A UK health insurance provider with roots in 1938, headquartered in Tunbridge Wells and the town's largest employer, with offices across England.
AXA Health is a UK private medical insurer. It offers health plans for individuals and for businesses, with options such as outpatient cover, mental health support and therapies. It also provides digital health services such as AXA Doctor at Hand and workplace support through its occupational health and employee assistance businesses. Health insurance means a customer pays regular premiums and the insurer pays for eligible private treatment, so a lot of its work involves medical teams, claims handlers and customer service staff. A broker guide describes its network as covering over 250 hospitals, and says plans cover areas including cancer, mental health and therapies.
Its roots go back to 1938 and the London Associates, a health scheme for middle-income Londoners. It became Private Patients Plan in 1961 and AXA PPP healthcare in 2002. In October 2020 its health businesses came together under the AXA Health name. A broker guide says it focuses on overall wellbeing and clinically led support, but we did not find a formal mission statement from the company. The company's history shows how it has grown by adding services. In 2007 it acquired ICAS International Holdings, a provider of absence, stress and occupational health services, which widened its work from insurance into workplace wellbeing. By 1970 PPP already had about 367,000 members, and the 1938 London Associates scheme was supported by the British Medical Association, the King's Fund and medical royal colleges when it was incorporated in 1940, per the broker guide.
AXA Health has been in Tunbridge Wells for over 60 years and has been described as the town's largest employer. AXA's UK offices page links AXA Health to sites in Bournemouth (Health-On-Line), Bristol, Leicester, London and Tunbridge Wells, and lists Watford Croxley for Permanent Health Care. At the time of one report it had roughly 2,000 staff, about half in two Tunbridge Wells offices that later closed as it moved investment into International House.
The company says regular office attendance maintains its culture and supports the local economy, although most employees work in a hybrid way. A new chief executive replaced Tracy Garrad after she stepped down. It has nurses and medical teams, as a job listing for a nurse in the medical information team shows, alongside customer service, claims and digital teams.
In February 2026 it acquired Healthcare Business Solutions (UK) Limited, a provider of online outpatient services, according to a broker guide. We could not find current UK headcount from the company, so treat the figure above as an older estimate. AXA's UK offices page lists 25 AXA locations across England, Wales and Scotland, including Birmingham, Cardiff, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester and Newcastle, but only the five noted above are linked to AXA Health. That means the AXA Health teams are concentrated in a few places, while other AXA sites do other insurance work. The Business Magazine report also said AXA Health closed Eynsham House and Phillips House in Tunbridge Wells and moved investment into International House, which the company said showed its intent to keep its presence in the town.
Website: www.axahealth.co.uk
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