Group Protection for SMEs

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As a smaller business you are no doubt aware of the impact staff absence can have on your bottom line.

There’s the cost of covering the salary of sick or absent workers, finding and paying for temporary cover if absence is long term, reduced productivity and the added pressure it can put on your employees, their families and sometimes their colleagues.

This is where Aviva Group Protection could help, with solutions designed to financially protect your workforce in the event of long-term illness, injury or death.

And our Group Protection solutions provide much more than purely financial benefits.

Whether your business is starting up, scaling up, or already well established, recruiting and retaining the right people can be challenging. Offering Group Protection cover is one way your business can offer an enhanced employee benefits package and show you care and value your employees.

Depending on the protection products you take out, a variety of wellbeing services are available to help employees manage their mental, physical, and emotional health. These include access to counselling for stress or bereavement, an annual health check and discounts for health and fitness clubs.

These services can offer valuable support for your employees, and in some cases their families, when they really need it. Some services are available to employees whether they are insured on the policy or not, such as the Wellbeing Library, the Aviva Line Manager Toolkit: Mental Health and our quarterly mental health webinars, exclusively for schemes with 3-250 lives.

And, for members of a Group Income Protection policy, early intervention and rehabilitation support aims to help insured employees return to work quicker if they suffer from a long-term illness or injury.

And if you haven’t yet grown to three employees, Aviva’s Individual Protection solutions can help.

It takes Aviva Group Protection to take care of your employees and your business.

For more information visit aviva.co.uk or contact your Financial Adviser.

Group Protection solutions explained

Group Protection products provide financial support to your employees in difficult times.

Aviva’s Group Protection is designed to help businesses of all shapes and sizes, from the very large to the very small. Our comprehensive range of cover includes financial support, alongside a range of wellbeing services designed to support your employees practically, emotionally and physically when times are tough.

For a simple breakdown of our Group Protection products and wellbeing services, download our Simple Guide to Group Protection (PDF 14MB).

Why might you need Group Protection?

Our protection goes beyond offering employees financial peace of mind. You’ll find that providing your workforce with a great range of benefits – which go above and beyond a salary – can make you more competitive when it comes to recruiting and retaining staff.

The biggest companies can usually draw on the necessary resources to cope when employees need to take time off from work. But absences can really hurt smaller businesses. If you’re in this position, worrying about absence can cause sleepless nights. We’ve also seen a rise in the need for wellbeing support in the workplace which smaller businesses are less likely to have resources available to fulfil. In fact, our research found 39% of SME employees value workplace wellbeing support.^{[1]Footnote 1}

Group Protection benefits for SMEs

Improve workplace wellbeing
Our added value benefits aim to improve the overall wellbeing of your staff, creating a happier, healthier workforce.
Payment options to suit your business
You can choose to pay your premium annually, quarterly or monthly at no extra cost.
Greater choice and flexible cover
Cover your employees if they become ill, suffer an injury, or die with our range of protection options – Group Life cover, Group Income Protection and Group Critical Illness.
Wellbeing services included
Each cover includes a range of wellbeing services to help support your employees emotionally and physically when they need it most.

Attract and retain staff
Stand out from the competition and offer a truly valuable benefits package that shows you care.
Limited underwriting
In most cases, we’ll only need to medically underwrite policy members once, letting you get back to business, while we take care of the rest of the process.
Work with teams that understand your needs
Our expert staff understand the needs of SMEs so you can be sure you, your employees, and your financial adviser are in safe hands.
Hassle-free Master Trust arrangements
We take care of this on your behalf at no additional cost, providing a simple and affordable solution for smaller employers who wish to save time and cost when setting up a scheme.

Aviva Community Fund
We’re committed to supporting organisations doing great work to build stronger, more resilient communities across the UK. We’ve provided thousands of causes with funding, skills, and resources.

The products we offer

Group Life

Financial support to those left behind if an employee dies in service, alongside bereavement support. Group Life cover looks after the employee's life as well, offering access to a range of everyday health and wellbeing services and legal support. Plus, the option to cover your whole workforce with our Master Trust arrangement.

