Canada Life has begun selling its ‘Simply Class' group life assurance product, aimed at 2-50 employee companies on its CLASS platform.
For the Simply Class product the process of applying for a quote has been designed to use basic pensions data to provide quotes in one minute, as the latest auto-enrolment phase begins.
Simply Class automatically provides quotetations for 1x and 2x salary and fixed benefits of £25,000 and £50,000, with a minimum premium of £480 annually and a flexible commission of up to 30%.
The policy is written under a master trust arrangement for new-to-market schemes and includes a bereavement counselling and probate helpline.
Each quotation option provides ‘reasons to buy' information to inform employers of the costs, taxation of premiums and benefits, and emphasises there is no medical underwriting as long as the employee is not absent from work when the policy starts.
The full quotation and "on risk" process will take under five minutes to complete.
The CLASS system remains capable of providing more complex benefit design requests and dealing with existing businesses cases.
Paul Avis, marketing director, Canada Life Group Insurance said: "On June 1st 2015 we have a once in a business lifetime opportunity to grow the Group Life Assurance market as 1.1m new-to-benefits discussions start to happen.
"As the war for talent begins to rage, and with every employer now offering a pension, staff retention and attraction is becoming ever more important.
He added: "Having undertaken both adviser and employer research between June 2014 and May 2015, I have never been more confident in the success of any product we have launched.
"It is a product designed 100% appropriately for its time to suit the demands and expectations of advisers and their clients.
"To put such confidence in context, employers with 11-50 employees who took part in our focus group asked if Simply Class was available to sign up for there and then!
"This gives me massive comfort that the approach we have taken will help us to achieve our objective of significantly growing the Group Life Assurance market."
100% paid claims
Those businesses next in line for auto-enrolment are likely to consider taking out a group risk policy, research for Canada Life found.
Avis said: "In 2014 Canada Life paid 100% of group life claims, using the GRiD reporting methodology."
He added: "With one in eight males and one in twelve females dying during their working lives, group life should no longer be seen as a peripheral benefit but as a core benefit.
"After all, everyone will now have a pension and group life should now be seen as the exceptional benefit."
Avis said: "Class has 7-8% of all group risk schemes on it and should be used for exisiting business or more complex scheme designs. We see Simply Class potentially being used as a taster.
"You get your four quotes in around a minute, take that to the client and the client will say "four times for me and one times for the staff," putting this cost agenda in front of the employer means CLASS will grow as well as Simply Class."
"We already have the majority of the SME market on CLASS, Simply Class makes it even simpler, it gives four quotes in under a minute."
Further Reading:
Group risk rehab returns 1,500 to work early
