Why Zurich Business Protection?

Ensuring the survival of the business when things go wrong.

A business is built by its people, so the unexpected loss of a key person or owner through critical illness or death is likely to have a significant impact on its ability to continue trading profitably and may even lead to its closure.

Zurich Business Protection provides comprehensive cover for key people and owners. If the worst happens, funds are provided to help the business continue trading, repay debt or provide a payment to a seriously ill owner for their share of the business, or their family if they die.

Find out more with our Business Protection guide (805.0 KB/PDF)

Key person cover

Shareholder protection

Partnership protection

Key person cover

Key person protection covers a business against loss of profit, replacement costs and its liabilities if a key person were to die or be diagnosed with a critical illness.

Shareholder protection

Shareholder protection covers owners of limited companies and enables a payment to be made for the value of their shares, either to the shareholder themselves if they become critically ill, or to their family if they die. The sum assured is set at the start of the policy and should be reviewed if the value of shares changes.

There are various ways this can be arranged, depending on the size and structure of the company.

Shares purchased by co-shareholders

For small firms with two or more owners, the shareholders may wish to have the option to purchase the shares of a co-owner. This ensures the remaining owner(s) can retain control of the company. For further information see our:

Guide to business succession for companies (439.8 KB/PDF)

Company Share Purchase

An alternative is for the Limited Company to purchase its shares back from a critically ill shareholder, or their family if they are deceased. This is initially straightforward to set up but may be complex when the share purchase is to take place. For further information see our:

Guide to Corporate Share Purchase (386.6 KB/PDF)

Partnership protection

Partnership protection can be used by owners of Limited Liability Partnerships (LLP’s) and conventional partnerships.

If any of them become critically ill, a payment can be made to them or their family for the value of their interest in the business, which is set at the start of the policy and can be reviewed if the value of their interest changes during the policy’s lifetime. If they die, then the payment is made to the personal representatives of their estate.

Where an automatic accrual arrangement is in place, the other members or partners will automatically acquire the deceased owner’s share of the business. This means that no payment will be made to their estate, so a personal life and critical illness policy can be arranged to compensate their family.

For further information see our:

Guide to business succession for partnerships (429.1 KB/PDF)

Business Protection - key product details

Our Business Protection product provides a choice of three types of cover depending on your customer’s needs.

Life Cover and Critical Illness

Critical Illness

Life Cover

Life Cover and Critical Illness

Provides cover for a key person, shareholder or partner should they die or be diagnosed with a critical or terminal illness during the term of the policy.

Eligibility

Minimum age at entry – age 18 attained
Maximum age at entry – age 69 attained
Maximum age at end of term – age 74 attained
Minimum term – 5 years
Maximum term – 40 years
Minimum premium - £5 a month or £50 a year
Life assured must be registered with a UK doctor for at least 6 months prior to application
Life assured and policyholder must be a UK resident
If the policyholder is a business, the business must be registered or incorporated in the UK

Included as standard

Free life cover during underwriting for up to £2,000,000 (eligibility criteria applies)
Free critical illness cover during underwriting for up to £350,000 (eligibility criteria applies)
Terminal illness
Milestone benefit

Additional benefits

Critical Illness Select
Children’s Benefit
Total Permanent Disability
Waiver of Premium
Renewal Option

Critical Illness

Provides cover for a key person, shareholder or partner should they be diagnosed with a critical or terminal illness during the term of the policy.

Eligibility

Minimum age at entry – age 18 attained
Maximum age at entry – age 69 attained
Maximum age at end of term – age 74 attained
Minimum term – 5 years
Maximum term – 40 years
Minimum premium - £5 a month or £50 a year
Life assured must be registered with a UK doctor for at least 6 months prior to application
Life assured and policyholder must be a UK resident
If the policyholder is a business, the business must be registered or incorporated in the UK

Included as standard

Free critical illness cover during underwriting for up to £350,000 (eligibility criteria applies)
Terminal illness
Milestone benefit

Additional benefits

(added at extra cost)

Critical Illness Select
Children’s Benefit
Total Permanent Disability
Waiver of Premium
Renewal Option

Life Cover

Provides life cover for a key person, shareholder or partner should they die or be diagnosed with a terminal illness during the term of the policy.

Eligibility

Minimum age at entry – age 18 attained
Maximum age at entry – age 83 attained
Maximum age at end of term – age 89 attained
Minimum term – 1 year
Maximum term – 50 years
Minimum premium - £5 a month or £50 a year
Life assured must be registered with a UK doctor for at least 6 months prior to application
Life assured and policyholder must be a UK resident
If the policyholder is a business, the business must be registered or incorporated in the UK

Included as standard

Free life cover during underwriting for up to £2,000,000 (eligibility criteria applies)
Terminal illness
Milestone benefit

Additional benefits

(added at extra cost)

Waiver of Premium
Conversion Option
Renewal Option

Trusts

For our Business Protection product, we offer a Flexible Business Trust or Partnership Keyperson Trust which can be fully completed online on our Life Protection Platform, without the need for signatures. If you have all the relevant information from your customer to hand, you can complete the application in one go. These trusts must be added before the policy starts.

