Growth within the UK group risk market slowed in 2025 as the employers’ National Insurance (NI) increase from April 2025 saw businesses look to prioritise cost containment over benefit expansion, according to Swiss Re’s annual Group Watch report.
Overall, the number of in-force group risk policies increased by 1.4% to 96,006, down from the 3.2% growth seen the previous year. Despite these pressures, the total number of people insured across the market still grew by 3.5%, reaching 16,204,721. Total in-force premiums increased by 2.0%.
Keith Williams, Head of Group Risk UKI at Swiss Re, said: “While the market demonstrated resilience by continuing to grow in 2025, the headwinds created by the April National Insurance increases were undeniable. We saw a discernible change as employers were forced to pivot away from using benefits for talent attraction, focusing instead on cost control and productivity.
It is a challenging environment for businesses, but the fact that the total number of people insured across the market still grew by 3.5% demonstrates the underlying value that both employers and employees continue to place on group risk protection. These financial constraints are also practically reshaping how specific benefits are designed and delivered across the market.”
Ron Wheatcroft, Technical Manager, L&H UKI at Swiss Re, said: “The 2026 data show clear structural changes as employers navigate affordability constraints, most notably the increasing trend toward shorter benefit payment periods in long-term disability income cover and the growth in CI cover, which is largely member-paid.
We also saw a 27.3% surge in the number of people covered by Excepted Group Life Policies. This sharp increase means the market cost for trustees assessing potential periodic tax liabilities on the trusts holding these policies is also rising, reinforcing our call for the Government to exempt trusts holding pure protection policies from tax.
Looking ahead, industry respondents anticipate that while growth will be modest in the short term, the market is moving from a phase of expansion to one of optimisation. The report highlights the Government’s “Keep Britain Working” review as a major opportunity for the sector.”
Wheatcroft concluded: “The ‘Keep Britain Working’ review represents a significant chance for the sector. It allows us to continue to reframe group risk primarily as workforce health infrastructure rather than just as insurance, highlighting the vital early intervention and vocational rehabilitation support we can provide to employers and workers as the work of the Review is taken forward to its next phases.”
Commenting on Swiss Re’s Group Watch 2026, Katharine Moxham, spokesperson for GRiD said:
“It’s always great to see growth, and growth arising out of what was a difficult economic period is a powerful reflection of the value employers continue to place on their group risk protection benefits and the extra support services that come embedded within them. Employers want benefits that offer tangible ROI, and group risk has moved from being a reactive financial payout to a proactive health management tool.
It’s particularly pleasing to see the growth in the number of policies held by SMEs (employers with fewer than 250 employees) which debunks the myth that these are benefits only provided by larger employers. Smaller employers also value both the financial protection and the breadth of health and wellbeing support embedded in our products.
In fact, and particularly for smaller employers, taking out a group risk policy is the quickest, easiest and most cost-effective way to implement a comprehensive health and wellbeing programme for their people.”
