Group risk benefits

Perhaps these are fairly obvious, but what are they and what advantages do they offer you?

Provision of life insurance, critical illness and disability cover by the payment of a lump sum of up to 4 x salary for death or disability in service.
Provision of income protection insurance against the risk of medium to long term disability of up to 75% of pre-disability earnings, and a spouse’s and dependents’ pension to provide against the risk of death in service.
Provision of private medical insurance schemes.
Employers can and do select which benefits they wish to offer, and at what level up to the maximums allowed.

To increase staff loyalty and ease recruitment.
To provide an employee benefit that will cost you a lot less than the cost to the individual for a similar benefit. It may also enable you to improve the pay and benefits package you offer at a real cost that is well below the perceived cost of the benefits you are offering.
Group rates are far lower than those for individual policies, and you can offset them against tax.

In some circumstances you may even insure the otherwise uninsurable. Subject to the details of the group, it will be possible to include members without any medical questions. A colleague with cancer could even be insured, perhaps even up to the full scheme specification, at no extra cost even if he or she is uninsurable as an individual.