A key person is anyone whose absence would seriously affect the running of the business. This could be anyone from the Chairman to those with a specialist skill in their department.
One of the great risks of a business partnership is that one of the partners may die or suffer a specified critical illness, with his or her share of the business passing to their beneficiaries. The safety net is a pre-arranged scheme to ensure the surviving partners have enough funds to buy out the departed partner's interest in the business.
A Relevant Life Plan is a death-in-service benefit taken out by a company on behalf of an employee.
In the interests of financial security, business stability, and continuity - particularly for private limited companies where there may only be a small number of principal shareholders - it is important to provide a safety net following the loss of a shareholder