Best Business Protection Insurance For 2024

Insurance Hero offers a comprehensive range of business protection insurance products. Protection could be cheaper than expected if you are a sole trader with no staff or even an audited PLC company.

Are you a business owner or director with these issues?

• Do you have a key employee or key employees that you could not survive without?
• Do you have large outstanding business loans, and do you require business loan insurance?
• Have you signed personal guarantees for other financial responsibilities like a business premises lease or supplier credit?

2024 could be a great time to get Business Protection Insurance

Based on your business circumstances, you can request a quote or schedule a conference call to conduct a more in-depth audit of your needs.

Please complete the form below with your requirements:

Key Person Insurance Cover

Low-cost key person cover

Research from Legal and General shows that 59% of businesses would have to close in less than a year after the death or critical illness of a key person.

Insurance Hero Keyman insurance can provide money to the business to help cover the losses and replace the key person.

Key Person Income Protection insurance can be a regular monthly benefit. It is a common observation from Insurance Hero brokers that business operators perceive key person cover to be “less cost than than they expected”.

One of the most overlooked types of business insurance is key person protection.

Shareholder protection insurance

Insurance Hero has a wide choice of insurance for shareholder protection from many large UK insurers.

Shareholder protection insurance provides cash if a major shareholder passes away or becomes critically ill. The business can continue to trade, and the surviving business owners can buy the shares.

This benefit is that the existing group retains all the shares.

There is also help for the beneficiaries of the deceased estate, so the shares do not end up being fire sales.

It can also be a part of clear and agreed succession planning and makes the death of a person relatively simple at a stressful time for all parties.

There can also be many tax benefits to getting shareholder protection insurance due to the way the cost of the premiums are treated.

Having such insurance in place can also improve the confidence of other shareholders, debt holders and potential future investors.

As a companies valuable assets could have been funded by director’s loans, you may need expert advice on how these loans are repaid to a potential deceased’s family and other key people.

Business loan protection insurance

Depending on the size of the business, individual directors or shareholders may have signed personal guarantees and pledged personal assets to collateralise a business loan.

Insurance Hero business loan protection insurance can help protect not just the business but also individuals.

Relevant life cover or Relevant life plan options

The types of relevant life insurance cover from Insurance Hero have recently increased substantially.

For larger businesses with certain needs, specific terms can be negotiated with insurers so the business gets all the coverage it needs and none of the cover it doesn’t need.

The right relevant life coverage can offer very tax-efficient coverage, with premiums coming from the business’ pre-tax profits.

There is typically no impact on your pension lifetime allowance, so your pension is treated separately.

People with specific circumstances may not need a life insurance policy in their own name, paid for with their tax-paid income, or a lower amount of cover on these terms.

This type of cover also suits high-earning employees or directors because of more complex tax treatment and allowances.

The relevant life cover or relevant life plan typical products from Insurance Hero are flexible and portable, including for people who have groups of companies or interests in multiple businesses.

Partnership protection insurance and business partner cover

Some new insurers appeared in Q2 2024, offering partnership protection business insurance that competes with established brands.

If you don’t have existing partnership protection insurance, its unlikely you have the best partnership protection insurance, depending on your business circumstances.

Income Protection Insurance for the self-employed and business owners

An affordable safety net for business people is Self-employed income protection insurance. If you are ill or injured, the policy will replace some or all of your previous earnings.

Policies generally have few exclusions, so cover represents good value, as there is no sick pay for the self-employed.

Life insurance for the self-employed and company directors

It could be argued that Business owners and the self-employed are risk-takers by their very nature.

However, some risks can be managed by things like self-employed life insurance cover, as the costs of managing these risks can be relatively small.

A self-employed individual paying themselves £50k a year should consider around £500,000 of life insurance cover, using the approximate 10x rule.

If the self-employed person has a large mortgage and a large young family, they should consider a higher than ten multiple, especially if they have debts like car finance in addition to a mortgage.

Here’s a table providing star ratings for various business protection insurers based on customer service, speed of payout, insurer size and stability, and overall value for money.

Insurer	Customer Service	Speed of Payout
LV – Liverpool Victoria	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆
Legal & General	★★★★★	★★★★☆
NFU Mutual	★★★★★	★★★★☆
Aviva	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆
Royal London	★★★★☆	★★★★☆
Hiscox	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆
Zurich	★★★★★	★★★★☆
Vitality	★★★☆☆	★★★☆☆
AXA	★★★★☆	★★★★☆
Allianz	★★★★★	★★★★☆
AIG	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆
Standard Chartered	★★★★☆	★★★★☆
The Exeter	★★★☆☆	★★★☆☆

The overall value for money score below is based on a medium-risk business profile.

Insurance Hero brokers have significant experience dealing with difficult-to-insure industries, and some insurers offer much better terms than others.

Insurer	Size & Stability	Overall Value for Money
Zurich	★★★★★	★★★★☆
Legal & General	★★★★★	★★★★☆
Royal London	★★★★☆	★★★★☆
AXA	★★★★★	★★★★☆
Hiscox	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆
Vitality	★★★☆☆	★★★☆☆
LV – Liverpool Victoria	★★★★☆	★★★★☆
NFU Mutual	★★★★☆	★★★★★
Aviva	★★★★★	★★★★☆
Allianz	★★★★★	★★★★☆
AIG	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆
Standard Chartered	★★★★☆	★★★☆☆
The Exeter	★★★☆☆	★★★☆☆

Types of businesses that can be insured:

• A small business sole trader
• A partnership
• A Limited liability partnership
• A Private limited company
• A Public Limited Company (PLC)

Below are the sections of the SIC codes in the company’s house.

Businesses operating in these sectors can qualify for business protection insurance and potentially benefit from tax relief.

The table below indicates a risk score where ten is the most risky and one is the least risky:

Type of Business	Risk Score (1-10)
Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	7
Mining and Quarrying	9
Manufacturing	8
Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply	6
Water supply, sewerage, waste management and remediation activities	7
Construction	9
Wholesale and retail trade; repair of motor vehicles and motorcycles	5
Transportation and storage	8
Accommodation and food service activities	6
Information and communication	3
Financial and insurance activities	2
Real estate activities	4
Professional, scientific and technical activities	3
Administrative and support service activities	5
Public administration and defence; compulsory social security	2
Education	3
Human health and social work activities	5
Arts, entertainment and recreation	6
Activities of households as employers; undifferentiated goods- and services-producing activities of households for own use	4
Activities of extraterritorial organisations and bodies	2

Other types of small business insurance for financial security include:

• Public liability insurance business protection policy
• Professional indemnity insurance for sole traders
• Serious illness cover for limited liability partnerships and surviving owners safety net cover
• Small businesses terminal illness cover
• Up front lump sum temporary replacement cover

It’s wise to consult a qualified financial adviser on the tax implications of cover, as should the worst happen, the financial future of the people remaining needs to be considered.