a lonely world but we try to be that supportive colleague and this is a lovely offer we are pleased to be able to introduce.

“Guild membership is £100 per year, and anyone taking out a Plutus Health plan could potentially get that back in cash during the course of one year, so we will be encouraging members to look at the benefits.”

Health plans provide a cost-effective alternative to private healthcare, help businesses reduce staff absenteeism and give money back for health screening and complementary therapies such as homeopathy.