Employee benefits are products and services an employer pays for on behalf of their staff. A benefits package can encompass a range of perks that reward staff for their hard work and promote their wellbeing. This includes a pension (now mandatory for many workers under auto-enrolment), as well as insurances and other wellbeing benefits.

The most common retirement and group insurance products businesses provide for their staff include:

• Group Personal Pension
• Group Life Insurance
• Business Health Insurance
• Group Income Protection / Sick Pay Insurance
• Critical Illness Cover.

These policies all protect a group of employees under a single umbrella. This lets employers insure their staff in an efficient manner that’s easy to manage.

Below are some of the top Employee Benefits providers. There are four main providers in the Group Health Insurance market, while the Group Risk market (comprising Group Income Protection, Group Life Insurance and Group Critical Illness Cover) has six major insurers.

Best Workplace Pension Providers

• Aegon
• Aviva
• Nest
• Now: Pensions
• Royal London
• The People’s Pension

Best Private Medical Insurance Providers

• Aviva
• Axa
• Bupa
• Vitality.

Best Group Risk Providers

• AIG
• Aviva
• Canada Life
• Legal & General
• MetLife
• Unum.

Each provider has different limits, different multiples of remuneration, different deferred periods and a variety of other factors which vary between providers. There will also be a marked difference in the additional benefits free with each insurer.

Which provider to choose will therefore be different for every company, even among businesses of similar sizes in similar industries.

How Do I Get Quotes?

While you can get quotes for personal policies online, it’s more difficult for group benefits. This is because there are so many details that factor into the cost of a policy.

For instance, in order to get accurate pricing for your workers, you’ll need to provide:

• Group size
• Employees’ dates of birth
• Employees’ genders
• Geographic location
• Industry and occupation
• Salary details
• Desired policy options.

You’ll then have to take these details to every provider on the market one by one to compare premiums and ensure you’re getting the most competitive quotes.

To make the process easier, our expert employee benefits consultants do all of this heavy lifting on your behalf.