Death in service insurance is also known as group life insurance. It is a type of life insurance policy that an employer can take out on behalf of their employees. It is designed to pay out a lump sum to the employee's loved ones should the employee die.
An affordable way to show staff you care, death in service insurance may help your business attract and keep the best possible talent.
Find out more about the benefits offering death in service insurance in our guide: ‘What are the benefits of death in service insurance?’.
If you value your team, you may want to show them by buying a policy. In which case you will want to know the answer to the question: 'How much does death in service insurance cost?'.
The cost of death in service insurance will depend on several factors including:
- The scheme criteria you choose, including the amount of life cover you want to offer.
- The number of employees you wish to cover and when the cover will end.
- The type of industry you work in and the location of your business.
- The ages, salaries, and job roles of your employees.
The number of employees you wish to cover will have an impact on the cost of death in service insurance. The more employees covered by the policy, the more the policy will cost. You can buy death in service insurance for your business if you have two or more employees. There is no maximum number of employees you can include on your scheme, but if you have 250 employees or more it may take a little longer to return your death in service insurance quotes.
When deciding if all your employees will be included in the scheme, you should take the Equality Act 2010 into account.
This Act protects employees from discrimination in the workplace. Making it unlawful to discriminate based on age, race, sex and gender reassignment, disability, religion or belief, sexual orientation, marital status, and pregnancy.
You could choose to offer different levels of cover to different groups of staff. For example, you could offer senior managers a high level of cover, such as 8x their salary. While junior employees could be offered 4x their salary.
You should bear in mind the Equality Act 2010 by having clear categories with evidence to justify offering different levels of cover.
The age of the employees you wish to cover will also affect the policy cost. As with life insurance, younger employees normally cost less to insure.
If you have a young workforce, you may pay less than a similar business in the same industry whose staff have a higher average age.
The industry you work in will also affect the cost of your death in service insurance policy. For example, industries with a higher risk of injury such as construction can cost more to insure. But staff working in office-based roles such as admin or IT are usually cheaper to insure.
You should be aware that death in service insurance cannot be offered as part of a flexible benefits programme where staff customise their own benefits.
Want to find out how much death in service insurance will cost for your team? Give us some details about your business, your chosen scheme and your employees using our simple form. Our service provides impartial, unbiased quotes from a panel of industry leading insurers. If you’re ready, get death in service quotes now.