Group Life Insurance
Group life insurance is one of the most important insurance products you can provide for your people. It provides a lump sum to help an employee’s family cope financially and emotionally following an untimely death. Our knowledge of the group life insurance market enables us to recommend the right solution for you and your people.
Who we support
Companies of all shapes and sizes
HR professionals
Business owners
Business partners
Employee relations managers
We're specialists...
Through our collective experience, we’ve observed many of the best and worst practices in the insurance advisory market. We’re here to challenge the status quo and aim to establish a new level of service. We’re combining the best traditions of technical advice and client centricity, with modern thinking and smart use of systems and technology to enhance the client experience and create a dynamic workplace for our team.
Challenges in your industry
Attracting and retaining talent remains a key challenge for businesses – and providing a comprehensive employee benefits package can help. Group life insurance is considered an essential employee benefit, and most people will expect this to be provided by their employer. With more than half of UK adults having no life insurance, providing a group life insurance scheme can help your employees provide for their families and dependants in the event of their death, particularly if they don’t have cover elsewhere.
How we support
Group life insurance is a vital component of employee benefits packages, providing significant advantages to both employers and employees.
Group life insurance schemes are not all the same – some offer vital added value benefits, such as virtual GP services and Employee Assistance Programmes (EAPs). We work in partnership with our clients, ensuring that your employee benefits programme meets the needs of both your business and your people.
Your business performs
Providing a group life insurance scheme for your employees enhances recruitment and retention efforts, provides financial security for employees’ families, offers tax benefits, and demonstrates a culture that prioritises health and wellbeing.
By offering group life insurance as part of a comprehensive employee benefits programme, your business can foster a more loyal, motivated, and secure workforce, ultimately benefiting your organisation’s long-term success.
What is group life insurance and why should your business provide it?
Group life insurance, also known as death in service, is an employee benefit scheme that provides financial security for an employee’s family in the event of their untimely death. It’s usually one of the core benefits provided – and most valued by employees.
Typically, the payout is a tax-free lump sum, usually calculated as a multiple of the employee’s salary.
As part of a suite of employee benefits, group life insurance helps your people to put plans in place for that day when they may no longer be around. In our experience, it is one of the most valued benefits and is very simple to implement.
Including group life insurance as a core element of your benefits strategy helps you:
- Demonstrate genuine care for employee wellbeing.
- Enhance your benefits package, helping attract and retain top talent.
- Provides peace of mind for employees and their loved ones.
Why you need a specialist group life insurance adviser
When it comes to protecting your employees and their loved ones, group life insurance is a valuable benefit that offers peace of mind and financial security. However, many businesses and employees may not fully understand how their group life policy works and what it covers.
Our specialist employee benefit advisers can help you take control of your benefits programme and improve staff engagement and appreciation.
Group life insurance schemes can provide value-added benefits, including access to virtual GPs and employee assistance programmes (EAPs). We often come across situations where businesses are not aware of these extras, which means their people aren’t either.
We can help you with your group life insurance and overall employee benefits programme by:
- Reviewing existing cover, identifying gaps or duplication in cover as well as potential cost savings
- Bringing awareness to included added-value benefits
- Implement new schemes where appropriate
- Assisting with employee communication plans
- Support start-ups get off the ground with the right employee benefit solutions
We’ll also explain the tax implications and support with any medical underwriting requirements.
How does a group life insurance scheme work?
Typically, a group life insurance scheme will pay out a lump sum benefit, usually calculated as a multiple of salary. It can provide the benefit as a death in service pension if preferred. Each employee will need to complete an expression of wishes form to nominate who their group life insurance benefit should be payable to in the event of their death.
You determine which categories of your employees qualify for cover – for example, minimum and maximum ages and the requirement to pass probationary periods.
For most companies, the cost of group life insurance is calculated on the overall demographic of your workforce, taking into account gender, age, salaries, occupations and locations. For small businesses, individual premiums may be calculated. Premiums will usually qualify as an allowable business expense.
Depending on how your group life insurance scheme is set up, the benefits paid out aren’t always subject to inheritance tax.
In most circumstances, your employees won’t have to fill in any health questionnaires or undergo a medical examination before cover is provided under your group life insurance policy. Group life insurance schemes offer a “free cover limit” and if an employee’s benefit amount is below this limit, then no medical information will be needed.
