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Life Insurance and Wellness Benefits: What UK SMEs Need to Know

Have you seen that UK small and mid-sized businesses are increasing their focus on employee health and wellbeing? Gone are the days when salary was all that mattered; now employees' overall health and wellbeing comes first. Now teams expect support for physically and financially secure employees. A life insurance wellness programme brings these pieces together, giving your staff peace of mind about the future while supporting their wellbeing every day.

Almost all UK SMEs now see employee wellbeing as important to business success. Research indicates that 99 per cent of SME leaders believe wellbeing to be of great significance, and 92 per cent would pay more to include wellbeing services alongside insurance coverage for their company. Such investments lead to greater satisfaction, productivity, and retention rates among staff members. 

Still, many small- to mid-sized enterprises (SMEs) still fail to take full advantage of the benefits available through digital channels like an employee benefits app; uptake can often be low. Delivering benefits via an employee benefits app makes engagement with these benefits simpler for teams across your organisation. Tools like GoJoe help deliver wellness content, fitness challenges, and wellbeing support alongside core insurance benefits in a way employees will use and value.

Why Life Insurance and Wellness Benefits Matter for UK SMEs

1. They Provide Financial Security

Life insurance provides employees with peace of mind if the unexpected should arise, signalling to staff that you care for their long-term security beyond just what goes on at work. By including it as part of a wider wellbeing initiative, this activity shows them you care beyond working hours alone.

2. They Support Mental and Physical Health

Wellbeing benefits go beyond emergency cover. Employee wellness benefits help employees maintain good health and manage stress effectively at work. Mental health services, fitness support services and lifestyle resources all play a part in creating healthier workforce environments while decreasing employee absence rates and their associated costs. 

3. They Help with Recruitment and Retention

Health and wellbeing benefits have become a central element in job decisions for younger workers, particularly among Millennials. According to surveys conducted, employees often value access to healthcare as much as salary – offering benefits packages with both life insurance and wellbeing support will allow you to retain existing talent as well as attract prospective talent when hiring.

What a Life Insurance Wellness Program Includes

A strong life insurance wellness programme typically combines:

A. Core Life Cover

  • Group life insurance – Protects beneficiaries in case an employee dies. 
  • Add-ons – You can add critical illness cover or income protection policies to help your staff through health challenges.

This financial safety net reassures employees and families and builds a solid foundation for other wellbeing support.

B. Daily Wellness Support

Wellness benefits help prevent health issues and improve overall wellbeing:


Mental health resources – Online counselling, stress support and wellbeing content.
Lifestyle and fitness content – Nutrition guides, fitness challenges and activity tracking.
Preventive tools – Access to remote GP services or health checks.

These tools make wellbeing part of an employee’s daily life. Digital delivery through employee benefit apps helps remove barriers to use, so teams are more likely to engage with the support available.

How UK SMEs Are Changing Their Benefits Approach

UK SMEs are actively reviewing their employee benefits to meet changing expectations. Around 77 per cent of small and medium businesses are planning to overhaul their benefits packages to improve health, wellbeing support and talent attraction. Many are looking at preventative benefits and wellness services to bolster core insurance offerings.

Insurance and wellbeing support have quickly become part of SME considerations in employee experience evaluation. Around 82% of UK SMEs offer at least one health or wellbeing benefit insured through at least one insurer; yet uptake for tools like online fitness programmes remains low compared to insurance-based benefits. Employee Benefits This indicates there's potential for businesses using digital tools to make these benefits more accessible and valuable to employees.

How to Build an Effective Life Insurance Wellness Program

1. Understand What Matters to Your Team

Start by asking your staff what wellbeing support they value most. Do they want stress management resources, fitness tracking or preventive health support? Feedback helps you design relevant benefits.

2. Choose Flexible Insurance Cover

Search for life insurance packages that allow you to include resources for wellness, such as mental health support, fitness content or preventive healthcare access.

3. Use Digital Tools Like GoJoe

A digital platform like GoJoe helps bring your life insurance wellness program to life. With GoJoe’s employee benefits app, your team can access fitness challenges, wellbeing content and health-focused tools in one place. This increases engagement and makes benefits easier to use regularly.

4. Communicate Benefits Regularly

Benefits only work if people know about them. Use team meetings, onboarding and internal emails to remind staff what’s available and how to access it through your benefits app. Regular promotion helps improve uptake.

5. Monitor and Improve

Follow usage and collect feedback from your team using an employee benefits app, then use its insights to modify offerings, remove underutilised elements and focus on providing real value to employees.

Key Takeaways

  • Life insurance wellness programmes combine financial protection and everyday health support into one holistic programme.
  • UK SMEs increasingly recognise the significance of wellbeing benefits and are willing to invest in them more heavily.
  • Many small to medium enterprises (SMEs) provide insurance-based benefits; however, uptake can be minimal without easy-access tools like apps.
  • Offering employee benefits through an employee benefits app makes them simpler for staff members to use and increases engagement.
  • Combining insurance and wellness tools helps retain employees, enhance productivity and ensure employee happiness.

Common Questions from UK SMEs

What is a life insurance wellness programme?
It’s a benefits strategy that pairs life insurance protection with wellbeing support to improve staff health and security.

How do employee benefit apps help?
They bring insurance details, wellness content, reminders and tools into one place so staff can use their benefits easily and often.

Can small UK businesses afford this?
Yes. Many providers offer scalable options tailored to SME needs and budgets. Using digital delivery reduces overheads and increases usage.

Wrapping Up

A life insurance wellness programme is essential for UK SMEs that want to support both the financial security and everyday wellbeing of their team. Offering insurance cover alongside proactive health and wellbeing support improves satisfaction and strengthens your benefits package.

GoJoe’s employee benefits app helps make wellbeing simple and engaging. Through GoJoe, your team can access fitness content, mental health support, activity challenges and more, all in one place. Using such employee benefit apps increases uptake and makes your benefits work harder for staff.

If you’re ready to make benefits meaningful and build a healthier, more supported workforce, explore how GoJoe can support your life insurance wellness programme and help you deliver benefits that truly matter to your team.

You can also check out our articles.

Health & Life Insurance Trends Impacting UK SMEs in 2026

Best Health & Life Insurance Providers Supporting SME Employee Wellbeing in the UK

How SME Employers in the UK Can Enhance Employee Wellness with Health Insurance