By San-Marié Crause, Managing Executive for Group Risk at Sanlam Corporate and Reiner van Gijsen, Head: Pricing and Governance for Group Risk at Sanlam Corporate

Group risk insurance – as part of a suite of comprehensive employee benefits – is often treated as a commodity or even described as a grudge purchase on annual procurement plans. These views overlook its critical function in a country like ours, where group insurance provides the most inclusive safety net, protecting millions of households when tragedy strikes. But the system only fulfils its purpose if it works quickly and consistently.

The role of group risk

Behind every policy sits a breadwinner like Lwandile: one of 13 million employed South Africans who supports four or more dependents on average. When tragedy strikes, entire households and extended families are placed at risk of financial collapse. Group risk insurance is designed to prevent that: it protects families, preserves dignity, and sustains the broader social system. That is far more than a commodity.

Group cover also delivers economies of scale. Pooled schemes and proof-free limits mean lower expense ratios than retail. For many lower-income earners – who face an insurance gap of up to 96% (True South Insurance Gap Study 2022) – this is the only cover they will ever have. But unless the system works faster and simpler, families will continue to face unnecessary hardship.

Claims realities: What the data shows

The 2025 Sanlam Benchmark research, based on more than 30 000 mortality claims across six years, reveals a sobering picture. Funeral and unapproved death claims now take more than twice as long to finalise as a few years ago. This is not just a delay in paperwork; it is a delay in closure and survival for families like Lwandile’s.

Three forces drive these delays:

• Incomplete submissions: Only 1% of claims are submitted with all documents upfront; nearly 20% require multiple follow-ups, stretching timelines by up to 35%.
• Estate payments: Group life claims paid into estates have doubled. These take 4.5 times longer than those paid to nominated beneficiaries.
• Multiple beneficiaries: More than half of unapproved claims involve two or more beneficiaries; nearly a fifth involve four or more. Each additional beneficiary adds verification, documentation, and time.

Regulation is essential but it must be matched by efficiency, so families are not left waiting.

The case for standardisation

Most roads lead to one fixable issue: Beneficiary Nomination Forms (BNFs). Missing or inconsistent BNFs are the single biggest cause of delays, leaving households without critical funds. The answer lies in industry-wide standardisation:

• A single BNF, in plain language and in all official languages, portable across insurers.
• Common data fields so records are compatible.
• One-touch claims processes with embedded verification.
• Shared benchmarks across providers.

Where simplified forms and education have been introduced, BNF completion rates already approach 100% and payout times are cut by up to a third. Standardising once could make this the norm.

Beyond price: efficiency in design

Group risk benefits work best as long-term partnerships, not transactional swaps. They are the most inclusive cover in our market, where cross-subsidies actively favour vulnerable groups. When integrated with healthcare, retirement, and wellness benefits, they safeguard futures, not just claims.

Treating group risk as a commodity fuels a procurement “roller-coaster” that destabilises underwriting and weakens service delivery. True efficiency comes from long-term stability: sustainable pricing, continuity of cover, meaningful proof-free limits, and administration systems that reduce duplication rather than multiply it.

It also means designing benefits that reflect claim trends. Cancer, for instance, now accounts for 20% of disability income claims and over half of severe illness claims. Sanlam’s Impact Range cancer-only cover pays 100% at all stages for specified aggressive cancers. Efficiency here is about ensuring cover is relevant and effective when families need it most, backed by expertise to manage complex conditions and recurring claims.

Practical interventions

As an industry, we cannot afford to stand still. At Sanlam Corporate, we are taking steps to close knowledge gaps and improve claims efficiency, through for example:

• Education that drives outcomes: Group risk is among the least-understood benefits. Meeting members in their own languages at shift changes or in salary queues has proven transformative, dramatically improving nomination form completion and claim turnaround.
• Standardisation: Shared BNFs across insurers will simplify processes and reduce rework.
• One-touch processing: AI-assisted claims handling, embedded verification, and live dashboards are already making claims faster and more transparent.
• Product evolution: With cancer driving such a high share of disability and severe illness claims, tailored benefits like cancer-only cover are being introduced.

Stronger together

There is a proverb: when elephants fight, it is the grass that suffers. In our industry, the “grass” is the breadwinner’s family left waiting while inefficiencies delay payment. As insurers, consultants, employers, and trustees, we share a responsibility to make group risk work better. That means standardising critical forms, educating members practically, pricing for sustainability, evolving products to today’s health profile, and balancing compliance with compassion.

Group risk is not a commodity. It is confidence infrastructure: the dignity of a funeral held on time, the stability of an income after disability and the peace of mind from knowing your cover is relevant and reliable. If we unite around efficiency – especially through standardisation – we will protect families today, while strengthening retirement provision and social stability for tomorrow.