Life insurance as an employee benefit: why it matters now

‍Written by Surely, from Certua Life, in partnership with Heka 

Over half of UK adults have no protection cover at all, and most have never even considered it. The FCA put the figure at 58% in its Pure Protection Market Study, published on 21 September 2026, and found that 59% of people without cover have never considered whether they need it. It isn't only the people with nothing. When the FCA matched what people hold against what their circumstances call for, a mortgage, dependants, a household living on their income, it estimated that around 72% of those needs weren't covered by the right product. Meanwhile, the Childhood Bereavement Network estimates that around 127 children in the UK lose a parent every day. 

Wellbeing isn't only feeling good now. It's also having sorted the things you'd rather not think about, and life insurance is one of them. People tend to sort it when life changes, a new baby, a new job, a pay rise, and on Heka someone can redeem their credits against it, in the same way as the gym.

What does life insurance actually pay for?

Life insurance pays out to the people someone loves if they die, taking the financial pressure off a family at the point they're grieving, so they aren't dealing with money worries and loss at the same time.

What that pressure looks like is not always obvious: 

• Childcare. If one parent dies, the other often can't afford to keep working, because someone has to be at home, or a nanny or a nursery has to be paid for.
• The home. Sometimes the house has to go, with all the memories in it.
• Unpaid work. A stay-at-home parent may not bring home a salary, but they're the reason someone else can. If they die, the childcare and running of the home they provided has to be paid for too.

Life insurance is built so that the people someone loves most are taken care of if that person can't do it themselves.

How is personal life insurance different from death in service?

Death in service is a payment the employer sets, usually a multiple of salary, that ends when someone leaves; personal life cover is chosen by the employee, sized to their own family, and can move jobs with them.

Plenty of employers don't offer death in service at all. Where they do, a multiple of salary may not match a mortgage, two children in nursery, and a partner who'd need to cut their hours.

Personal cover sits alongside death in service or fills the space where there's none. Because the employee chooses the amount, it can be sized to their life. And because the policy is in their name, it can continue when they change jobs, as long as the premium is paid.

How does life insurance  work on Heka?

Life is unpredictable, and Surely, from Certua Life, was built for that. Employees choose Surely on Heka, arrange cover in minutes, and pay Surely directly, then redeem their Heka credits against the premium. 

Surely comes from Certua Life, the first new protection-focused life insurer to be authorised in the UK in nearly two decades. It was built for the fact that life is unpredictable, with the technology to make cover personal and change it as someone's life does. 

Cover can go up or down within the policy's limits, so someone can start with what they need now and change it when a baby arrives, a mortgage grows or their pay goes up. Their health is asked about once, when they apply, and not again. Find out more about Surely. 

Why does life insurance belong in a health-led employee benefits offer?  

Prevention looks after someone's future health, and life cover looks after their family's future, so the two belong together in any benefits offer built around what people actually need.

98.5% of bookings on Heka are for preventative health. Mental health, nutrition, movement, and health checks all stop small problems becoming big ones later.

Life insurance takes the same long view, in the way a pension or an investment does. Nobody can predict what will happen. They can make sure it isn't a worry.

Why offer life insurance as an employee benefit in 2027? 

The FCA has named the protection gap as a priority, the cost of living has made families less able to absorb a shock, and pension changes from April 2027 will make more people check what their family would get.

The FCA regulates how financial firms treat their customers. Its final report sets out industry and regulator measures to raise awareness, so people will hear more about life cover over the next year.

Three things are coming together:

• Prompts at life moments. The FCA's partners are adding protection prompts at key life events. For most people those are buying or renting a home, having a child, separating from a partner, or changing jobs.
• The cost of living. It's harder for a family to absorb a shock, and harder for an employer to answer every pressure with pay.
• Pensions and inheritance tax. From April 2027, most unused pension savings will count towards inheritance tax for the first time.

When big pay rises aren't an option, what an employer offers instead matters more.

Why does life insurance  belong on a benefits platform?

People don't think about life cover unless something prompts them, and a benefits platform is where they already go when life changes, so cover can sit exactly where they'll see it. 

Heka puts the right support in front of each person at the right moment, using who they are (role, life stage, and health goals) and what they book and search for. Someone planning a family or moving house can see life cover at the moment it's relevant. The employer only ever sees anonymised patterns, and no individual is identified.

The moments keep coming, too: a second child, a promotion, or a move. A benefits platform is somewhere cover gets looked at again each time, so it isn't bought once and forgotten.

In the FCA's own consumer research, 41% of people who hold any cover hold at least some of it through an employee benefits package. Among people with no cover, 41% have thought about it in the last five years and not acted. The reasons they give are:

• other financial priorities
• not knowing where to start
• not feeling confident choosing
• cost

Where a benefit sits matters. Average benefits use across the industry is just 13%, and employees who feel their benefits meet their needs are 3x more likely to stay.

People also want to feel that their employer cares about them and the people they love. Someone who goes home and says they've sorted life cover through their benefits is telling their family that somebody thought about them.

When should employees review their life insurance? 

Employees should review their life cover at every big life moment and once a year, and on Heka each check takes a few minutes. 

Surely lets someone raise or lower their cover within the policy's limits with no new health questions, and raise it by more at listed life events such as a new baby, a mortgage or a pay rise. The needs calculator helps them understand how much cover they might need.

What are the limits of life insurance through employee benefits?

Life cover on Heka is personal cover the employee chooses and pays for, redeeming Heka credits against the premium, so it suits most everyday needs but doesn't replace advice for complex situations such as business protection or estate planning.

Credits are finite, so money spent on cover is money not spent on something else. Anyone with a complicated estate, a business to protect, or questions about trusts should speak to a regulated financial adviser.

What should employers take from the FCA's protection gap findings?

Most people without cover have never been asked at the right moment, and employers already hold a budget and a platform that can ask them.

The 58% of UK adults with no protection cover aren't a lost cause. Most have simply never been prompted. Life cover is something an employer can make available through the benefits budget it has already set aside, and it sits alongside everything else a health-led benefits offer does.

Personalised benefits. Preventative health. Better business.

Already a Heka customer? Log in and search 'Surely' to find your cover and needs calculator.
Not with Heka yet? Get in touch to find out how.

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FAQs

What is life insurance?

Life insurance  pays out to the people who depend on someone if that person dies. The money means that the mortgage still gets paid, the children stay in the same school and the parent who is left can afford to keep working. With Surely, cover is arranged in minutes and can change as life does. 

Is personal life insurance on Heka the same as death in service?

No. Death in service is set by the employer, usually as a multiple of salary, and normally ends when someone leaves. Life cover through Surely on Heka is a personal policy in the employee's own name. They choose how much cover they need, and it can sit alongside death in service or fill the gap where an employer doesn't offer it.

Do you have to pick one amount and stick with it?

No. With Surely, cover can be turned up or down within the policy's limits as life changes, so a new baby, a bigger mortgage or a pay rise doesn't mean starting again. You can change it yourselves, and the premium changes with it.

What if someone gets the amount wrong?

Life insurance cover can be changed, a first guess isn't a final one. With Surely, customers are reminded to check their cover once a year. Some cover is better than none.

Why should someone get life insurance now rather than later?

With Surely, the health questions are asked once, at the start, and never again at renewal. The premium is based on age and health at application and rises a little each year with age. Health is never reassessed, and Surely won't refuse to renew because it has changed. The younger and healthier someone is when they start, the better.

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Certua Life Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority. Firm reference 1043718.