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Group Risk Benefits

A small group of business owners/executives looking for cost effective personal protection…..

Setting up and running a new business is tough enough and the ability to replicate benefits available in a larger, well established company can be just as challenging. In the early days, the primary objective may be to only cover the owners and executives. These are busy people often not able to spare time completing lengthy applications forms or attend time consuming medical examinations for insurance underwriting.

We were recently contacted by our client who was looking for a package to cover 3 directors for death, illness and disability.

For life cover we set up a Group Life Assurance plan and as two of the directors already had substantial pension plans in place, the scheme was arranged in such a way as to avoid affecting their pension lifetime allowances.

We were able to agree a fixed level of benefit for each member which required no additional medical evidence or underwriting and cover was placed on risk just 24 hours after presenting them with the costs.

We also discussed adding a critical illness lump sum benefit but at this stage the board decided not set this up immediately but may bring it in at a later date.

However, income protection was deemed to be more important so we arranged a plan to replace a significant proportion of the income the directors were taking, also without the need for any further medical or activity based underwriting.

The benefit will be payable in the event of any long term illness or accident which prevents them from being able to work and was designed to be payable right through to retirement age if necessary.

The business pays both these premiums in full and as they are not taxable benefits, it enhances the directors’ packages in a very time and cost efficient manner.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Past Performance is not necessarily a guide to future returns,

• Pension charges could change in the future,

• Taxation and legislation could change in the future.

This case study gives an indication of how we have helped our client, however every client and their situation is different and we would always recommend that you seek advice if some of the points made are characteristic of your own circumstances. JJFS accepts no responsibility for action taken based solely on the content of this case study.

Enhancing Employee Benefits Package

A more established and still growing business now looking to introduce a package of benefits to help reward and retain existing staff but also to assist in attracting new employees from larger competitors……

A comfortable working environment and healthy pay package may go a long way to satisfying employees but there are other cost effective benefits which can be added to further enhance the picture.

This client is a growing IT company who were looking to attract staff from much larger organisations whilst still keeping their existing employees happy. Private Medical Insurance was already in place but the HR manager was looking for other options.

We discussed a combination of Group Life Assurance and Group Critical Illness Cover with a variable level of benefit depending on length of service and seniority. Both covers were designed to be available without any medical evidence and in the event of a claim would be payable directly to the member or their nominated beneficiaries.

As the premiums for the Critical Illness are classed as a p11d benefit and taxable, they were introduced at the same time as a cost of living pay rise so members did not see a reduction in their take home pay.

We used the announcement process of these benefits to also remind staff to update their pension scheme nomination forms at the same time. The relevant sections of the company’s staff handbook was updated with our assistance and a section of the intranet site was used to highlight these new benefits to all staff.

Feedback from the staff was generally positive and the business now feels it has a sophisticated benefit package to compete in the markets in which it now operates.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

• Past Performance is not necessarily a guide to future returns,

• Pension charges could change in the future,

• Taxation and legislation could change in the future.

This case study gives an indication of how we have helped our client, however every client and their situation is different and we would always recommend that you seek advice if some of the points made are characteristic of your own circumstances. JJFS accepts no responsibility for action taken based solely on the content of this case study.