Mortgage advice that doesn't cost the earth

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

Business protection makes sure that if illness or death took an owner or a key employee out of the business, the company could keep trading, debts wouldn’t land on a family, and ownership would stay where it belongs.

  • Key person cover pays a lump sum to replace lost profits and fund a successor if illness or death takes a vital person out of the business.
  • Shareholder and partnership cover gives you the funds to buy back a co-owner’s share at a fair value, so their family is looked after and you keep ownership.
  • Repay business loans, provide tax-efficient life cover for directors, and fund sick pay if illness stops a key person working.

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What would happen If a key member of staff became seriously ill or passed away?

How would you keep going as a business? If a director died and their family wanted to sell their share, could you afford to buy them out? Would you have any say in who they sold it to?

Business protection covers these scenarios and more, so the rest of the team are safe if the worst were to happen. It’s a set of insurance policies that pay out to the business, or to its other owners, if one of the people it relies on dies or falls seriously ill. The money buys time and breathing space: to repay a loan, to replace a key person, to fund sick pay, or to buy back an owner’s share.

These policies use the same building blocks as the personal protection you may be familiar with – life cover, critical illness cover and income protection – they are simply written for a business purpose. And as with all our protection advice, we don’t charge you a fee to arrange it

A full range of options

Most business protection does one of five jobs. We’ll help you determine which matter for you and your business.

Key person protection
Shareholder and partnership protection
Business loan protection
Relevant life cover
Executive income protection

Pays a lump sum to the business if someone it couldn’t function without, such as an owner, director, lead salesperson or technical specialist, dies or becomes seriously ill. The money replaces lost profits, funds recruitment and steadies nerves among lenders, customers and staff. The business owns the policy and pays the premiums.

If a co-owner dies, their share of the business usually passes to their family. This cover gives the surviving owners the funds to buy that share at a fair, pre-agreed value, so the family receives what the share is worth and you keep control of the company. It usually sits alongside a cross-option agreement (see FAQs).

Clears outstanding business borrowing, whether a loan, an overdraft, a commercial mortgage or a director’s loan, if an owner or guarantor dies or becomes seriously ill. The family isn’t pursued for the debt, and the business isn’t forced to find the cash at the worst possible moment.

A tax-efficient way for a company to provide life cover for an individual director or employee, outside a group scheme. Premiums are normally an allowable business expense and don’t usually count as a benefit in kind. Because the policy is written in trust, the payout normally reaches the family free of inheritance tax.

If a director or key employee couldn’t work because of illness or injury, this 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. Some insurers will count regular dividends too, which makes it especially useful for directors who pay themselves a small salary topped up with dividends. Premiums are normally an allowable business expense, so it’s often more tax-efficient than paying for income protection personally.

Everything you get with WR Ethical

Whole market search

Whole market search

We compare cover across the whole market rather than a small panel, and we recommend what fits your business, not what pays us most.

Free protection advice

Free protection advice

We don’t charge a fee for arranging or advising on any protection or insurance, including business protection. We’re paid a commission by the insurer if you take out a policy.

We do the working out

We do the working out

We help you size the cover sensibly, whether that’s valuing a key person, matching cover to a loan, or agreeing what each owner’s share is worth.

Clear explanations throughout

Clear explanations throughout

Jargon is the enemy of good decisions. We explain everything in plain language, and we’ll tell you plainly when you also need your accountant or solicitor.

Regulated and ethical

Regulated and ethical

FCA-regulated advice from a B Corp certified team. We give to charity with every piece of business we do and run the firm as sustainably as we can.

Someone in your corner

Someone in your corner

We stay in touch for the life of the cover, help you keep it right as the business changes, and point you in the right direction if a claim ever has to be made.

Your business protection journey with us

  1. Get to know each other

    Book a free initial call. Tell us about the business, who’s involved and any borrowing.

  2. Explore what’s possible

    We’ll explain which cover matters for your business, in plain language, so you leave with a clear picture.

  3. Honest recommendations

    Based on the whole market, we’ll recommend the cover and amounts we think are right, with a clear explanation of why.

  4. We handle the paperwork

    We manage the applications, set up any trusts the right way, and liaise with your accountant or solicitor where needed.

  5. You’re sorted, and we’re still here

    As the business changes, we’ll help you keep the right protection in place. And if a claim ever has to be made, we’ll help where we can.

Not sure what your business needs?

You don’t need to have it all worked out before you get in touch. Tell us a little about the business, who’s involved and any borrowing, and we’ll tell you what, if anything, is worth putting in place. The conversation is free and there’s no pressure to proceed.

Book your free consultation

What customers say about us

It’s always better to hear it from someone other than us. We invite feedback from everyone we advise, so you can read genuine, unfiltered reviews of all our advisers.

