Life Events lets your employees change their benefits mid-year when something significant happens, such as getting married, having a child, buying a home or a change in relationship status. The benefits affected by the event unlock for 30 days so they can make their changes, and you keep oversight throughout.
See it in action 👇
This guide covers what you need to know: getting set up, what employees can change, managing open windows, and approving changes.
🗓️ Before you start
Turning on Life Events
Speak to your Benefits Consultant to turn on Life Events for your platform.
💡 Why life events matter
Insurers usually lock benefit choices for the year to keep schemes fairly priced. They all recognise that some things can’t wait for renewal, though. Life Events builds those exceptions into the platform.
👀 What your employees see
Your employee reports the event from their dashboard. They choose what happened, enter the date, and confirm it’s true. Their relevant benefit cards then unlock for 30 days, with a banner showing how long they’ve got.
They can make changes, save them, come back and change their mind. Nothing is submitted until they’re ready. When they’re done, they close their own window and everything goes off together.
🔓 What they can change
What employees can change depends on the benefit and how your scheme is set up:
- Life, income protection and critical illness: if your scheme rules allow flexing, employees will see the change options available under your scheme. If they don’t, nothing changes on these cards during a life event.
- Private medical, cash plans and dental: employees can update who’s covered, such as adding a new baby. Some cash plans also allow a change of level, where your scheme permits it.
👩💼 Managing life events
Seeing who has an open window
Filter your employee list by life event to see who has a window open.
Raising an event for someone
If an employee comes to you directly rather than reporting it themselves, you can raise the event on their behalf.
Closing a window early
If someone has finished, you can close their window early instead of waiting out the 30 days.
📅 Events more than 30 days ago
If an employee tries to report something older than 30 days, they’ll see a message pointing them to you. Some insurers will allow a late change on request. Once the provider has agreed, you can open a window manually for that employee for the period agreed.
✅ Approving the changes
When a window closes, what happens next depends on how your platform is set up. Requests either go through automatically or land in your approvals list for review, the same way your existing benefit approvals work today.
Every life event change is tagged as one, so your reporting shows clearly which changes came from an event rather than a renewal.
❓ Common questions
What counts as a life event?
You decide. The events your employees can choose from are set up for your scheme, so they’ll only see the ones you’ve configured. Common examples include getting married, having a child, buying a home, or a change in relationship status.
How long do employees have to make changes?
30 days. A banner on their dashboard shows how long is left.
Can I tell which changes came from a life event?
Yes. Every life event change is tagged, so it’s clear in your reporting.
🙋 Need help?
Get in touch with your Drewberry adviser and they’ll be happy to help.