Business Protection – detailed product features

Life Cover

Free life cover during underwriting
For up to £2,000,000 (eligibility criteria applies).

Zurich Business Protection free cover (930.3 KB/PDF)

Terminal illness

A claim for terminal illness will be paid where there is a definite diagnosis that the illness either has no known cure or has progressed to the point where it cannot be cured, and the illness is expected to lead to death within 12 months.

Milestone benefit

Enables your customer to increase their sum assured when significant events occur without the employee having to answer any health questions.

Life Cover and Critical Illness

Free life cover during underwriting

For up to £2,000,000 (eligibility criteria applies).

Zurich Business Protection free cover (930.3 KB/PDF)

Free critical illness cover during underwriting

For up to £350,000 (eligibility criteria applies).

Zurich Business Protection free cover (930.3 KB/PDF)

Terminal illness

39 full payment conditions

Including cancer, heart attack, stroke and multiple sclerosis.

2 additional payment conditions covered

We’ll pay the lower of £25,000 or 25% of the current sum assured if they’re diagnosed with less advanced cancer of the breast or prostate. This won’t impact their ability to claim on their main benefit.

7 advanced payments

If your customer is put on an NHS waiting list for 1 of 7 major operations to treat one of these conditions, we'll pay the cover amount straight away.

Milestone benefit

Enables your customer to increase their sum assured when significant events occur without the employee having to answer any health questions.

Critical Illness

Free critical illness cover during underwriting

For up to £350,000 (eligibility criteria applies).

Zurich Business Protection free cover (930.3 KB/PDF)

Terminal illness

39 full payment conditions

Including cancer, heart attack, stroke and multiple sclerosis.

2 additional payment conditions covered

7 advanced payments

If your customer is put on an NHS waiting list for 1 of 7 major operations to treat one of these conditions, we'll pay the cover amount straight away.

Milestone benefit

Enables your customer to increase their sum assured when significant events occur without the employee having to answer any health questions.

Additional benefits that can be added to the policy at an extra cost.

Children’s Benefit

Children’s Benefit can be added to policies that include critical illness and covers natural, step or adopted children, any children under their legal guardianship and/or any future children of the life assured or their partner for the following:

Covered from birth to their 22nd birthday
Covered for 39 conditions which pay the lower of £25,000 of 50% of the current sum assured and a further 2 which pay the lower of £25,000 or 25% of the current sum assured
£5,000 children’s death benefit (from 30 days to 22nd birthday)
Each child can take out a policy of their own up to £25,000 of cover after their 18th birthday free of underwriting

Critical Illness Select

A total of 49 full payment conditions and 32 additional payment conditions paying the lower of £25,000 or 25% of the current sum assured
10 advanced payment conditions that pay out on being placed on an NHS waiting list
If the employee is diagnosed with 1 of the 10 life-changing conditions included in the cover before their 50th birthday, we'll pay up to £100,000 on top of your customer’s cover amount
If the employee is diagnosed with 1 of 5 specified complications of pregnancy conditions before the age of 45, we'll pay £5,000

If your customer chooses Critical Illness Select and adds cover for the life assured’s children, they will get:

Covered from birth to their 22nd birthday
Covered for 49 conditions which pay the lower of £25,000 or 50% of the current sum assured and a further 32 which pay the lower of £25,000 or 25% of the current sum assured
£5,000 enhanced children’s death benefit (from 24th week of pregnancy to 22nd birthday)
Double child cancer payment of up to £50,000 (excluding less advanced cases)
Double child treatment overseas payments of up to £50,000
Each child can take out a policy of their own up to £25,000 of cover after their 18th birthday free of underwriting

Total Permanent Disability

We'll pay the sum assured if the life assured can't do their current job ever again or cannot perform 3 of 6 listed work tasks because of illness or injury
This benefit can only be added when the policy starts and for joint policies, this benefit can be added for either or both lives assured
The life assured must be age 65 or less when the policy starts and the benefit will expire the day before their 71st birthday

Waiver of Premium

We'll pay the premiums on the policy if the employee is too ill or injured to work for more than 6 months and they can't perform their current job
This benefit can only be added when the policy starts and for joint policies, this benefit can be added for either or both lives assured
The life assured must be age 54 or less when the policy starts and the benefit will expire the day before their 70th birthday

Conversion Option

Your customer can convert their policy to a Zurich Business Whole of Life policy without the employee answering any questions about their personal circumstances. Only available on Life Cover only policies which have level or increasing cover
This option can only be selected when the policy starts

Renewal Option

Your customer can take out a new policy for up to the same term as the original policy when their cover ends without the lives assured answering any questions about their personal circumstances. Only available on policies which have level or increasing cover
This option can only be selected when the policy starts

Milestone benefit

When significant events happen, the milestone benefit can be used to increase the sum assured without the employee answering any questions about their health.