Key Man insurance – Is your business properly protected?

As a business owner or director your staff are your lifeline and without them most business owners would agree that they would struggle. This is especially true if they were to lose a key man or key person from their team due to that team member dying or becoming ill and unable to work.

Fortunately there are ways to protect businesses against problems like these using insurance policies such as key man insurance or business life insurance and executive income protection policies.

Key Man Insurance

Key man insurance (or key person insurance) is a life insurance policy designed to protect your business from the loss of a key member of your team through death.

The policy is taken out on an individual but instead of making a payout to the individuals family if they die, a payout is made to the business to allow it to source new staff or outsource the work as the business requires.

The aim overall is to protect the business from the extra expense of replacing the knowledge and skills lost through the death of your key man.

The insurance can also be used to cover a shareholders stake in the business or to cover business loans and mortgages much like you would do to protect the mortgage over your home.

Executive Income Protection

The aims of executive income protection are similar to business life insurance but this time the policy is protecting against the employee suffering an accident or illness that renders them unable to work.

With these policies the premium is paid by the business as a business expense and if a covered employee becomes ill and a claim is made, a monthly benefit (of up to 70% of the employees monthly income) is paid to the business so that the employee can continue to be paid their salary.

This allows the business to be able to continue paying a form of sick pay without having to make the sacrifice from its own cash flow, as well as adding value to an employees position.

As an added benefit, continuing to pay an executive a salary whilst they are suffering from a long term illness will aid their pension arrangements because the benefit that is paid is classed as taxable income.

Business Critical Illness

Another option available to businesses is that of Business Critical Illness cover. Much like business life insurance this policy is designed to pay out a lump sum to the business if a key employee suffers from a heart attack, stroke or advanced cancer. The business could then use the payout to cover replacement staff, outsourcing the position or helping the employee recover with private medical care.

Group Income Protection

A group income protection scheme allows a business to cover the cost of a sick pay scheme for its employees.

The premiums are based on the type of work undertaken and the amount of benefit that would need to be paid if an employee was to be ill and unable to work. By covering the policy with an insurance company, businesses are able to accurately budget for the scheme without having to worry that each month their sick pay bill may be higher than usual.

With a constant premium been paid, businesses are also able to hire short term replacement staff without a great rise in outgoings.

Overall benefits of business insurance

Protecting the business you worked hard to build is vitally important to any business owner and by using a combination of key man insurance, executive income protection and business critical illness cover, you can ensure that your business is properly protected against the perils of human illness.