Myself
My
My Income
unum insurance review & advice
Is UNUM Insurance good?
- Financial Strength - Fitch: Good
- Group Life & Health Protection corporate specialists
- Broker Only Deals
- Insurance claims record: Good
- UNUM Protection Claims : Covering over 1.7 million people
- Claims paid total in excess of £6 million per week
Background - UNUM
Review: Founded back in 1848 Boston USA, UNUM Group was created by the 1999 merger of Unum Corporation and The Provident Companies. Formerly known as Unum Provident, from 2007 they rebranded to just Unum.
In the UK, they become one of the first Insurers to offer an employee assistance plan with group disability coverage. From 2015, they completed the acquisition of National Dental Plan, expanding Unum into the UK dental market.
Having offered both personal and group protection cover historically, today they mainly focus now on the group marketplace.
UNUM Insurance | Product 
2024
In our UNUM Insurance reviews, we will look at some broker only plans, key features and FAQ. UNUM group life protection products have different underwritten insurance risks than personal life cover but also give access to a range of comprehensive support services.
Key Features
- Medical 2'nd opinions
- Remote GP
- Mental health Support
- Physiotherapy
- Advice on a range of life and work issues
- Help on financial, legal and family concerns
Key Features
- Nutritional advice and fitness plans
- Employee Assistance Programme
- Confidential 24/7 helpline
- Workplace Well being support
- Bereavement support counselling
- Rehabilitation guidance
- Cancer pathway
UNUM GROUP LIFE Insurance Review
UNUM Group life cover helps Employers ease the financial pressures on their employee or their spouse in the sad event of their death. The benefits are paid as a tax free lump sum. UNUM Group Life insurance can help Employers attract and retain employees, while demonstrating an employer's duty of care.
Key Features
- Benefits can be a multiple of an employees' earnings ( ie; up to 12 x annual salary) or a set level of cover for all employees
- Employers providing Group Life should ideally have a discretionary trust in to pay out the lump sum death benefit
- UNUM offer 2 simple and hassle-free Group Life Master Trust arrangements to help address probate or IHT issues
- One for Registered policies and one for Excepted Group Life policies
- Each come with independent professional trustee services provided by PTL Governance Limited (PTL)
- For employers using their own trust UNUM offer a range of guidance and resources to help
Key Features
- 4 main types of Group Lifecover
- Registered Group Life
- Provides a tax-free lump sum up to the Lifetime Allowance
- Cover within HMRC regulations for a registered occupational pension scheme
- People insured under the policy can all have different levels of benefit
- Simplicity Life
- A simpler version of the Registered Group Life death insurance plan.
- Allows employers to give a more basic level of life cover to their employees for the first time
- The plan is for PAYE employees and written under UNUM Registered Group Life Master Trust
- Excepted Group Life
- Aimed at high earners.
- It allows for lump sum benefits to be paid outside of their Lifetime Allowance
- All people insured under the policy must have the same level of benefit
- Spouse and Partner cover
- A plan taken out by the employer to provide a lump sum benefit to their employee if their spouse or partner dies while insured
- Typically a voluntary arrangement in association with a Unum Group Life policy & for the same employees
Summary
Our review of UNUM Group Life shows its a strong market competitor in the group life insurance market. Designed with many flexible features to help protect your employees family life & loved ones if they were to sadly die during their employment tenure. Various trust options ensure the proceeds may efficiently go to their beneficiaries.
UNUM GROUP INCOME PROTECTION Review
The Employer can tax efficiently help provide their employees security by way of an ongoing monthly income if they are off longer term sick, or have an accident or disability as specified by UNUM Insurance. Available as a short or longer term policy, it pays out after an initial waiting period, with various flexible options. The premiums paid are considered a business expense for corporation tax purposes, so not treated as P11D benefit for your employees ie; there is no tax charge. Designed to help protect employees monthly bills or mortgage payments.
Key Features
- Employee cover paid calculated on 80% of annual salary or 50% Equity Partners
- 3 Risk classes assessed based on occupation
- Full income cover upto state pension ages
- Or limited payment term cover for 2/3/4/5 years
- Initial waiting, deferred periods of between 8 and 52 weeks
- Level or increasing income cover
Key Features
- Cover for employer’s liability to pay NIC's on a member’s basic benefit
- Long-term or short term supplementary benefit option
- Final lump sum benefit option
- Employee pension contributions cover
- Initial lump sum benefit option paid upon cancer, heart attack, stroke
Summary
UNUM Income Protection offers 4 special policy types: Flex, Simplicity, Pay Direct & Executive Income Protection PHI. It can be used by an employer to help manage employee sickness absences and the associated costs. They describe this as an 'end to end service' that can help manage absence, intervene early as appropriate, and protect staff financially by providing an ongoing income while supporting their return to work. UNUM Group income protection cover is competitive against personal income protection PHI cover.
GROUP CRITICAL ILLNESS Review
Employers can help support their employees if diagnosed with various life-changing critical illness & total permanent disability TPD, as specified by UNUM Insurance. The UNUM group critical illness plan is available on either on single employee life, their spouse if covered & optional child protection basis.
Key Features
- 2 Critical Illness options: for employees who survive a covered critical illness for 14 days.
