It is priced on the group — the age profile, location, cover level and claims history — so two firms of the same size can pay very different premiums.
How it actually works
There is no standard price for group cover, because the premium is built from your particular workforce. Insurers weigh the age profile of the staff, where they are based, the level of cover and excess you choose and, once a scheme has run for a while, its own claims history. Of those, the age mix usually moves the number most.
That is why a per-employee figure quoted in the abstract means very little. Two businesses with identical headcounts can be priced far apart if one has an older team or has chosen richer cover, so the only reliable cost is the one that comes back when your actual group is rated.
The levers that control it are the same as on individual cover, applied at group level. A higher excess, a narrower hospital list, an NHS-wait style option, or choosing a cash plan instead of full private medical insurance all bring the premium down, and you can dial them to fit a budget rather than accepting the first figure.
Getting a real number means having the group rated across several insurers, which a broker does in a single exercise, and the scheme is then repriced on the group at each renewal much like an individual policy. Comparing insurers matters as much here as anywhere, because they weigh the same group differently.
Questions to put to the insurer or broker
- What is driving our quote — the age profile, the cover level or claims?
- Which levers would cut our premium most without gutting the cover?
- How differently would other insurers price the same group?
Related questions
- Health cash plan or private medical insurance for my staff — which is better?
- Can I get company private health insurance just for myself as a director?
- Do I have to offer private health insurance to all my employees?
- How does private health insurance for a small business work in the UK?
Cover, tax and advice are three separate questions
This explains how business and group cover is structured, not what a scheme would cost you — that turns on your workforce, the cover level and the insurer. The tax treatment described is general and depends on your circumstances, so confirm it with an accountant, and use an FCA-authorised broker to arrange the scheme itself. Private medical insurance still excludes conditions an employee already has, and the chronic conditions every insurer excludes, whoever pays the premium.
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Or see how UK cover compares and the FCA-authorised broker list.