Group Protection. Helping to protect your client s business and their employees with complete Group Protection services

Transcription

1 For financial adviser use only. Not approved for use with customers. Group Protection Helping to protect your client s business and their employees with complete Group Protection services aviva-for-advisers/groupprotection 1

2 Contents 3 Looking after a company s biggest asset 4 The benefits of Group Protection 6 More products, more choice, more benefits 6 Group Income Protection 7 Group Life 8 Group Critical Illness 10 Aviva a great choice 2 Group Protection

3 Looking after a company s biggest asset In today s economic climate, protecting an organisation s greatest asset its people is paramount. Losing a valuable skillset in a member of staff can have significant consequences. Both directly through lost productivity or relevant experience, and indirectly through increased workloads and employee loss of morale and emotional wellbeing. At Aviva, we have designed our Group Protection offering to help protect your clients business and their employees if the unfortunate does happen providing products and services that help to mitigate the effects of long-term absence by providing financial support to employees and beneficiaries. A complete solution for your clients and their employees Aviva s Group Protection products provide clients and their employees with a suite of core products as well as additional added-value benefits. We are able to offer clients: Giving your client s employees something more Providing employee benefits such as Group Protection can be seen as a powerful tool to attract and retain staff. It also provides peace of mind, since employees know that in the event of an illness, injury or even death, they or their loved ones will normally be supported both financially and emotionally. In addition our Group Income Protection cover provides support by clinicians and our rehabilitation teams early-intervention measures. And if an employee has been absent for a significant period, it also provides support to help rehabilitate them back into the workplace. l Group Income Protection cover, designed to provide clients with a financial benefit that can be passed on to the employee, as continuation of earnings in the event of an employee being absent from work due to long-term illness or injury. l Group Life cover, designed to provide a lump sum and/or pension to an employee s family and/or dependants in the event of an employee s death. There is also the option for employees to choose to cover their spouse or partner. l Group Critical Illness cover, designed to provide a client s employees with a lump sum payment in the event that they are diagnosed with a defined critical illness or undergo an operation covered by the policy. aviva-for-advisers/groupprotection 3

4 The benefits of Group Protection Group Protection from Aviva is a good choice for both employer and employee because it has so many benefits. Employer benefits l Flexibility we are able to offer products that suit a variety of client needs and can work effectively with existing benefit provision. l Breadth of offer we are able to provide a complete Group Protection offering to clients, as well as a range of other products and services to complement and enhance their employee benefits package. l Expertise we provide specialist expertise in our underwriting, actuarial, claims, account management and clinical services. l Support we can provide a complete sickness absence support service to clients by offering tools and services to help prevent and mitigate against long-term absence. We can also offer effective rehabilitation in the event of an employee being off work with long-term illness. This ensures an efficient outcome for employees e.g. early intervention, speedy payment of claims. l Value added services we provide access to a range of benefits at no additional charge, for example, Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), Best Doctors and RedArc. The benefits are non contractual and can be withdrawn at any time. l Attractive the Group Protection products and services provided by Aviva can be a powerful incentive for clients to use with employees as both a hiring and a retention tool. l Dedicated wellbeing services the services available provide access to recognised providers of digital clinical assessment, health promotion days, webinars, line manager training and onsite training delivered by our in-house clinical and rehabilitation experts. These services are available to help support your clients with their commitment to improving the health and wellbeing of their employees. The services are non contractual and can be withdrawn at any time. l Corporation tax relief in most circumstances Group Income Protection, Group Life, Group Critical Illness and Group Cancer Cover premiums count as a business expense and therefore qualify for corporation tax relief under current legislation. This is our current understanding of tax laws. l Rehabilitation Dedicated Rehabilitation Case Managers are assigned to Group Income Protection claims, and as a result provide a truly personalised service for both employer and employee. 4 Group Protection

5 Employee benefits l Peace of mind our Group Protection products can help to provide financial peace of mind to employees. l Support our counselling helplines and dedicated claims teams help ensure employees get the support they need, when they need it most. l Focus on their health we are able to offer tools and support by providing tools such as health news, fitness centre and a calorie counter that are available from getactive.aviva.co.uk. l Clinical & Rehabilitation expertise at the heart of our approach to Group Income Protection claims, is a team of trained clinicians including our Chief Medical Officer, Doctors, Clinical Specialist Nurses, Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Sports Therapists and Vocational Rehabilitation Consultants. l Free cover limits Group Income Protection and Group Life policies normally offer a free cover limit below which medical underwriting is not normally required. l Tax-efficient Group Income Protection and Group Life policies, in most circumstances, do not count as a P11D benefit in kind for employees. This is our current understanding of tax laws. Offering a flexible benefits plan Should a client take out Group Protection cover, we also provide the following added-value benefits, they are non contractual and can be withdrawn at any time: l Multi-flex employees have the freedom to increase or decrease their Group Life cover through our multi-flex option. l Health and Fitness Club Membership we have teamed up with some of the UK s leading health and fitness clubs to offer discounts on memberships of up to 25% for your client s employees. Find out more at getactive.aviva.co.uk. l Motor Insurance your client s employees can benefit from healthy discounts on their motor insurance. l Travel Insurance your client s employees could also benefit from savings on their single trip or annual travel insurance. In addition, as part of our Group Life scheme, we provide members with access at no additional cost to a legal and bereavement helpline. The service offers practical and emotional support following an employee s death. This helpline is provided by Care first and is a non contractual agreement, which can be withdrawn at any time. For Group Income Protection clients, we provide an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) that is designed to help employees deal with the stresses and strains of life. This provides both telephone and face to face counselling for employees, where necessary, and can help them address personal and work related issues affecting their wellbeing and productivity. This EAP is provided by Care first and is a non contractual agreement, which can be withdrawn at any time. Employers who take out Group Income Protection cover and Group Life cover are required to pay for the core benefit, with employees usually funding any flex benefit through a salary sacrifice arrangement. We offer voluntary cover for Group Critical Illness customers, where the employee will fund the total cost of cover. aviva-for-advisers/groupprotection 5

