Workplace protection
Flexible Benefits
Lets employees flex their own cover levels within employer-set boundaries at an annual window, so a scheme suits both a 24-year-old and a 54-year-old.
Dublin city centre
Who it is for
Employers running a flexible benefits platform
What it does
- Employee-selected cover levels within set bands
- Annual selection window with medical-free limits
- Integrates with existing benefits platforms
- Employer keeps control of the core benefit floor
The product in full
A single scheme design cannot suit a twenty-four-year-old with no dependants and a fifty-four-year-old with a mortgage and two children in school. One of them is paying for cover they do not value; the other has less than they need. Flexible benefits lets each of them choose, inside boundaries the employer sets.
The employer keeps control of two things: the core benefit floor, which nobody can go below, and the bands within which employees may flex. Inside those bands there is an annual selection window with medical-free limits, so an employee increasing their cover at the window usually does so without medical evidence. Selections outside the window, or above the medical-free limits, are underwritten in the ordinary way.
The mechanics are mostly a data problem, which is why the service description is about integration. Cover levels have to reach the insurer and the payroll from the benefits platform the employer already runs, and they have to be reconciled. The data feed specification exists so that a scheme’s selections and its premiums cannot drift apart, and the minimum scheme size of 100 members reflects the fixed cost of getting that right.
Literature
Product literature is issued to appointed intermediaries. Ask your underwriter, or request it through the enquiry form.
- Service descriptionOn request
- Data feed specificationOn request
How it works
What happens, in order
From the first enquiry to the point the cover, the contract or the facility is in place.
The employer sets the floor and the bands
A core benefit nobody drops below, and the range each benefit may be flexed within.
The data feed is specified and tested
Between the employer’s benefits platform and the scheme, against the data feed specification. From 100 members.
Employees select at the annual window
Within the bands, and within the medical-free limits.
Selections above the limits are underwritten
Individually, as they would be on a conventional scheme.
Cover and premium are reconciled each period
From the feed, so what the platform shows an employee and what the scheme insures are the same thing.
The numbers
A worked example
Illustrative arithmetic, so the shape of the product is visible rather than described. Nothing here is a quotation or a projection.
Two employees, one scheme
The same employer design, and what two very different members choose at the window. Illustrative.
- Employer core floor, all members
- 2× salary
- Flex band available
- 2× to 8× salary
- Medical-free flex limit
- Up to 6× salary
- Member A, aged 24, salary £34,000No dependants; keeps the core and spends the allowance elsewhere
- Selects 2× — £68,000
- Member B, aged 54, salary £62,000
- Selects 6× — £372,000
- Member B, medical evidence requiredAt the window and within the 6× medical-free limit
- None
- If member B had selected 8×
- Individually underwritten
Illustrative. The bands, the floor and the medical-free limits are set for each scheme at quotation, and the premium follows the selections through the data feed rather than being fixed per member.
One design, two selections
Cover selected by the two illustrative members above, against the employer floor.
View these figures as a table
| Employer core floor | Employee-selected flex | |
|---|---|---|
| Member A, aged 24 — Core only | £68k | £0k |
| Member B, aged 54 — Core plus four further multiples | £124k | £248k |
Suitability
Where the Flexible Benefits fits
The cases it answers, the cases it does not, and what an underwriter needs before quoting.
It is the right answer when
- Employers of 100 or more with a benefits platform already running.
- Workforces with a wide spread of ages and circumstances.
- Employers who want to keep a guaranteed floor while offering choice above it.
Look at something else when
- Smaller schemes, where the integration cost is not repaid.
- Employers with no platform to feed the selections from.
What we need to quote
- 1.The core floor, the flex bands and the medical-free limits wanted.
- 2.The benefits platform in use, and a technical contact for the data feed.
- 3.The scheme data template, and the selection window dates.
Questions
What brokers ask us about this product
Can an employee reduce cover below the core?
No. The floor is the employer’s guarantee and it is not flexible — that is what distinguishes a flex scheme from an entirely voluntary one.
What happens between windows?
Selections normally change at the annual window. Life events are handled under the scheme’s own rules, which are agreed at quotation.
Does the data feed replace the scheme data template?
No. The template establishes the scheme; the feed keeps selections and premiums aligned once it is running.
Request information
Ask us about the Flexible Benefits
The form reaches an underwriter in Dublin. If you are an intermediary, say so and we will route it to the broker desk.