Explore Group Life cover

Group Income Protection

Pays your employees a regular monthly income if they’re absent from work due to an illness or injury, and their salary decreases. The early intervention and wide range of workplace wellbeing solutions available aims to help you reduce long term sickness absence, so your employees can recover and return to work.

Explore Group Income Protection

Group Critical Illness

Financial support for your employees when they need it most. They’ll receive a tax-free lump sum if they’re diagnosed with a critical illness or undergo an operation that’s defined in the policy. We also automatically cover your employees’ children.

Explore Group Critical Illness

Our Wellbeing Services

Wellbeing service	Group Life	Group Income Protection	Critical Illness Cover
Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace app including: - Digital GP - Annual health check - Nutritional consultations - Mental health consultations - Second medical opinion
Employee Assistance Programme (EAP)
Stress helpline
Bereavement helpline
Thrive Mental Wellbeing
Get Active discounts and savings
Wellbeing Training
Early intervention and rehabilitation
RedArc Personal Nurse
Wellbeing webinars exclusively for clients with 3-250 lives
Wellbeing Library
Aviva Line Manager Toolkit: Mental Health
Employee mental health guidance
Red Apple Law legal services
Grief Encounter

The main reason for taking out Group Protection is financial protection. Employers should not take out cover for wellbeing services alone. All of these wellbeing services are non-contractual benefits and Aviva can change or withdraw them at any time. This does not apply to Grief Encounter, which is a charity anyone can access. Terms may apply to wellbeing services. For Red Apple Law services residency restrictions apply, for full details please visit https://www.aviva.co.uk/business/health-protection-wellbeing/group-protection/gp-wellbeing-services/gl-wellbeing-services/ For all other services, residency restrictions may apply.

Frequently asked questions

Why might Group Protection be helpful for my business?

Providing an employee benefits package that stands out from the crowd competitors could be what you need to improve recruitment and retention and support your business to grow.

You also get access to a wellbeing offering focused on helping your employees become happier and healthier. In turn, that could lead to business benefits such as increased employee engagement, better staff retention levels, improved productivity, and reduced absenteeism. All of these benefits could help contribute to improvements in the bottom line. So, taking up our added value wellbeing services could be a sound business decision.

What services are available to my employees every day?

While our Group Protection products are designed to provide financial support, the wellbeing services, which complement our products, can help them in their everyday life to help them live a happier, healthier and fitter lifestyle.

Available with all Aviva Group Protection products, and accessible to insured and uninsured employees, the Wellbeing Library is full of helpful guidance on all kinds of things, such as family and relationships, to money and work. The Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace app can help insured employees detect, manage and prevent physical and mental health problems. The Aviva Line Manager Toolkit: Mental Health is designed specifically for line managers to help them spot a problem before it becomes a bigger issue, and our employee mental health guidance videos are designed to help your employees better understand and manage their mental health.

Our quarterly wellbeing webinars are available to all employees to help them improve their mental wellbeing, whether they are insured with us or not.

More services are also available. Take a look at our wellbeing services.

How do my employees access their benefits?

With Group Life policies, the beneficiary can make a claim online or you, the employer can make a claim on behalf of the beneficiary. For Group Critical Illness policies, you or the employee can make a claim via our online claims forms. We'll then get in touch with the next steps. For Group Income Protection, claims can also be made online but this is only completed by the employer. When you join with us, you’ll gain access to our employer hub, which provides full details on all the wellbeing benefits.

There’s also a host of materials to help you spread the word to your employees about their benefits, and how they access them. From FAQs, posters, flyers and even ready to send emails.

Your employees have access to hubs which contain information on the cover and wellbeing services available to them.

How much does it cost?

My company provides Private Medical Insurance, how does Group Protection differ?

How do I purchase a Group Protection product?

Useful documents

Group LIfe employer brochure PDF (3.4 MB)

Group Income Protection employer brochure PDF (4.7 MB)

Group Critical Illness employer brochure PDF (1.8 MB)

How to apply

If you would like to take out an Aviva Group Protection product for between 3-250 lives, please speak to your financial adviser.

If you don't have a financial adviser, you can find one at www.unbiased.co.uk

An adviser may charge for their services.

Please note, we are currently unable to offer direct quotes for Group Protection products but if you have any other questions, we'll be happy to help.

Email us: GroupProtectionSalesSupport@aviva.com