Group Life Cover 

Group Life Cover provides a lump sum payment to the family if one of your employees is diagnosed with a terminal illness, or in the event of their death. The payment can be used for whatever they wish, giving their dependants more choice to help them get on with life.

Group Life Cover is a cost effective way to complement any employment package, helping you to attract and retain valuable employees.

Cover is provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week, giving your staff the reassurance that they are protected even if an illness or injury happens when they are not at work.

At a glance

What health information do I need to provide?

In many cases health information is not needed. If your group scheme is of sufficient size and has at least a 75% take-up rate of eligible employees, TOWER may provide an Automatic Acceptance Limit (AAL). This means most employees can be covered up to the AAL amount within 60 days of becoming eligible, without providing evidence of health. If they decide to join after the eligibility period, health information will be required.

Where an AAL does not apply, eligible employees will need to provide relevant health information.

Your adviser or TOWER Business Development Manager will let you know if an AAL applies to your group scheme.

How will the benefit amount be calculated?

There are many options, however the same option must be applied across all eligible employees. Here are a few examples:

1. Fixed amount of cover
   In this option you can nominate the amount eligible employees will receive if they make a claim. This can provide you with greater certainty of the level of cover as all eligible employees will be covered for the same amount.
2. A fixed multiple of salary
   In this option you can nominate a multiple of each eligible employee’s salary. This means the amount they receive will remain relative to their income.
3. A reducing multiple of salary related to the age of the employee
   This option recognises that your younger employees may experience a greater financial strain than their older colleagues, if they suffer a critical condition earlier in their working lives.
4. A set percentage of salary multiplied by the number of years an employee has until retirement
   This option ensures premiums remain cost effective as your employees get older by considering the number of years an employee has until retirement. So the premium is based on the following formula:
   
   75% x A x B
   
   Where:
   A is the employee’s annual salary
   B is the number of years before the employee turns 65

What benefits are included in the cover for no additional premium?

Terminal illness benefit
Being told you have less than a year to live would be devastating. In such a situation your eligible employees deserve to spend their money on the things that matter to them rather than worrying about bills and expenses. In recognition of this, TOWER will pay the sum insured in advance if any eligible employee is diagnosed with a terminal illness and their life expectancy is no greater than 12 months.

Parental leave benefit
We understand that, even when eligible employees are on parental leave they are still important to your business. To recognise this, TOWER will continue to make cover available for eligible employees when they are on parental leave, giving them the reassurance that they are covered, and allowing them to relax and welcome their new addition to the family.

Continuation option
Our continuation option allows eligible employees to purchase a personal life cover policy without any health information, within 60 days of their last day of employment with you, providing they are under 65 years when they leave and they are moving to new permanent employment.

Interim accidental death benefit
We understand that any delay in assessing an employee’s application can be unsettling for everyone concerned. That’s why we offer an interim accidental death benefit to employees when an application is being assessed. With this valuable benefit, you will have the reassurance that your employees are covered as soon as we receive their application.

What options can be added to the cover?

Total and permanent disablement option
Imagine the devastation of learning that you will no longer be able to work due to a permanent disability. It is a situation no one wants to face, but should it happen to your eligible employees, this valuable option will remove the stress and worry of how they will cope financially. Qualification criteria and an additional premium apply to this option.

Pooled profit share option
This option allows your group to share in the profits of a large pool of similar schemes. This means, your group could receive a rebate for a percentage of the premiums paid for that year. If the groups in the pool have collectively paid more premiums than the amount of claims paid (or expected to be paid) for that year, then each group will receive a rebate. Further options are available if your group has more than 500 members. An additional premium applies to this option.

For more information

With experience in managing employee benefits packages for over 300 employers, you can trust TOWER to provide a high quality solution that meets the needs of your organisation. By taking advantage of the size of your group, your employees can have access to better rates than they might have as individuals.

To discuss how we can help you or for full details of policy terms and conditions (including exclusions), please phone 0800 755 556, Monday to Friday, 8.00am to 4.30pm, or email employee.benefits@tower.co.nz.