You want to look after your families, employees and their families. But what if providing a group life insurance scheme for you and all your employees in your business isn’t feasible or won’t offer the level of cover needed for company directors?
A relevant life policy is a way of providing death in service benefits on an individual basis and can provide valuable protection for company directors and shareholders, as well as offering an alternative to group life insurance for small businesses.
Who we support
Business owners
Company directors & shareholders
Business partners
Employees
Advice that makes a difference
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We’re specialists in providing life insurance for your employees
Through our collective experience, we’ve observed many of the best and worst practices in the insurance and employee benefits 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 to deliver life insurance solutions that are tailored to each business and its workforce, whether that’s a group life insurance scheme or relevant life insurance policies.
Challenges in your industry
If something were to happen to you or one of your employees, how would families and dependants cope with the financial impact? Whilst a group life insurance scheme can provide financial support, it’s not always appropriate for every business – particularly smaller companies. A relevant life insurance policy is a way of providing death in service benefits on an individual basis.
How we support
At Partners&, we take the time to understand you and your business and help you decide on the best protection strategy to protect your company directors, shareholders and employees. We’ll explain the life insurance cover options available, how they work and how relevant life insurance might suit your needs and that of your business.
Once you’re happy with our recommendations, we’re with you all the way from the application and underwriting process to the policy issued. As your business grows and evolves, we’ll work with you to ensure your business protection programme flexes to suit your needs.
Your business performs
Providing life insurance as part of your employee benefits offering supports your role as a responsible and forward-thinking leader. It strengthens your ability to attract and retain high-quality talent while reinforcing a culture of care and stability across the business.
By ensuring that employees and their families are protected against financial uncertainty, you reduce potential disruption and demonstrate strong leadership. This allows you to focus on delivering strategic objectives, driving performance, and supporting sustainable business growth.
What is relevant life insurance?
Relevant life insurance offers a personal life insurance option for directors, shareholders or employees.
A relevant life insurance policy provides death in service cover for individuals, funded through your business for the benefit of their chosen beneficiaries.
Being able to offer life insurance benefits outside of a group life insurance policy is a great way of looking after your own protection needs as well as those of your employees, helping them provide for their loved ones should the worst happen.
The amount of cover under a relevant life insurance policy must be calculated as a multiple of salary and the maximum amount of cover must fall within the age-related limits set out by HMRC.
Relevant life insurance policies must be written in trust from outset to make sure any benefits are paid directly to the beneficiaries and means that the funds fall outside of the insured person’s estate and is therefore not subject to inheritance or income tax.
A relevant life insurance policy is not treated as a P11D benefit for the individual as HMRC classifies it as a business expense rather than a taxable benefit in kind, provided it meets certain criteria. Specifically, the policy must be set up by the employer, paid for by the company, and written into a discretionary trust for the benefit of the employee’s dependants rather than the employee directly.
Why should I consider relevant life insurance?
If you are a business owner, company director or shareholder and want to provide life insurance cover in a tax efficient way a relevant life policy could be the right choice for your business.
Relevant life insurance cover can provide a solution for small businesses, owner managed and family run companies where group life insurance is either not cost effective, or even available. Relevant life insurance can fill this vital gap and provide financial peace of mind for families and dependents if the worst were to happen.
It can also be used to provide death in service cover for individual employees who require extra cover beyond the provisions of your group life insurance scheme.
Benefits of a relevant life insurance policy
- Provides a lump sum on the death (or diagnosis of a terminal illness of 12 months or less) of the person insured
- Can be classed as business expense, therefore the premiums benefit from corporation tax relief
- Must be placed in trust for beneficiaries, therefore remains outside the estate for inheritance tax purposes
- Offers cost savings for basic and higher rate taxpayers compared to ordinary personal ownership
- Can be used to “top up” an existing Group Life scheme augmenting existing benefits.
Our Ecosystem
Meet the team
Tom Klinkenberg
Managing Partner (Wellbeing, Health & Protection)
