EXCEPTED GROUP LIFE POLICY TERMS AND CONDITIONS.

Transcription

1 GROUP PROTECTION EXCEPTED GROUP LIFE POLICY TERMS AND CONDITIONS. ABOUT THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS. This document and our quote describe the Excepted Group Life Policy terms and conditions for employers who already insure their registered scheme life assurance benefits with us. This document aims to describe the differences between the policy for the registered scheme and those for the new Excepted Group Life Policy. All other terms and conditions will be the same as the policy for the registered scheme. If you want to insure 50 or more employees under an Excepted Group Life Policy, but don t insure registered scheme group life assurance benefits with us, we can still quote for this cover. See our Group Life Assurance and Dependants pension technical guide for details. You can use the Excepted Group Life Policy to cover all the life assurance benefits of employees who aren t in the registered scheme. You can also use the Excepted Group Life Policy to top up the benefits of employees whose registered scheme benefits are restricted by a benefit cap. Our Excepted Group Life Policy meets the excepted group life policy conditions. You ll find explanations of any technical terms we use in the glossary at the back of this document. Where terms covered in the glossary appear in the main text, we ve highlighted them in bold, like this. If you d like to know more about our group life policy and the options available, please see our Group Life Assurance and Dependants pension technical guide. WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW. The policy for the registered scheme is the Group Death in Service Benefit policy, issued by us to the trustees of the employer s scheme that s registered under the Finance Act 2004 (the registered scheme). Information given within this document relating to tax treatment of benefits and premiums is based on our understanding of current law and HM Revenue & Customs practice, which may change. These terms and conditions only apply where we also insure the employer s registered scheme. We can set up our Excepted Group Life Policy for one employee. A policy covering one person and meeting the excepted group life policy conditions is often known as a relevant life policy. To protect you and us from financial crime, we may need to confirm your identity. We may do this by using reference agencies to search sources of information about you (an identity search). This will not affect your credit rating. If this fails, we may ask you for documents to confirm your identity. The Financial Conduct Authority is an independent financial regulator. It requires us to give you important information to help you decide whether our Excepted Group Life Policy is right for you. You should read this document carefully, together with the terms and conditions of the registered scheme, so that you understand what you re buying, and then keep it safe for future reference. If you have any doubts over the suitability of the contract please contact a financial adviser. The full terms that apply will be in your policy document. We ll issue this after we have agreed to provide cover and all the policy details have been finalised. If you d like to see a copy of the standard policy please ask.

2 GROUP PROTECTION 2 Excepted group life policy conditions Our Excepted Group Life Policy is available if you d like to provide benefits under a non-registered scheme. There are a number of conditions a policy must meet to qualify as an excepted group life policy: All members must have the same benefit formula. You can only insure a lump sum. You can only pay benefit to an individual or charity. You cannot pay benefit to another insured member unless they are a relation or dependant. You must not take out the policy to avoid paying tax. Eligibility We ll confirm the eligibility conditions with you in our quote before the policy starts. Benefit The amount of Group Life Assurance benefit for an employee can be a multiple of scheme earnings or a fixed amount. You can insure all their cover in the Excepted Group Life Policy or split their cover between the registered scheme and the Excepted Group Life Policy. For the non-registered scheme benefits, we ll insure different benefit formula under separate policies to meet the excepted group life policy conditions. If required, an amount of benefit representing Dependants Pension can be insured, on a basis agreed between you and us. Any benefit representing the Dependants Pension will be provided under a separate policy and will be expressed as an amount of pension for the purpose of calculating the amount to be insured. However, to meet the excepted group life policy conditions, it will be paid as a lump sum, being the capitalised value of the Dependants Pension at the date of the member s death. Providing cover Cover under the policy for the registered scheme and the Excepted Group Life Policy will be combined for the purpose of deciding whether medical evidence is required. The policies for the registered scheme and non-registered schemes will share a common free limit. We ll tell you the free limit in our quotation. Taxation Our understanding of the current tax rules for excepted group life policies is as follows: The premiums you pay to insure the scheme benefits may qualify for tax relief as a business expense if your local tax inspector agrees that they are wholly and exclusively for business purposes. Your premiums will not be treated as a benefit in kind for your employees. Lump sum claim payments are paid free of income tax and do not count towards the lifetime allowance of the member. The policy is exempt from the chargeable event provisions of the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act Therefore, a chargeable gain and income tax charge will not be charged on lump sums paid on second and subsequent deaths. Lump sum benefits are subject to the normal inheritance tax rules for discretionary trusts. This means exit and periodic charges may apply at a maximum of 6% in each case.

3 GROUP PROTECTION 3 Rights of termination and amendment We ll give you full details of all our amendment and discontinuance rights in the policy. These include: We can cancel the policy if you don t give us the information we need under its terms and conditions. We can change the policy terms at the end of any unit rate guarantee period. If we do this, we ll write to you at least 30 days before we change the terms. We can amend or discontinue the Excepted Group Life Policy if legislation relating to the operation of such policies is amended or withdrawn. Cancelling the cover You can cancel the policy at any time by giving us notice in writing. We can cancel the policy by giving you 14 days notice in writing if you stop paying premiums, if you don t give us the information we need, or if there are changes to regulation or legislation that affect the policy. We can also cancel the policy if you or we cancel the registered policy. We ll give you full details of the cancellation terms in the policy. All cover will end if the policy is cancelled. Costing Benefit under the Excepted Group Life Policy will be worked out using the unit rate or premium rates applicable to the policy for the registered scheme. Premiums will be paid at the same frequency as those under the policy for the registered scheme. You ll need to identify those members who are entitled to benefit under the Excepted Group Life Policy when you provide the list of information for costing the benefits under the registered scheme. You ll need to split these by benefit basis to enable the benefit to be calculated. Payment of benefit We ll pay claims under the Excepted Group Life Policy to the policyholder (the trustee).

