Workplace protection
Group Life Insurance
A lump sum, usually a multiple of salary, paid when an employee dies in service — the benefit employees never expect to use and their families always remember.
Dublin city centre
Who it is for
Employers and scheme trustees
What it does
- Registered and excepted arrangements
- Free cover limit with no individual medical evidence below it
- Dependant’s pension option alongside the lump sum
- Bereavement counselling and probate helpline included
The product in full
Group life is the benefit employees never expect to use and their families always remember. A lump sum, usually a multiple of salary, is paid when someone dies in service — and because it is a group arrangement, the great majority of the membership is covered without a single medical question being asked.
That last point is the free cover limit, and it is the feature brokers should lead on. The insurer sets a level of individual benefit below which no medical evidence is required; on a typical scheme that covers everyone except a handful of senior people whose salary multiple takes them above it. Those few are underwritten individually, and until they are, cover is generally provided up to the limit rather than not at all.
Registered and excepted arrangements are both available, and they are not interchangeable — the choice affects how the benefit is treated and who it can be paid to, and it belongs with the employer’s own advisers. A dependant’s pension can sit alongside the lump sum where the employer wants an income as well as capital.
Two services come with the policy rather than being sold beside it: bereavement counselling for the family, and a probate helpline. They are used far more often than the benefit itself is claimed, which is a fair description of what group cover really provides.
Literature
Product literature is issued to appointed intermediaries. Ask your underwriter, or request it through the enquiry form.
- Policy conditionsOn request
- Scheme data templateOn request
- Member announcement letterOn 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 supplies scheme data
Membership, dates of birth, salaries and the benefit basis, on the scheme data template. The quality of this file decides the quality of the rate.
A rate and a free cover limit are quoted
The rate applies to the total sum assured; the free cover limit is the individual benefit below which no medical evidence is needed.
Members above the limit are underwritten individually
A small number on most schemes. Cover is generally available up to the free cover limit while that is in progress.
The scheme goes on risk, with a two-year rate guarantee
So the employer knows the cost for two renewals rather than one.
Claims are paid to the trustees or under the arrangement
With bereavement counselling and the probate helpline available to the family from the moment the death is notified.
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.
A 120-member scheme at four times salary
Illustrative figures for a mid-sized employer. Group rates are quoted on the scheme’s own data, so this is a shape rather than a price.
- Members
- 120
- Total annual payroll
- £5,400,000
- Benefit basis
- 4× salary
- Total sum assured
- £21,600,000
- Illustrative rate
- 0.35% of sum assured
- Illustrative annual premium
- £75,600
- Illustrative cost per member per year
- £630
- Free cover limit set at quotation
- £600,000
- Members requiring individual medical evidenceThose whose salary × 4 exceeds £600,000
- 4
- Rate guarantee
- 2 years
Illustrative and not a quotation. The rate depends on the age profile, the occupations, the location of the membership and the claims history, and it is quoted on the scheme’s own data file.
What a free cover limit means for the membership
The illustrative 120-member scheme above, split by whether medical evidence is needed.
Members in the scheme
120
- Covered with no medical evidence116 · 97%Individual benefit below the £600,000 free cover limit
- Individually underwritten4 · 3%Above the limit — cover generally available up to it meanwhile
View these figures as a table
| Amount | Share | |
|---|---|---|
| Covered with no medical evidence — Individual benefit below the £600,000 free cover limit | 116 | 96.7% |
| Individually underwritten — Above the limit — cover generally available up to it meanwhile | 4 | 3.3% |
| Members in the scheme | 120 | 100% |
Suitability
Where the Group Life Insurance fits
The cases it answers, the cases it does not, and what an underwriter needs before quoting.
It is the right answer when
- Employers from three members upwards who want a death-in-service benefit.
- Schemes that want most of the membership covered without medical evidence.
- Employers who want a bereavement service for families, not only a payment.
Look at something else when
- Cover for absence rather than death — that is Group Income Protection.
- A benefit paid on diagnosis — that is Group Critical Illness.
What we need to quote
- 1.The completed scheme data template: membership, dates of birth, salaries.
- 2.The benefit basis, and whether the arrangement is registered or excepted.
- 3.Existing scheme details and claims history, if the scheme is transferring.
Questions
What brokers ask us about this product
What happens to a member above the free cover limit before underwriting completes?
Cover is generally provided up to the free cover limit in the meantime, rather than being withheld entirely. The exact position is set out in the policy conditions and is worth confirming for any scheme with several senior members.
Registered or excepted — which?
It changes how the benefit is treated and who it can be paid to. It is a decision for the employer and their own advisers; both arrangements are available and we do not push either.
Does the rate change if the membership changes?
The rate is guaranteed for two years. The premium moves with the sum assured, so joiners, leavers and salary reviews change what is paid even while the rate is fixed.
Request information
Ask us about the Group Life Insurance
The form reaches an underwriter in Dublin. If you are an intermediary, say so and we will route it to the broker desk.