keyperson.questCompare providers
  1. Home
  2. Death in service
  3. Insurance for employers

Death in service insurance: buying a scheme for your staff

Death in service insurance is the group life policy an employer buys to look after its employees' families: a tax-free cash sum if an employee passes away while on the payroll (Legal & General ↗).

This guide is for the employer: how to set a scheme up, how quotes work, what to compare between providers and what it costs.

Every claim here is our summary of a named external source, linked beside it. Sources change: check the wording at the link before you rely on it.

How to set one up ↓What to compare ↓
01 · The policy

What is death in service insurance?

Employees see the benefit; the employer buys the policy behind it.

Canada Life describes its group life insurance as a tax-free payment to beneficiaries chosen by the trustees if an employee passes away while working for you (Canada Life ↗).

The table sets out what that means for the employer.

Protecting the business itself is key person cover.

Business protection insurance →Key person risk →
Group life claims paid in 202512,730GRiD
Average new group life claim, 2025£143,436GRiD

GRiD's 2025 claims figures for group life assurance (GRiD ↗).

What the sources say

For the employer

The framework
Most group life policies operate within HMRC's framework for a registered occupational pension scheme (GRiD ↗)
Premiums
Can generally be offset against corporation tax (GRiD ↗)
Benefit in kind
Premiums are not regarded as one for employees (GRiD ↗)
Who it pays
The family, not the firm: a policy where the company is the beneficiary is not an excepted group life policy (HMRC ↗)
Swipe to compare
02 · The guides

Which page do you need?

This page is for the employer buying the cover.

If you are an employee asking what your scheme means for you, read the death in service guide.

The two scheme types are compared on the group life insurance page, and the full breakdown of the price on the group life insurance cost page.

03 · Setting up

How to set up death in service insurance

The insurers' own documents show the decisions.

Canada Life sets policies up on a registered or excepted discretionary trust and offers fixed amounts or multiples of salary (Canada Life ↗).

Aviva lets the employer choose the cease age: state pension age or a fixed age up to 75 (Aviva ↗), and different benefit levels for different groups of staff (Aviva ↗).

Registered or excepted decides how large payouts are taxed; the difference is set out in registered vs excepted group life.

We do not recommend one: an FCA-authorised adviser can tell you what suits your workforce.

For one or two directors, relevant life cover is single life cover the employer takes out and pays for (Royal London ↗).

Relevant life insurance →Key person vs relevant life →
01

Eligibility

Check the minimum size

Minimums vary by insurer: five or more employees at Canada Life, two or more online.

02

Structure

Registered or excepted trust

Canada Life sets policies up on either kind of discretionary trust.

03

Cover

Fixed amount or a multiple of salary

Canada Life offers either; groups of staff can have different levels at Aviva.

04

Age

When cover ends

State pension age, or a fixed age up to 75, at Aviva.

05

Quotes

Get quotes through an adviser

Canada Life takes quote requests from advisers.

06

Wishes

Ask staff to nominate

Employees name who they want to receive the money; the trustees decide.

Canada Life (Canada Life ↗) and Aviva (Aviva ↗) (Aviva ↗), each describing its own product; nominations (Royal London ↗).

04 · Quotes

Getting a death in service insurance quote

Group life is usually quoted through an adviser: Canada Life says you can get a quote from an adviser (Canada Life ↗), and Aviva's group life site is for UK advisers only (Aviva ↗).

Brokers quote too, from the data in the card (Drewberry (broker) ↗).

  • How many employees, and which of them are covered
  • Each employee's age, salary and job role
  • Your industry
  • The cover: a multiple of salary or a fixed amount
  • When cover stops: state pension age or a fixed age

What to have ready: the price factors Drewberry lists (Drewberry (broker) ↗) and the choices Canada Life and Aviva offer (Canada Life ↗) (Aviva ↗). We are an information site: we do not give quotes or arrange cover.

05 · Comparing

Best death in service insurance for employers: what to compare

There is no single best death in service insurance.

What suits a 10-person firm may not suit a 100-person one, and a recommendation of a particular policy for your business is regulated advice, while generic information about insurance is not (FCA ↗).

So we show what to compare, with each point in the insurer's own words, and leave the choice to you and your adviser.

What to compare

With a published example

Why it matters

Scheme size
Whether your headcount qualifies: Canada Life five or more, two or more online (Canada Life ↗); Aviva's platform 3 to 250 lives (Aviva ↗)
Scheme type
Registered or excepted discretionary trust, which changes the tax on large payouts (Canada Life ↗) (Legal & General ↗)
Cover basis
Fixed amounts or multiples of salary (Canada Life ↗); different levels for different groups (Aviva ↗)
Cease age
State pension age or a fixed age up to 75 (Aviva ↗)
Free cover limit
How many employees are covered without medical information (Aviva ↗)
Claims
What the insurer publishes: Aviva an average of 2.79 days to pay in 2025 (Aviva ↗); Canada Life a decision within five working days (Canada Life ↗)
Swipe to compare

Examples, not a ranking. Each insurer describes its own product; terms change, so check each at its link.

