Business Protection Insurance UK
Protect your business against the financial impact of losing a key person. Compare key person insurance, relevant life policies, shareholder protection, and more.
Business protection insurance ensures your company can survive the unexpected. Whether a key person dies, suffers a critical illness, or is unable to work, the right policies keep the business — and your family — financially secure.
Business Protection Products
Key Person Insurance
Pays a lump sum to the business if a key employee dies or becomes critically ill.
Learn more →Relevant Life Policy
Tax-efficient death-in-service benefit arranged by an employer. Ideal for company directors.
Learn more →Shareholder Protection
Enables surviving shareholders to buy out a deceased partner’s shares without disruption.
Learn more →Directors’ Life Insurance
Tax-efficient life cover for company directors — paid by the business, saving on personal tax.
Learn more →Business Loan Protection
Covers outstanding business loans if a key director or owner dies or becomes critically ill.
Learn more →Partnership Protection
Enables surviving partners to buy out a deceased partner’s share and maintain control.
Learn more →Executive Income Protection
Employer-arranged income protection for directors, covering salary and dividends. Tax-efficient.
Learn more →Personal Protection for Business Owners
Business protection complements — rather than replaces — personal cover. These pages cover personal protection options particularly relevant to directors and the self-employed.
Business protection in the UK — an overview for owners and directors
Business protection is the umbrella term for life, critical illness and income protection policies designed to protect a limited company, partnership or LLP rather than an individual household. The four core products are key person insurance, shareholder protection, relevant life policy and executive income protection. Each solves a different commercial problem.
Key person cover pays the business a tax-free lump sum when a specified director or senior employee dies or becomes critically ill, offsetting the lost profit, replacement hire costs and any loans tied to that individual. Shareholder protection lets the surviving owners buy out a deceased shareholder's equity from their estate at a pre-agreed valuation, keeping control of the business. A relevant life policy replaces a personal life policy with a company-paid version that is both tax-efficient and outside the estate for inheritance tax. Executive income protection protects a director's salary on long-term illness, paying the company (who then pays the director as salary).
Setting up business protection properly requires the right corporate paperwork — cross-option agreements for shareholder cover, trust deeds for relevant life, and board minutes for any of the above. A protection broker with business-protection experience will walk you through the structuring so the policies actually do what they are meant to do when the claim happens.
Quick answers
Is business protection tax-deductible?
Relevant life premiums are a corporation tax deductible business expense. Key person premiums are typically deductible where the cover is for loss of profit rather than capital loss. Shareholder protection premiums are generally paid from personal funds through cross-option structures.
Can I move a personal life policy to my limited company?
No — but you can cancel the personal plan and set up an equivalent relevant life policy paid by the company. For most higher-rate taxpayer directors, the net cost is significantly lower than the personal premium.
Is business protection needed for a sole director company?
Often yes, particularly if the company has any debt, outstanding invoices or future contracts that would be affected by the director's absence. Relevant life in particular is almost always worthwhile.