Why Zurich Relevant Life?

Zurich Relevant Life offers a tax efficient way for an employer, usually a small business, to provide life cover for an employee. It is designed to help protect their family against the impact of their death or diagnosis of a terminal illness whilst they're employed.

Relevant life cover may be suitable if:

The employer has a small business without enough employees to set up a group life scheme
The employer wants to provide death-in-service benefits to their employees that exceed those payable under the main company scheme

We’ve built our Relevant Life product in a way that lets the employer choose the cover their employee needs and change it when their employees’ life changes.

Relevant Life - key product features

The policy can only be taken out by the employer, who can be:

A sole trader with employees
A partnership
A limited liability partnership
A limited company
A charity

Eligibility

Minimum age at entry – age 18 attained
Maximum age at entry – age 73 attained
Maximum age at end of term – age 74 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
The life assured can be an employee including company directors (including shareholding directors) and company officers

Included as standard

Free life cover during underwriting for up to £2,000,000 (eligibility criteria applies)
Terminal illness
Milestone benefit
Our Relevant Life policies are portable. If the employee leaves their current employer, they’re able to continue the policy with a new employer or in their own name

Key information

No assessment of premiums on the employee as benefit in kind or otherwise
Premiums paid by the employer are usually viewed as an allowable business expense by HMRC
Premiums and any benefit paid are eligible for relief from:
- income tax
- corporation tax
- National Insurance contributions
In most cases benefits are paid free of inheritance tax

Maximum cover limits

The maximum sum assured will be limited to the life assured’s total remuneration.

Age	Total remuneration
Age 18-39	30 x total remuneration
Age 40-49	20 x total remuneration
Age 50 onwards	15 x total remuneration

Remuneration can include salary, bonuses, benefits in kind and dividends earned.

Trusts

The policy can only be issued into a Zurich Relevant Life Policy 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.

The employee’s family or dependants can be beneficiaries.

Relevant Life - detailed product features

Free life cover during underwriting

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

Underwriting free cover (308.5 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.

Continue Relevant Life policy with a new employer

The policy can remain in the Relevant Life Policy Trust when the employee starts a new job, providing the new employer agrees to take over responsibility for the policy, trust and payment of the premiums. Terminal illness will continue to be provided but there must be no break in premiums between the old and new employer.

If the employee leaves the business and doesn’t move to a new employer, they can take over the policy and pay the premiums themselves. Terminal illness will not continue to be provided and there will also be tax implications. For more information, see the:

Relevant Life Policy: technical guide for employers and employees (124.9 KB/PDF)

Milestone benefit

We know a lot can happen between the day your customer takes out their policy and the day they need to make a claim. When these significant events occur, your customer can use the milestone benefit feature of their policy to increase their sum assured. They won't have to answer any health questions, but their premiums will change.