Somebody in a firm of four, or eight, or fifteen has been asked what private medical cover for the staff would cost, and the first discovery is that nothing is listed: a group scheme is quoted against your own staff list, and the quote cannot start until an insurer has it. This page is about that request — what a small business is asked for, what to have ready before you ask, and what is different when the headcount is very small. The decision underneath it is whether to set a scheme up at all, and for whom. A broker can price that for you, one staff list put to several insurers at once, at no cost. The form on this page reaches such a broker.
This site holds no group scheme wording from any insurer and no premium data, so nothing here says what AXA Health, Aviva, Bupa, Vitality or WPA will write for a firm your size; the per-head cost of a company scheme, how a group scheme is built and using a broker have pages of their own.
What you are asked for before anyone will quote a small business
Direct to an insurer or through a broker, a request for small business health insurance quotes comes down to the same handful of inputs; a firm of two hundred hands over the same ones, and in a firm of six each shows in the price.
| What you are asked for | Why | Have ready |
|---|---|---|
| Who is to be covered | Built from the people on it; age generally moves it most | Names, dates of birth, and where each person works from |
| Who is eligible | Schemes are usually written for a defined group, not hand-picked members | A rule in one sentence: all staff, everyone above a grade, directors only |
| Dependants | Partners and children change the per-head figure and who pays it | Whether they are in, and whether the firm or the employee pays for them |
| The cover | Excess, out-patient limit, hospital list and options each move the price | One specification, settled before you ask (two sections down) |
| The underwriting basis | It decides how each person’s existing conditions are treated | Whether anyone on the list has a condition that matters to them |
| The business | The contract is with the firm, not with any one member | The entity’s name and address, a start date, and any cover that exists already |
We have not read any insurer’s application form, so take the table as the shape of the request, not its wording; only the eligibility rule and the specification take thought.
What changes when the headcount is two, five or ten
Searches for small business and SME cover come from firms ranging from one director to a hundred staff, and three things change as the headcount shrinks.
Whether a scheme can be written at all. No law sets small business health insurance rules; each insurer sets its own floor for how few people it will write a scheme for, and whether directors with no employees count. We hold no group wording, so cannot put a number on anyone’s minimum; ask more than one insurer. A business of one (what a search for an “LLC” usually means here is a limited company) is usually looking at an individual policy, perhaps paid for by the company: see private health insurance for company directors and cover for contractors.
The list is the price. In a large scheme no single person’s age shows in the figure. In a team of four, one person in their late fifties is a quarter of the group, and the quote generally reflects that. A small firm’s per-head figure therefore moves with who joins and who leaves; ask what the quote becomes if the headcount changes by one.
One claim is a large share of the group’s claims. A scheme’s renewal tends to reflect what the group as a whole claimed, and in a small group a single operation can be most of the year’s claims. Ask before the first year starts how a scheme this small is rated at renewal; the general reasons any renewal moves are on what to expect from a renewal price.
Where the market sits: as an indicative range and nothing more, UK group cover is talked about at roughly £500 to £1,200 per employee per year. It is a band from general knowledge rather than a quote, it belongs to no named insurer, and the per-head figure is generally said to ease as a group grows, which is a reason for a very small firm not to budget on the bottom of it. Your firm’s figure is a quote on the people on your list; it comes back per head, which is what the budget needs. Asking a broker takes minutes, costs nothing, and starts at the form on this page.
Settle the cover before you ask, or the quotes will not compare
Asking three insurers for “a quote” gets back three products. Two group quotes only compare if both were priced on the same excess, out-patient limit, hospital list and underwriting basis, so decide those first and send one specification to everyone. Each has its own page: the excess, benefit limits, the hospital list and how existing conditions are handled. Which way each moves the price is well known: a bigger excess, a lower out-patient cap, a shorter hospital list or a guided route where the insurer picks the specialist all tend to bring the premium down; by how much, only your own quote shows.
The underwriting basis deserves more thought in a small firm, because you know the people. The four routes AXA Health’s handbook names — a moratorium, full medical underwriting, medical history disregarded and continuing medical exclusions — are quoted on the pre-existing conditions page linked above. Vitality’s individual plan wording puts what a moratorium does plainly:
“The moratorium excludes all conditions that you were aware of during the five years before your cover began, even if you have not needed to see a GP about them or taken prescribed medicine”
— Vitality, Membership Guide (Your Personal Healthcare plan terms and conditions), August 2024, page 48, read 10 October 2026. We read an intermediary’s copy, not one on Vitality’s own site, and it is an individual plan’s wording, not any group scheme’s.
Read it as the employer: if one of five people has a back problem they have never seen a doctor about, a moratorium worded like that excludes it, and a basis that disregards history might not. Which bases an insurer offers a group of your size is stated in no wording we hold, so ask in writing, then choose once, for everyone, before the quotes go out.
The questions to put to a broker about a scheme this size
Most of what separates two quotes for a small group is not printed on either. Ask these, and keep the answers in writing:
- Which insurers will write a scheme for a group of our size, and does a directors-only group count?
- Which underwriting bases does each offer at our headcount, and what does each do for the person whose history we are worried about?
- Is the per-head figure fixed for the year, and what happens if one person joins or leaves part-way through?
- Who pays the excess when a member claims — the member or the firm — and can that be chosen?
- Are dependants inside the per-head figure or priced separately, and can the employee pay for them rather than the firm?
Then the tax, which changes what the scheme costs the people on it. As we understand the general position, a premium the firm pays for an employee’s cover — a director’s included — is normally a benefit in kind for that person, reported to HMRC and taxed in their hands. That is our understanding rather than tax advice, and the subject is set out in full on private health insurance, P11D and benefit in kind. Tell staff the scheme is taxable when you offer it, not when the first coding notice arrives.
Questions small employers ask before they get a quote
How do I get, or set up, health insurance for a small business?
Decide who is eligible and what cover you want, list the people with their ages and work locations, and send the same request to several insurers, or to a broker who will. The quotes come back per head; compare them on the basis they were written on before you compare them on price.
How much does group health insurance cost a small business?
As an indicative range only, not an offer to your firm, UK group cover is generally talked about at £500 to £1,200 per employee per year; we hold no insurer’s rates. What your firm would pay is a quote priced on your own list, which a broker can obtain without charge.
Why is small business health insurance so expensive?
We hold no premium data, so we cannot say what any firm pays. Two general reasons the figure can feel high in a small firm: the ages of a few people set the price, and the per-head figure tends to be higher for a small group than for a large one.
Can my small business pay for my health insurance?
In general, yes: a company can pay the premium for a director or an employee, and as we understand the general position it is then normally a benefit in kind for that person; whether that beats buying personally is an accountant’s question.
What is the best small business health insurance?
We rank no insurer and cannot say a policy is right for you; “best” is a specification — basis, excess, limit, hospital list — that suits the people on your list. See how business private health insurance compares.
Do AXA Health, Aviva, Bupa, Vitality or WPA cover small businesses?
Every document we hold from them was written for an individual or a family, so which of them writes a scheme at your headcount is not something we can tell you, and what our files lack says nothing about what an insurer offers. One caution: “Aviva small business insurance” may mean liability or premises cover rather than medical cover, so be sure which you are asking for.
Is a health cash plan an option for a small business instead?
A different product: a cash plan pays fixed sums towards routine costs such as dental and optical bills rather than funding private treatment. The difference is on health cash plans versus private health insurance.
If you have the list and the specification, the rest is a request: an FCA-authorised broker will put the same one to several insurers and say what each would write for a group your size. Hand it over via the form on this page.