Aviva has launched a Group Life Master Trust aimed at offering protection solutions to SMEs (Small and Medium-sized Enterprises). The Master Trust provides a more affordable and simplified process to allow businesses to offer their employees life insurance which takes less resource to set up and manage.
The Master Trust offering will allow Aviva Group Protection to write multiple Group Life business under a single trust. It creates simplicity and ease of access to protection products for SME businesses as it removes time and cost from the smaller employers by providing a ready made solution. A company essentially agrees to join the Master Trust and their employees are then covered by the scheme.
Steve Bridger, MD for Group Protection at Aviva, said:
“I’m delighted to be launching a Master Trust solution as it means more businesses will be able to offer their employees vital protection. Cost and resources can be a real barrier for smaller companies who want to offer their staff workplace benefits. Using a Master Trust can reduce the cost and the time spent setting up a benefit and managing it in the future.
“Through auto-enrolment, hundreds of thousands of companies are in the middle of setting up their workplace pension schemes. This may be spurring business owners to take a look at what other benefits they can offer their employees at the same time.”
Aviva’s Master Trust will be available on both Registered and Excepted Group Life policies. This means it can be used to offer life insurance to employees of all levels, including those employees not covered under a standard Registered Group Life arrangement.
The Master Trust solution is also available through the Group Protection Online system for any Group Life policies that cover between three and 100 lives. Aviva Group Protection Online is provided and underwritten by Friends Life Limited, part of the Aviva Group.
“When creating this solution it was really important that we built something that employers could use with all their staff – from CEO to intern,” said Steve Bridger. “Aviva is the first to cover an Excepted Group Life policy under the Master Trust solution and I think many will see real value in our offering.”
The Master Trust is designed for multiple employers, but delivered under a single trust arrangement and governed by the external independent trustee company, Pitmans Trustees Limited (PTL), who have extensive experience in this sector.