6 More products, more choice, more benefits The following provides an overview of our core Group Protection products in more detail. Group Income Protection Our Group Income Protection cover is designed to provide financial support should an employee be absent from work for a long period of time due to injury or illness. Created to fit around the needs of your clients, it offers: l Cover up to 80% of normal earnings an employee can be covered for up to 80% of their usual salary when absent from work due to long-term illness or injury up to a maximum of 425,000 basic benefit. l Cover for client s pension fund contributions additional pension fund contributions can be covered as well as your client s National Insurance contributions. l Choice of deferred periods your client can decide when the Group Income Protection payment is to begin: after 13, 26, 28, or 52 weeks. This allows them to dovetail the benefit with other existing sick pay arrangements that are in place and the longer the deferred period the lower the premiums. l Free cover limits All policies are normally offered a free cover limit. This means that if the Group Income Protection benefit required for an employee is below this limit, no medical evidence is needed in the majority of cases. l Once-only underwriting this may apply to members with benefits above the free cover limit and means that medical underwriting only happens once, regardless of any further increases in benefit. l Tele-interviewing enables essential medical information to be captured by a specialist telephone interviewer which can lead to a quicker underwriting decision and can reduce the need for further information. l Choice of benefit payment term from selecting a set policy cease age to choosing a limited benefit payment term of two, three, four or five years, this allows clients additional cost control. l Lump sum option allows the choice of a benefit payment term, after which your client may receive a lump sum payment if they are still absent from work and eligible. This could be used, for example, to help fund an employee s early retirement. l Pay direct option clients can choose to have the income benefit paid directly to the employee, at claims stage and subject to certain conditions. This could result in reducing other costs associated with retaining long-term absentees on the payroll. l Early notification our focus is on supporting early notification of any potential claim, as our experience shows the earlier an absence is notified, the more effective the outcome for both the employee and the employer. l Dedicated rehabilitation case managers we have dedicated case managers, who have counselling and vocational rehabilitation training, available to support employees throughout the entire process. l Specialist external support and resources From counselling to physiotherapy and functional restoration programs, we work with a number of external partners to provide appropriate support and treatment to help prevent employees being absent from work long-term. This is a summary of Group Income Protection. Full terms and conditions are available on request or visit aviva-for-advisers.co.uk for more information. 6 Group Protection

7 Group Life Our Group Life policy has been designed to help meet the financial needs of your client s employees as well as the practical considerations of their business. It offers: l Lump sum payment this is an amount of money (either fixed or multiple of salary) that is usually paid to the scheme trustees in the event of a death. It is usually written under trust so that it can be treated outside an individual s estate for inheritance tax purposes and ensures the beneficiaries receive any financial assistance as soon as possible. Lump sum payments are usually tax free, although benefits may count towards the employee s lifetime allowance. Please remember that tax laws may change and that the plan has no cash-in value at any time. l Flexibility to choose level of cover needed your client has the freedom to choose the level of cover needed for their staff. l Free cover limits All policies are normally offered a free cover limit. This means that if the Group Life benefit required for an employee is below this limit, no medical evidence is needed in the majority of cases. l Master trust option the role and responsibilities of a trustee can be seen as a barrier by some employers, to taking out Group Life cover. With this option, the trustees duties are fulfilled by Aviva s appointed trustee to the Master trust, Pitmans Trustees Ltd. l Once-only underwriting this may apply to members with benefits above the free cover limit and ensures that medical underwriting happens only once, regardless of any further increases in benefit (up to a maximum of 5m). l Dependant s/children s pension options your client can choose to include this option so that in addition to a lump sum, the deceased s dependant and/or children can receive a pension based on the employee s own pension or their salary. l Tele-interviewing the simplest and clearest way to ensure we have the most accurate information about employees when conducting medical underwriting. l Helping with online claims and prompt payments our innovative online Group Life claims service avoids the need for lengthy forms or in most cases the need to submit an original death certificate. l Added-value benefits to help employees families adjust to such a difficult situation, we also provide as much support as possible, including a legal and bereavement helpline that offers advice from trained bereavement counsellors. The helpline is provided by Care first and is a non-contractual benefit, which can be withdrawn at any time. l Spouse and partner cover employees can protect their spouse or partner through Aviva s Group Life benefits policy. This is a summary of Group Life. Full terms and conditions are available on request or visit aviva-for-advisers.co.uk for more information. aviva-for-advisers/groupprotection 7

