Business protection advice

Most business owners insure their premises, their stock and their equipment, yet far fewer protect the people the business actually depends on. If you or a key member of your team could not work, or died, what would happen to the business, its income, and its future?

Business protection answers that question in advance, so that a personal tragedy does not also become the end of everything you have built. We help business owners and directors across Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire put the right cover in place, in a way that is both effective and tax-efficient.

Every business has people it cannot easily do without, whether that is an owner, a director, or someone whose knowledge, relationships or skills are central to how the business makes money.

Key person cover helps provide the business with a lump sum if one of these people dies or becomes seriously ill, giving the business the financial breathing space to recover, recruit, and keep going. We help you identify who your key people are and arrange cover that reflects their real value to the business.

Relevant life cover

Relevant life cover is a tax-efficient way of providing life cover for an individual employee or director, paid for by the business. For many directors of smaller companies it can be a more efficient way of arranging personal life cover than paying for it out of taxed income, because the premiums are usually treated as a business expense and are not normally a benefit in kind.

It pays a lump sum to the individual’s family if they die. We help you understand whether relevant life cover is right for you and how it compares to personal cover.

Shareholder and partnership protection

If you own your business with other people, what would happen to their share if one of them died? Without the right arrangements, you could find yourself in business with a deceased owner’s family, or unable to buy back their share.

Shareholder protection, and its equivalent for partnerships, helps provide the funds and the legal agreements so that the remaining owners can buy the departing owner’s share, and the family receives fair value for it. It keeps control of the business where it belongs and treats everyone fairly. We help you put both the cover and the agreements in place correctly.

Protection plans do not acquire a cash value. The cover provided will cease if premiums are stopped.

Business protection is an area where how it is set up matters as much as the cover itself. The right policies, ownership and legal agreements need to work together, and getting any part of it wrong can undermine the whole arrangement or create an unexpected tax charge.

Because we advise on both the protection and the wider financial picture, we help you make sure it all fits together properly, alongside your accountant and solicitor where needed.

The legal agreements surrounding business protection plans involve services that are separate and distinct to the services offered by St. James’s Place.

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