4 GROUP PROTECTION 4 Documents For new schemes we ll give you a specimen trust. We ll also give you specimen scheme rules you can adopt. These will explain who is covered, what the benefits are and who the trustees can choose to pay benefit to. We ve designed these documents to be set up in the UK in line with English law. You don t have to use our specimen documents; you can change them or use your own versions. Before you set up your scheme we recommend you talk to your legal adviser to make sure your needs are met. A proposal form is enclosed. Please return this as soon as it has been completed. We ll send you a specimen declaration of trust, and a specimen deed of adherence to include any associated employers who also participate in the registered scheme. Please send a copy of the completed declaration of trust and any supplementary deeds to us as soon as they have been signed. We ll then produce the scheme rules and a policy document. If you choose not to use our suggested documentation, or if you have already set up a non-registered scheme, we ll need a copy of the documentation adopted. This is to make sure that it specifically prevents benefit being paid to anyone other than an individual or a charity as is required for the policy to meet the excepted group life policy conditions. Administration For simplicity, the administration of each Excepted Group Life Policy is based on the use of the same procedures for the submission of data, record keeping, and production of premium statements, at the beginning of each policy year, as for the policy for the registered scheme. Both the policies for the registered scheme and non-registered scheme must therefore have the same annual renewal date. We ll give you full details of our renewal requirements before the annual renewal date.

5 GROUP PROTECTION 5 FURTHER INFORMATION. Providing insurance Excepted Group Life Policies are provided by Legal & General Assurance Society Limited whose principal office for the purposes of the policies is at: Legal & General Assurance Society Limited Brunel House 2 Fitzalan Road CARDIFF CF24 0EB Phone group.protection@landg.com We may record and monitor calls. Call charges will vary. Lines are open from 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Questions and complaints If you have a question or complaint about the policy, you should first speak to the adviser who arranged it for you. If you then need to speak to us, you should send the details of your question or complaint to: Managing Director, Group Protection Legal & General Assurance Society Limited Brunel House 2 Fitzalan Road CARDIFF CF24 0EB Phone group.protection@landg.com We may record and monitor calls. Call charges will vary. If we can t settle a complaint you may be able to refer it to: Financial Ombudsman Service Exchange Tower London E14 9SR Phone or complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk Website Making a complaint won t affect your right to take legal action. Compensation If we can t meet our liabilities, you may be entitled to compensation under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme. You can get more information from the Financial Services Compensation Scheme at: Financial Services Compensation Scheme PO Box 300, Mitcheldean, GL17 1DY Phone or enquiries@fscs.org.uk Website Language All communications from us will be in English. The terms and conditions will only be available in English. Industry regulation We re authorised by the Prudential Regulatory Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulatory Authority. Our Financial Services Register number is You can check this on the Financial Services Register by visiting the FCA s website: or by contacting the FCA on These terms and conditions are for commercial customers as defined in the Financial Conduct Authority s Insurance: Conduct of Business sourcebook (ICOBS). Law The policy will be governed by English Law. Under our standard policy, members do not have any rights under the Contracts (Rights of Third Parties) Act 1999, which means that they do not have to be involved in decisions about the insurance provided by the policy. References in this guide to the tax treatment of premiums and benefits are based on our understanding of current law and HM Revenue & Customs practice, which may change. About Legal & General The Legal & General Group, established in 1836, is one of the UK s leading financial services companies. As at 30 June 2016, we had over nine million customers in the UK for our life assurance, pensions, investments and general insurance plans. We re a leading provider of Group Protection cover in the UK with 85 years of expertise and knowledge. We looked after over 4,500 group protection policies and provided protection to almost two million employees at the end of 2015.

6 GLOSSARY. Annual renewal date The anniversary of the start date of the policy or another yearly date that we ve agreed with you. Capitalised value The amount of Dependant s Pension converted into a lump sum. Excepted group life policy conditions The conditions, defined in law, an Excepted Group Life Policy must meet. Please read the Excepted group life policy conditions and Taxation sections for further details. Free Limit The maximum monetary limit for which we ll normally provide cover without the need for medical evidence. Lifetime allowance The maximum benefit a person can take tax free from all the registered schemes they ve joined. Member An employee included for benefits within the scheme and insured under the policy. Non-registered scheme A scheme that hasn t been registered with HM Revenue & Customs. Our Excepted Group Life Policy is an example of a non-registered scheme. Policy The legal contract between you and us. You choose how much of the benefits you ve promised under the scheme that you want to insure under the policy. Registered scheme A scheme you have set up to pay benefits promised to your employees that is registered with HM Revenue & Customs as an occupational pension scheme under the Finance Act Scheme earnings The earnings we use to calculate the member s benefit. Trust A document the trustees use to pass on the benefits paid by the policy. Trustees This is a person, firm or group, appointed to carry out what the trust must do. For example, make a claim under the policy and pass on the benefits. They must follow the laws that apply to trusts. Unit rate This is how we calculate the cost when there are more than 10 members in the policy for the registered scheme. We ll calculate the cost for each 100 of cover. We ll multiply this with the total benefit to calculate the premium. We ll tell you the unit rate in the quote. CONTACT US We may record and monitor calls. Call charges will vary. group.protection@landg.com legalandgeneral.com/workplacebenefits Group Protection, Legal & General Assurance Society Limited, Brunel House, 2 Fitzalan Road, Cardiff CF24 0EB Legal & General Assurance Society Limited Registered in England and Wales No Registered office: One Coleman Street, London EC2R 5AA Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. W /17 Terms: 11/15 S189514