If an individual who had life insurance provided by their employer as part of a group life insurance policy leaves the business, they no longer have access to their policy and would need to take out a new individual policy should they wish to keep the cover that they have become used to. This applies equally to those that choose to retire or terminate their employment to move to another job and this is not affected by the amount of time served at the company. Should an employee die after they have left the employment of the company that provided their death in service benefit, their family will not receive anything from that particular policy.
In some very rare cases, an employer may be able to make a temporary provision of continuity of death in service cover for an employee who has been made redundant. This is done in special cases to ensure that an ex-employee remains covered by the plan until such time as they are signed up to a new employer’s benefits package. The old cover will typically be time-limited so should a company wish to effect this provision, they would need to confirm the exact requirements and timescales with their insurance company and the individual concerned before the redundancy takes effect.