Group life insurance - adviser information
Group life insurance is considered an essential employee benefit, providing valuable financial peace of mind and reassuring employees their loved ones will be provided for in the event of their death, at what will undoubtedly be a very difficult time. It also demonstrates that an employer cares for the welfare of its employees and their dependants.
Why choose Zurich Corporate Risk for Group Life?
With our Group Life products, your clients will have the flexibility to tailor their cover to meet the needs of their business and their people. We can provide cover as part of registered or excepted schemes established by the employer, or as part of our Registered Group Life Master Trust or as an Excepted Group Life Trust Solution.
Our fast and simple claims process means we can usually validate a UK-registered death online, often removing the need for us to see the original death certificate. All it takes is a call or email to notify us of a claim, and we'll process the activity as quickly as possible, often within 48 hours.
Group Life Insurance trusts
For information on how Group Life Insurance trusts are registered, see our trusts page.
Employer-established trusts
Registered Group Life Insurance
Registered Group Life written under a discretionary trust registered with HMRC.
Lump sum benefits paid from the policy, up to the lump sum and death benefit allowance, are not subject to income tax and if set up under a discretionary trust, are not subject to inheritance tax. However, if the member's benefits from all registered schemes are above the lump sum and death benefit allowance, then the excess paid to a beneficiary may be taxed at the highest rate at which the recipient pays income tax.
Dependant’s death in service pensions do not count towards the deceased member’s lump sum and death benefit allowance and will be treated as earned income in the hands of the recipient.
Excepted Group Life Insurance
Excepted Group Life policies written under a discretionary trust.
Lump sum benefits paid from the policy are subject to the normal inheritance tax rules applicable to discretionary trusts. This means that periodic and exit charges may apply.
A policy must meet specific conditions to be an excepted group life policy as defined in section 480(3) of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005, which includes that the benefit formula must be the same for all members.
Individual Relevant Life Policy (IRLP)
An IRLP, written under a discretionary trust, is treated in the same way as an Excepted Group Life Insurance policy from a tax perspective. We can only provide customers with an IRLP in conjunction with a Zurich Group Life Insurance policy.
Master trust and professional trustee solutions
Zurich Registered Group Life Master Trust
The Zurich Registered Group Life Master Trust (ZRGLMT) scheme is a group life scheme which has been established and registered with HMRC to benefit from the tax treatment of premiums and benefits that apply to a registered pension scheme.
Employers can choose ZRGLMT and join the scheme by simply completing a notice of participation. They will benefit from the tax advantages of the scheme without the potential burden of establishing, registering and administering their own trust.
- Zurich Registered Group Life Master Trust overview (245.7 KB/PDF)
- Zurich Registered Group Life Master Trust technical guide (214.6 KB/PDF)
- Zurich Registered Group Life Master Trust terms and conditions (258.0 KB/PDF)
- Zurich Registered Group Life Master Trust notice of participation (593.8 KB/PDF)
- Zurich Registered Group Life Master Trust nomination form (82.9 KB/PDF)
Excepted Group Life Trust Solution
The Excepted Group Life Trust Solution (EGLTS) is a predetermined discretionary trust and rules which appoint Zedra Governance Limited (formerly known as PTL Governance Limited (PTL)) as the trustee of the scheme.
Employers can choose our EGLTS policy and establish their own EGLTS trust with Zedra Governance Limited as trustees by completing the trust deed. This means that they benefit from the tax treatment of a discretionary trust without the potential burden of acting as trustee.
Registered Group Life and Excepted Group Life - key features and benefits
- Provides a lump sum which can be calculated as a multiple of salary or a fixed benefit payable on the death of an employee
- Additional cover available for a lump sum to purchase a dependant's pension (for Registered Group Life Insurance only)
- Option to continue cover in the event of redundancy and early retirement
- Offers competitive automatic acceptance limits benefit, below which we won't normally require underwriting
- Forward underwriting - employees will usually only be underwritten once where schemes cover 50+ members. Where forward underwriting applies, no further medical enquiries will usually be made until the member's benefit exceeds £5,000,000
- Temporary absence cover, due to illness or injury, can be provided until termination age. For other absence reasons, cover is usually provided for up to 36 months, however, longer periods can be agreed
- Cover available for employees aged 16 to 74
Flexible benefits
Our flexible benefits proposition gives your clients the choice over how they design their benefits. It helps them to manage the cost of their employee benefits package, whilst giving their employees the flexibility to choose from the benefits made available to them.
Group Life Insurance flexible benefit options:
- Minimum (core) benefit: 1 x policy salary
- Maximum benefit: 12 x policy salary
- Maximum number of flex units (steps): 8
- Benefit election increases: upon joining and at subsequent annual flex windows or lifestyle events an employee can elect to change their level of cover
- Available to employers with 250 or more employees
Voluntary spouse or partner cover:
Spouse or partner cover pays out a lump sum if an employee’s spouse or partner dies whilst the employee is insured by the scheme.
Additional support services available with Zurich Group Life Insurance
For eligible employees of our Group Life Insurance customers, we offer access to a range of additional support services.
Bereavement and probate support
Your clients' employees can access bereavement-focussed structured counselling support, as well as expert, confidential advice, practical support and compassionate guidance 24/7.
Virtual GP
With our 24/7 Virtual GP service (ZGP24) provided by HealthHero, your clients’ employees can get advice, reassurance and (where appropriate) diagnosis from an experienced GP whenever they need it.
Second Medical Opinion
A Second Medical Opinion service offers your clients’ employees access to a medical specialist for peace of mind about a diagnosis. They can ask questions about proposed treatment or about a condition or discuss if alternative treatment options are available.
Eldercare support
Our eldercare support, provided by Podplan, is an online service providing support and information for those caring for an elderly relative, or planning for the future. Employees have access to a range of resources to help navigate the complex world of eldercare.
Precision CancerCare
Our Precision CancerCare service, provided by Further, offers fast access to a customised treatment plan based on the specific type and cause of cancer, using the latest tumour profiling technology.
Worldwide health and security information
Crisis24 Horizon is a mobile and online service helping to keep employees safe at home and abroad. It provides up-to-the-minute health and security information on 200 destinations worldwide.
Suicide prevention support
Our ‘Raise the alarm’ suicide prevention support toolkit can help anyone prepare for a situation where they might be faced with someone reporting active suicidal thoughts. This includes a responder checklist for anyone dealing with an immediate threat of suicide.
Making a Group Life Insurance claim
- Simple claims process - a quick call or email is all it takes to notify us of a claim
- Speedy claims - we aim to process all claims activity as quickly as possible, often within 48 hours
- Online verification of death - we can validate a UK-registered death online, which usually means we won't need to see the original death certificate
Use the link below to find out how to make a claim and how the process works for your clients and their employees.
Simple claims process
Funding trees and supporting communities
Zurich is helping to fund Trees for the Future’s planting and restoration projects in Africa.
Over two years from January 2024, Zurich’s funding will enable the planting of more than one million trees across Mali and Senegal in West Africa, helping to restore land which has suffered from degradation or resource depletion.
The projects we support help to train farmers to adopt more sustainable and regenerative practices, empower women, restore degraded land, and support the local families who depend on it.