8 Group Critical Illness Cover Our Group Critical Illness product is designed to provide financial support in the event a serious illness or condition is diagnosed or the employee undergoes an operation covered by the policy. It offers: l A lump sum of up to five times an employee s salary to a maximum of 500,000 (whichever is lower) provided the person covered survives for at least 14 days after the diagnosis or operation. l No medical underwriting is required, although the product is subject to a pre-existing conditions exclusion. l Flexibility to choose level of cover needed your clients have a choice of offering standard cover or extended cover; where more conditions are covered. l Optional cover for spouse or civil partner clients can choose to include this option so that the employee s husband, wife or civil partner can also be covered, up to a maximum of 250,000. l Children s cover in addition to the standard or extended conditions covered under the policy an employees children are covered for five child specific conditions; cerebral palsy, cystic fibrosis, hydrocephalus, muscular dystrophy and spina bifida. We also provide cover should a child need intensive care requiring mechanical ventilation for a period of 7 days or suffer from a loss of independent existence. Childcover benefit pays 25% of the value of an employees benefit up to a maximum of 20,000. l Cancer drugs fund an option to include a benefit that provides access to a fund paying up to a maximum of 100,000, in the event that the employee is diagnosed with a cancer and their local NHS commissioning body will not cover the cost of the drug(s) recommended by their specialist on financial grounds. Overview of conditions covered The following are the conditions the policy provides cover for: Standard list of conditions covered l Alzheimer s disease resulting in permanent symptoms l Cancer excluding less-advanced cases l Cancer second and subsequent l Cardiac arrest l Coronary artery by-pass grafts with surgery to divide the breastbone l Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease resulting in permanent symptoms l Dementia resulting in permanent symptoms l Heart attack of specified severity l Kidney failure requiring dialysis l Major organ transplant l Motor neurone disease resulting in permanent symptoms l Multiple sclerosis with persisting symptoms l Parkinson s disease resulting in permanent symptoms l Progressive supranuclear palsy l Stroke resulting in permanent symptoms. l Total & permanent disability Extended list of conditions covered l Aortic graft surgery l Aplastic anaemia with permanent bone marrow failure l Bacterial meningitis resulting in permanent symptoms l Benign brain tumour resulting in permanent symptoms l Blindness permanent and irreversible l Cardiomyopathy of specified severity l Coma resulting in permanent symptoms l Coronary angioplasty to two or more coronary arteries l Deafness permanent and irreversible l Encephalitis resulting in permanent symptoms l Heart valve replacement or repair with surgery to divide breastbone l HIV infection caught in the UK from a blood transfusion, a physical assault or at work in an eligible occupation (the emergency services police fire and ambulance the medical profession including administrators, cleaners, dentists, doctors, nurses and porters, or the armed forces) l Liver failure of advanced stage l Loss of hands or feet permanent physical severance l Loss of independent existence permanent and irreversible l Loss of speech permanent and irreversible l Open heart surgery l Paralysis of limbs total and irreversible 8 Group Protection

9 l Primary pulmonary arterial hypertension l Pulmonary artery graft surgery l Respiratory failure of advanced stage l Rheumatoid arthritis chronic and severe l Systemic lupus erythematous l Third-degree burns covering 20% of the body s surface area l Traumatic head injury resulting in permanent symptoms This is a summary of the benefits available for this policy. Full terms and conditions are available on request or visit aviva-for-advisers.com. l Terminal illness aviva-for-advisers/groupprotection 9

10 Aviva a great choice Choosing any Group Protection product from Aviva is a great decision and not just because of our flexibility, ease of use and innovative approach. As the leading insurer in the UK with strong businesses in selected international markets, Aviva has the strength and stability which are important in these current times. Our rehabilitation and claims management expertise in Group Income Protection and our dedicated claims teams such as the Group Income Protection Corporate Case Management team, allow us to deal effectively and empathetically with all the calls we receive, and, where relevant, enable employees to get back to work quicker. And, our size and efficiency give us the strength to deliver an extensive range of products to meet you and your clients needs and provide a holistic end to end solution. If you d like to know more Get in touch with our Group Protection Sales Support team on GroupProtectionSalesSupport@aviva.com or find out further information at aviva-for-advisers.co.uk Lines open 9am 5pm, Monday Friday. Calls to and from Aviva may be monitored and/or recorded. 10 Group Protection

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12 Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited. Registered in England No Aviva, Wellington Row, York, YO90 1WR. Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and 12 Group Protection the Prudential Regulation Authority. Firm Reference Number GR /2017 Aviva plc