- Base cover
- 13 critical illnesses including heart attack, stroke, cancer and dementia types
- Extra Cover
- Base conditions plus 26 others including brain tumour, rheumatoid arthritis and TPD
- Group Critical Illness offers either a multiple of between 1 and 5 x each member’s salary
- Simplicity Critical Illness
- Designed for employers with 50 plus employees offers a more basic level of critical illness cover
- Benefits up to £60,000 per member
- Pre-existing conditions covered will not prevent claims for events arising after they join
- 3 Funding Options
- Standard Employer funded - from 3 employees
- Flexible Employer / Employee-funded - from 150 employees
- Voluntary Employee-funded & collected by employer - from 150 employees
- Second and subsequent cancer cover
- Advance payment if placed on NHS waiting list
Summary
UNUM Insurance Review on their various group offerings are a highly competitive range in the UK critical illness market against personal cover. Their pre-existing cover facility is a valuable option if any employees have any health issues. Like most UK Insurers, UNUM's critical illness terms & conditions often change regularly, so please call us for latest advice or check these updates out when doing your business or personal critical illness comparison quotes.
Sick Pay Insurance Review
UNUM Sick Pay Insurance can help employers ease their headache of short-term employee absence (unlike longer term Group Income Protection). It is designed to complement a business’ existing sick pay scheme and can dovetail with any long-term Income Protection plans to help give peace of mind.
Key Features
- Provides short-term financial support for sickness absence
- Can offer sickpay benefit after initial 4 week's illness
- Range of payment periods from 12 weeks to 52 weeks
- A choice of salary replacement % to suit most business needs
- Range of benefit amounts up to £6,000 per month
- Is available for employers who want to provide cover for 10 or more employees
Summary
UNUM Sickpay Insurance is a competitive group protection product to help both employers and employees manage any breaks from work due to illness and injury upto 1 year. UNUM offers their professional claims management support. This can allow employers to flag any non-work related claims and also validate claims through using their evidence-based expertise. Covid 19 has stopped UNUM offering shorter deferral periods of less than 4 weeks.
Dental Insurance Review
UNUM Corporate Dental cover helps employees make costly and essential dental or optical treatment more affordable. It's often one of the most popular health benefit offered by employers. Provides cover towards check-ups, hygiene visits, and most major treatment to restore oral health. Policy limits and exclusions naturally apply.
Key Features
- Optical
- Offers reimbursement towards eye tests, glasses or contact lenses.
- Covers accidental and permanent sight loss.
- 2 corporate dental plans
- Radiant
- Offers percentage cover with treatments split across 3 categories - preventative, minor and major
- Tailor benefits across 5 levels of cover
- Clear
- Offers 6 levels of cover presented via a straightforward menu
A typical Unum Dental policy may include cover for:
- 100% of NHS charges refunded (excluding the A&E plan)
- Check-ups and hygienist fees paid via any dentist you choose
- No wait periods & 90 day claim allowance
- Fillings and root canal treatment
- Employees can also extend Family cover to their spouse and children at an additional cost
- Orthodontic fees for insured children if added to their policy
- Dental implants ( although not available on all plans)
- Cover any pre-existing dental conditions (excluding mouth cancer)
- Include pre-planned treatment + pre-existing conditions within your period of cover
- Accidents, injuries and emergencies - including sports injuries
- Mouthguards and sportsguards
- Crowns and bridges
- UK and worldwide cover
Summary
With over 30 years’ specialist experience in the employee benefits market for both corporate dental and optical insurance. UNUM Insurance Review shows it is flexible cover designed to suit all company sizes and budgets. It can cover all employees & option to include their dependant's.
UNUM Executive Income Protection
UNUM Executive Income Protection offering to selected executive employees the benefits of an extended sick pay arrangement. The plan is designed for small or medium-sized businesses to payout in the event of injury or illness that leads to a loss of earnings.
Key Features
- Cover up to 80% of an employee's gross earnings
- Maximum initial benefit of up to £300,000 a year
- Cover based on the executive's own occupation
- Include P11D benefits and any dividends paid (if directly linked to their business performance)
- Option to cover employer NI contributions
- Include any pension/life insurance premiums paid in relation to the insured person
- No automatic medical reports & No standard exclusions
Key Features
- Level basis, or increasing at fixed rate of 5%, or RPI up to maximum of 12%pa
- Disability Plus Option increases benefits in payment by 20% after the first 2 years of any claim
- A lower-cost option with a choice of 2, 3 and 5 year benefit payment periods
- Free waiver of premium automatically included
- Flexibility - benefit is paid direct to the employer, so it can either be passed on to the employee through PAYE or retained to support the business
- ‘Guaranteed Increase Option' means cover can be increased without further underwriting
- Available on 3'rd policy anniversaries or at key life stages eg; marriage, having children, or promotion wage rise
Summary
UNUM Insurance Review for Executive Income Protection shows it offers a market competitive range of flexible cover and high benefit payment options. It offers the employer opportunity to tailor cover to meet the needs of their business & their employees. The Portable cover if an employee leaves service is useful so the plan can be switched to a new employer or into the employee’s own name without further underwriting.
'There is...ONLY 1 YOU' 