06 · Insurers

Death in service insurance providers

Several UK insurers publish group life products.

Below, in alphabetical order, is what each insurer's own page says about quotes and claims.

It is not a ranking or a recommendation: we are an information site, not a broker.

Minimum scheme sizes by insurer are in group life insurance minimum employees.

Aviva →Canada Life →Legal & General →Royal London →Zurich →
  • Aviva logoAvivaQuotes for 3 to 250 lives through its adviser platform, and an average of 2.79 days to pay a group life claim in 2025 (Aviva ↗).
  • Canada Life logoCanada LifeGroup life for five or more employees, or two lives or more online, quoted through an adviser (Canada Life ↗); it aims to give a claim decision within five working days (Canada Life ↗).
  • Legal & General logoLegal & GeneralPaid £284m on group life assurance claims in 2025, an average of £201,032 (Legal & General ↗).
  • Zurich logoZurichA call or an email notifies a group life claim, it usually does not need the death certificate, and it aims to process claims activity often within 48 hours (Zurich ↗).

The pills above link to our key person insurance guides for each insurer.

07 · Cost

What death in service insurance costs the employer

We found no group life rates published by an insurer, so the bars show a broker's two examples (Drewberry (broker) ↗); what drives the price is on the group life insurance cost page.

Software company, London 10 staff, 4 × salary£31.97 a month
Health services, Barnsley 100 staff, 2 × salary£10.03 a month
Cost per employee a month. Tier 2: Drewberry's examples from the cheapest quotes for two recent clients, accurate as of November 2025, for illustration only; not an insurer's rates or ours (Drewberry (broker) ↗).
08 · Sources

Check it for yourself

Every claim on this page is our summary of one of the documents listed here.

We last checked them against the live sources on 28 September 2026.

The documents are the authority, not this page.

Insurers and HMRC update them, so validate any figure or condition at its link before you rely on it.

Questions

Death in service insurance, answered

It depends on the workforce, and we publish no price of our own.

Drewberry, a broker, publishes two examples from November 2025: a 10-employee London software company at four times salary, £31.97 per employee per month, and a 100-employee Barnsley health services company at two times salary, £10.03 per employee per month.

It says they are for illustration only.

Our group life insurance cost page explains what drives the price. Drewberry (broker) ↗

Generally, yes.

GRiD says premiums an employer pays to cover employees can generally be offset against corporation tax and are not regarded as a benefit in kind.

Aviva says its group life premiums are usually treated as an allowable business expense.

Check your own position with your accountant. GRiD ↗

It varies by insurer.

Canada Life offers group life for five or more employees, or two lives or more for online policies.

Aviva’s adviser platform quotes for 3 to 250 lives.

Drewberry, a broker, says a company needs at least three employees to be eligible for a scheme.

For a single director or employee, relevant life cover is single life cover the employer takes out and pays for. Canada Life ↗

Usually through an adviser.

Canada Life says you can get a quote from an adviser, who then contacts it for you.

Aviva’s group life quote platform is for UK advisers and covers 3 to 250 lives; larger schemes go to its group protection team.

Drewberry lists employees’ ages, salaries and job roles, the industry and the number of staff as what sets the price. Canada Life ↗

We do not rank insurers: advice on a particular policy for your firm is regulated advice, and generic information is not.

What suits one employer depends on its headcount, the cover it wants, the age cover should stop and how it wants claims handled.

Compare the points each insurer publishes, such as scheme size, free cover limit, cease age and claims, and ask an FCA-authorised adviser. FCA PERG 5.8 ↗

That is a decision for you and a regulated adviser; we do not recommend one.

The difference: a registered scheme’s lump sum counts towards the member’s lump sum and death benefit allowance, while an excepted policy’s does not, but an excepted policy sits in a discretionary trust where periodic and exit charges may apply, each no more than 6% (Legal & General). Legal & General guide ↗

Beta · information only

Run the numbers for your own salary.

The death in service calculator multiplies your salary by your scheme’s multiple and shows when the lump sum could be taxed, with the source for every rule.

01Your salary, your scheme’s multiple

02Registered and excepted tax rules, with sources

03No email, no quote, no sales call

Information, not advice

We are not an insurer, broker or regulated adviser, and we do not give quotes or recommend a policy. For regulated advice, use an adviser authorised by the FCA.

Open the calculator →

Takes you to the death in service calculator.

Not financial advice. This page is general information. Before buying insurance, the FCA tells consumers to check the firm on its Firm Checker (FCA ↗). For free guidance, see MoneyHelper.