 
 
 
  
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 D C profile picture 
 
 
 D C 
 
2 days ago
 
 
 Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. 
Darryl gave us great advice when selecting our mortgage product. We also took out life and buildings insurance with them too based on our initial experience. Would recommend for honest and independent advice.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Clemence C. profile picture 
 
 
 Clemence C. 
 
5 days ago
 
 
 Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. 
We had an excellent experience with WR Ethical (Matt Scarisbrick specifically) and would highly recommend them.

They helped us with our remortgage, which involved repaying our Help to Buy loan, and took the time to properly understand our circumstances rather than simply finding us a mortgage. In particular, they helped us understand the property valuation we would need to achieve an acceptable loan-to-value ratio and guided us clearly through the different options.

They gave us a number of lenders to choose from and, importantly, helped us understand the differences between them beyond just the interest rate. They highlighted how ethical each lender was, how easy they were to deal with and how accommodating they were likely to be. This gave us a much better basis for deciding which lender was right for us and meant we could make an informed choice based on the things that mattered to us.

We also really appreciated their wider approach to protecting us financially. They quite rightly raised the question of whether we had adequate insurance in place should either of us become unable to work or pass away. It was reassuring that their focus wasn't just on completing the mortgage, but also on making sure we could continue to afford and keep our home if the worst were to happen.

They also made some excellent solicitor recommendations at different price points, giving us the information and choice to decide what worked best for us rather than pushing us towards one particular option.

Throughout the process, we felt well advised, looked after and confident that the recommendations being made were genuinely in our best interests. Knowledgeable, thorough and conscientious — we'd happily recommend WR Ethical Mortgage Brokers to anyone looking for mortgage advice.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Marek Wolan (Kat) profile picture 
 
 
 Marek Wolan (Kat) 
 
6 days ago
 
 
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I'm happy with advice given, always quick, helpful, and friendly.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Craig McDonald profile picture 
 
 
 Craig McDonald 
 
12 days ago
 
 
 Google star 1Google star 2Google star 3Google star 4Google star 5Trustindex verifies that the original source of the review is Google. 
We can’t thank Darryl enough for all of the help and guidance he’s given us over the last couple of months. From the very beginning he has been incredibly helpful and always available whenever we’ve had a question or weren’t sure about something.

Having someone we could contact so easily made our first time buying so much easier and really helped put our minds at rest.

Many of our friends and family have told us of bad experiences during their own house buying processes having to constantly chase people up, but there wasn’t a single time we had to chase Darryl for a response or update.

We’re extremely grateful for all of Darryl’s help and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to anyone!

Thanks Darryl!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 James Smith profile picture 
 
 
 James Smith 
 
17 days ago
 
 
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Mark @ WR Ethical was an immense help with my family life insurance. He helped navigate some challenging family history considerations, to secure a policy that was an ideal fit. Couldn’t recommend more highly!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 William Keogh profile picture 
 
 
 William Keogh 
 
18 days ago
 
 
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Connor at WR Ethical was pleasant to deal with and efficient. He found us a substantially larger interest only mortgage than I could get from any of the usual online mortgage shopping sites and at a competitive interest rate. I tried 2 other brokers as well and their offers were not as good as what Connor found.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Clare Andrews profile picture 
 
 
 Clare Andrews 
 
26 days ago
 
 
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I chose WR Ethical for their ethical and environmental stance, and have benefited from their mortgage advice twice now. On both occassions my interactions with mortgage advisor Paul have been friendly and he has taken time to understand my values and needs, and given detailed and clear information. Recommended service.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Owen o neill profile picture 
 
 
 Owen o neill 
 
27 days ago
 
 
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I found Paul to be super helpful in my mortgage process (1st time buyer). He was knowledgeable, straightforward, patient and realistic in what I needed and what I could get. It was a tricky nerve-racking 12 months beset with issues and the mortgage was approved with one day to go before the offer expired. Paul got an extension on the offer which saved the day and was professional and kind throughout the process. I wholly recommend Paul and WR Ethical. Many thanks.
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Dave Tunstall 
 
28 days ago
 
 
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We had our first meeting with Mark to discuss life insurance, and he was fantastic, friendly, helpful, and highly professional throughout. He also flagged some important considerations we hadn’t thought about, which really added value to the conversation. Highly recommend!
  
 
 
 
 
 
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 Amy Hurst profile picture 
 
 
 Amy Hurst 
 
39 days ago
 
 
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Mark was super helpful in identifying the right protection for my circumstances. He was quick to respond to questions, kept me informed throughout and made the whole process incredibly easy. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to others.

Questions about business protection?

Still have questions?

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Get answers

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.

Still have questions?

Contact us and our team will help you get the answers you need

Get answers
We do not charge a fee for insurance or protection advice, but we may receive a commission if you take out cover arranged through us

Protect the business you’ve built

Talk to one of our team about the business, the people involved and any borrowing. We’ll explain what’s worth considering and roughly what it would cost. It’s free, straightforward, and all in plain English.

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