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Download Scottish Widows’ new Business Protection risk report
Growth is what many business owners work hard for: more clients, more revenue, more employees and more opportunities.
But new Scottish Widows research suggests that growth can also introduce new risks that many businesses have yet to fully address. Growth can create a contradiction.
The business may appear more resilient from the outside while becoming more dependent, more indebted and more exposed behind the scenes.
A business that once relied mainly on its founder may now depend on key employees.
A manageable borrowing facility may have become a significant debt commitment.
A simple ownership structure may now involve shareholders, succession plans or personal guarantees.
Nearly a quarter of businesses could survive for no more than one month if their owner became unable to work, our research conducted by YouGov found.*
Yet while the business moves on, protection arrangements do not always move with it.
That is the risk advisers can help clients spot. The protection may be there, but it may no longer reflect the business that exists today.
Growth changes the nature of risk
As businesses grow, what mattered in the early years may not be what matters most today.
The Scottish Widows research shows that 86.7% say their cost of doing business is higher than a year ago, highlighting the pressure many firms face as they continue to grow.*
That’s why growth should be treated as a natural point to review protection.
Not because something has gone wrong, but because the business may have quietly outgrown the assumptions its cover was built on.
Growth can increase reliance on key people
One of the biggest assumptions in business is that growth automatically creates resilience.
In reality, growth can make a business more dependent on a small number of people: the person clients ask for by name, the specialist others rely on, or the leader who holds the team together.
Half of SMEs rely on just one or two key people to help drive the business forward.
In our research, nearly a quarter (23%) say they could continue trading for no more than one month if they lost a key person for a sustained period, while 39% say they could continue for only up to six months.*
Revenue may be higher and the business may appear stronger, but if one individual remains critical to operations, sales, expertise or leadership, growth alone does not guarantee resilience.
Success often comes with bigger liabilities
Growth often brings borrowing, equipment finance and working capital facilities.
These can support expansion, but they can also increase exposure where repayment remains linked to a business owner or key individual.
Scottish Widows’ research found that among businesses with commercial borrowing, 15% say repayment depends on a personal guarantee, while 9% say borrowing is linked to personal assets.*
That means business risk can quickly become personal risk. And those risks rarely stay static just because the cover does.
Protection can become frozen in time
Protection can easily become frozen in time. A policy established when a company employed five people may still be in place when it employs twenty.
Our research also highlights a significant advice gap. Almost half (45%) of SME owners have never sought advice about business protection, despite the increasing complexity that often comes with growth.*
Often, the business has moved on, and the protection review has not moved with it.
Sales strategies, recruitment plans, budgets and forecasts are regularly revisited as a business expands.
Protection arrangements do not always receive the same scrutiny.
Where advisers can add value
For advisers, growth creates a natural reason to revisit assumptions that may no longer be true.
The next business protection conversation may not start with a new prospect, but with an existing client whose business has changed since cover was arranged.
Rather than asking whether a client has cover, advisers can explore whether it still reflects the business as it exists today.
These are business milestones, but they’re protection review milestones too.
Provide a practical way to talk about what has changed, what now depends on whom, and whether the plan still meets those needs.
Success doesn’t remove exposure
Ironically, some of the most exposed businesses may be the ones doing everything else right.
They’ve grown, borrowed, recruited, expanded. The protection simply hasn’t evolved at the same pace.
A growing business should not only review its forecasts and finances.
It should also review the people, debt and ownership risks behind that growth.
Scottish Widows’ research shows that one in 10 businesses would cease trading immediately if the owner became unable to work because of an unexpected health issue, while a further 18% say they could continue for only one month.*
Many of these businesses may look stable from the outside.
Advisers have a chance to help clients recognise that a business can be doing well and still be exposed.
Growth changes almost every part of a business: revenue, people, borrowing, ownership and responsibility.
Protection should not be the one thing left behind.
The adviser opportunity is helping clients recognise that success and vulnerability are not opposites. Sometimes, they grow side by side.
*Scottish Widows Business Protection Research, YouGov 2026
Discover where businesses are most exposed, identify common protection gaps, and explore ways to turn client discussions into valuable advice opportunities.
Download Scottish Widows’ new Business Protection risk report