Protect the people your business depends on, and the future you’re building together

Not at all. Smaller businesses are often more exposed, because so much rests on one or two people. If losing an owner or a key employee would put profits, ownership or a loan at risk, it’s worth a conversation, whatever your size.

It depends on the type. Key person, business loan, relevant life and executive income protection policies are usually owned and paid for by the business. Shareholder and partnership protection is typically arranged so that each owner is covered for the benefit of the others. We’ll set it up the right way round for your situation.

Personal cover looks after your own family. Business protection looks after the business and your fellow owners, so it pays out where a personal policy wouldn’t, for example to clear a company loan or to buy back a share. Many owners sensibly have both.

Usually, yes. Most of these policies can be written as life cover, life with critical illness cover, or critical illness cover on its own. A serious illness can be as disruptive to a business as a death, so it’s often worth including.

It’s income protection arranged and paid for by the business on a director or key employee. If the person covered can’t work through illness or injury, the insurer pays a monthly benefit to the business, which passes it on as sick pay through payroll. Cover can typically replace up to 80% of earnings, and can include the employer’s National Insurance and pension contributions, so the person’s pension keeps being paid into while they’re off.

With an executive policy, the business owns it and pays the premiums, which are normally an allowable business expense and don’t usually count as a benefit in kind. A personal policy is paid for from your own taxed income. The trade-off is that the benefit from an executive policy reaches you through payroll, so it’s taxed as income when paid. We’ll help you weigh up which route works out better for you.

Often, yes. Some insurers will take regular dividends into account as well as salary when working out how much executive income protection you can have, which can make a big difference for owner-directors. As whole-of-market brokers, we know which insurers do this and we’ll find the right fit.

We talk it through and use a few simple calculations: the value a key person adds, the size of any borrowing, an agreed valuation of each owner’s share, and the earnings a director would need to replace. The aim is enough cover to do the job, without paying for more than you need.

It’s a short legal agreement that sits alongside shareholder or partnership protection. It gives the surviving owners the option to buy a deceased owner’s share, and the family the option to sell, at a fair pre-agreed value. It keeps things fair and avoids disputes at a difficult time. Your accountant or solicitor would normally draw it up, and we’ll tell you plainly when you need one.

Sometimes. Relevant life and executive income protection premiums are normally an allowable business expense, and key person premiums can be too in certain cases. Other arrangements work differently, and the treatment of any payout varies. Tax depends on your circumstances and the rules can change, so we’ll flag where you should take your accountant’s advice.

Not always, and it’s easy to assume cover is in place when it isn’t. Some lenders require protection and some don’t, and some hold security over a director’s family home, which makes checking even more important. We’ll help you see what your agreement actually says and cover any gap.

Cover should move with the business. If an owner leaves, a new director joins, or borrowing changes, the policies and any agreement need updating to match. We review things periodically so your cover keeps pace, and executive income protection can often be transferred to a new employer if the person covered moves on.

No. We don’t charge a fee for arranging or advising on any protection or insurance. We’re paid a commission by the insurer if you take out a policy, and we don’t let that influence what we recommend.