Relevant life cover limits are set by each insurer as a multiple of the employee’s pay, and the multiple falls as the employee gets older. Across Aviva, Legal & General, Royal London and Zurich it runs from 35 times pay at the youngest ages down to 15 times at the oldest, and each insurer counts “pay” a little differently.

If you already have a director or employee in mind, describe them in the enquiry box here; the free call-back comes from an FCA-authorised broker, who can set these limits against that person’s actual pay.

How much relevant life cover can you take out at each age?

The table groups the maximum sum assured multiples by age so the gaps are visible. They come from Aviva’s key features (EDCO1771, January 2026), Legal & General’s technical guide for advisers (W13965, June 2026), Zurich’s key features (PW720504007, August 2025) and Royal London’s adviser page (undated, read 21 October 2026). Each is a ceiling, “up to” a multiple of the employee’s pay.

Employee’s ageAvivaLegal & GeneralRoyal LondonZurich
Under 3035 x (from 17)25 x (from 18)30 x30 x (from 18)
30 to 3930 x25 x30 x30 x
40 to 4925 x25 x25 x20 x
50 to 5920 x20 x20 x15 x
60 and over15 x (to 71)15 x (to 73)15 x15 x

From 40 to 59, Zurich’s multiple is the lowest of the four.

To see what that means in pounds, take a purely hypothetical employee on £60,000 a year (our arithmetic from the published multiples, not an offer). At 35, the ceiling is £1,800,000 under Aviva, Royal London and Zurich and £1,500,000 under Legal & General. At 45, it is £1,500,000 under Aviva, Legal & General and Royal London and £1,200,000 under Zurich. A ceiling is not an amount to buy; how much life cover you need is a separate question.

What counts as remuneration for the multiples?

The multiple is applied to pay, and the insurers define pay differently, especially for directors who take dividends:

  • Aviva: “Income includes salary, bonus, and dividends paid in lieu of salary plus any taxable benefit in kind.”
  • Legal & General: salary, bonuses, benefits in kind and regular dividends from shares in the employer’s company, or a company in its group.
  • Zurich: “Remuneration includes salary, bonuses, benefits in kind and dividends earned.”
  • Royal London: “Total remuneration could include dividends, benefits in kind and bonus.”

Of these four definitions, only Aviva’s ties dividends to being paid in place of salary, and only Legal & General’s says “regular”. So two directors with the same total income can face different ceilings at different insurers if one is paid mainly through a low salary topped up with dividends. The broker can go through which of your dividends would count when they call back.

What else can lower the maximum for a particular employee?

Pay and age are not the only inputs. Legal & General’s guide says the maximum “will usually depend on the employee’s age and level of remuneration”, and that other life cover in place for the employee may count as well; group scheme cover is taken into account. Under that guide a company may hold several plans on one person only up to the maximum available, and earnings evidence is asked for on any amount over £3,500,000.

A reasonableness test also applies, for tax rather than for the insurer’s ceiling. Legal & General warns that a premium the employer cannot see as a reasonable benefit may cost the plan some tax efficiency, and Royal London’s adviser guidance (20 May 2026) on tax relief says the cost of the employee’s package should be reasonable for their contribution and compared with similar businesses.

Royal London’s adviser page opens with its multiples under “We offer relevant life cover for:”, then, under the heading “Limits of our Relevant Life Plan”, beside its term and age limits, gives “Amount – unlimited cover”. It names no pound figure as a cap. How those two lines fit together for a given company is something a broker can explain when they call you back, at no cost.

Does HMRC limit how much relevant life cover a company can buy?

Not by a multiple of pay. Section 393B(4) of the Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 treats a policy paying benefits on one person’s death as a relevant life policy if it meets conditions taken from the Income Tax (Trading and Other Income) Act 2005: a capital sum on death before an age no higher than 75, no surrender value beyond unexpired premiums, nothing paid except as allowed, payments only to individuals or charities, and no main purpose of avoiding tax. None of those conditions caps the amount. HMRC’s Employment Income Manual (page dated 28 July 2020) sets out the same conditions for a policy on one person, and what relevant life insurance is explains them in full.

A rule on limits does exist for group policies. Section 481(3) of the 2005 Act, Condition B, requires an excepted group life policy to use one method for working out every death benefit and says “any limitation on those sums or other benefits is the same in the case of any death”. HMRC’s Insurance Policyholder Taxation Manual (29 April 2022) gives a free cover limit as an example of a permitted limitation. Section 393B(4) does not apply Condition B to the single-life plans in the table above, so for those the ceiling is the insurer’s own multiple.

Whether the employee is taxed on the premium is a separate point: section 307 of the 2003 Act lifts the residual benefit-in-kind charge on an employer’s provision for “a pension, annuity, lump sum, gratuity or other similar benefit which will be paid or given to the employee”, and HMRC says whether it applies depends on the circumstances. Tax rules change; treat this as a description of the law, not tax advice.

Where do the age bands start and stop?

The age bands in the table stop where each insurer’s entry ages stop: Aviva takes employees from 17 to 71 with the policy ending before the 75th birthday, while Royal London and Zurich start cover from 18 to 73. Terms, and how each insurer counts an age, are set out on the maximum age for a relevant life policy.

Frequently asked questions

What is the maximum sum assured on a relevant life policy?

There is no single figure: each insurer caps the sum by the employee’s age and pay. Among the four insurers here the highest published multiple is 35 times pay (Aviva, ages 17 to 29) and the lowest is 15 times, which Aviva, Legal & General and Royal London apply from 60 and Zurich from 50.

How much relevant life cover can a company director have?

Aviva says a single director of a limited company on PAYE can be covered, so a director’s pay is what the multiple works from. How much of their dividends count depends on the insurer’s definition above, which is worth checking before choosing an amount; relevant life insurance providers compares the plans in more detail.

What are Aviva’s relevant life policy conditions?

Aviva’s key features (January 2026) say the business “must be registered in the United Kingdom”, the employee must be at least 17 and no older than 71, and the term is 3 to 50 years. Its multiples run from 35 x income at ages 17 to 29 to 15 x income at 60 to 71.

What are Zurich’s relevant life cover limits?

Zurich’s key features (August 2025) limit the maximum sum assured to 30 x total remuneration at 18 to 39, 20 x at 40 to 49 and 15 x from 50. The policy “must be placed in a relevant life policy trust”.

If you have a particular director or employee in mind, the enquiry box on this page is free to use: an FCA-authorised broker calls you back and can test that person’s pay against each ceiling above. Whether this plan or key person cover suits the purpose is a separate question, set out in how relevant life cover differs from key person insurance, and the wider options sit in the business and workplace cover hub.

Sources