Group Insurance Programs
If you work for a CANS or CAPEI member company, your household qualifies for a group rate on home and auto insurance — at no cost to your employer, and with a broker who places it across markets rather than one carrier.
01 / What It Is
A Group Rate on the Policy You Would Have Bought Anyway
Group home and auto is not a stripped-down product, and it is not group benefits. It is a discount applied to ordinary personal insurance policies — the same forms, the same limits, the same deductibles you would have chosen on your own — priced for the group rather than the individual. In Nova Scotia the group rating element is a filed, approved part of the insurer’s risk-classification system, which is why it is real and why no broker can invent it.
Eligibility runs through the organization rather than through employment with us or with the insurer. Premiums are paid entirely by the person insured. There is no payroll deduction, no employer contribution, and nothing for a member company to administer. Stanhope Simpson runs the programmes for member companies of the Construction Association of Nova Scotia and the Construction Association of Prince Edward Island.
Two Programs, One Office
Each has its own page, with the coverages, the discounts that stack on top of the group rate, and the enrolment steps set out in full.
For employees of Construction Association of Nova Scotia member companies. CANS represents around 800 commercial construction firms across the Atlantic region.
For employees of Construction Association of Prince Edward Island member companies, covering the Island’s commercial construction industry.
03 / Eligibility
Who Qualifies
Eligibility runs through your employer’s membership, not through you. It reaches further into the household than most people expect.
Household eligibility and the rating protections above reflect the Nova Scotia risk-classification regulations. The definition that governs any individual policy is the one in the insurer’s filed classification system — we will confirm yours before you commit to anything.
Who |
Qualifies? |
What applies |
|---|---|---|
04 / Why a Broker
Why This One Runs Through a Broker
Most group home and auto programmes in Canada are run by a single direct writer. That works until you are the member who does not fit their box — and then the benefit your employer advertised is the thing that turns you down.
- One carrier means one set of underwriting rules. A direct programme can only say yes or no. If your loss history, your rural property, your older home or your high-value contents fall outside the rules, there is nowhere else inside the programme to go.
- We apply the group rate through whichever insurer fits. We place group business across several markets, so the rate lands on the policy that actually suits the household rather than the one carrier that happens to sponsor the programme.
- A group rate on the wrong policy is still the wrong policy. The discount is worth having. It is worth less than a wording that answers the claim you actually make.
- You get a broker, not a call centre. The same office handles mid-term changes, renewal reviews and claims, and reads the wording back to you when something goes wrong.
- We have worked with the Atlantic construction sector for decades. The person rating your truck already knows what is in the back of it.
05 / For Employers
For Member Companies: What This Costs You
If you run or manage a CANS or CAPEI member company, this is a benefit you can offer your people without adding a line to the budget or a task to payroll.
- It costs the company nothing. Premiums are paid entirely by the individual. The member company carries no part of the cost and no part of the risk.
- There is nothing to administer. No payroll deduction, no enrolment window, no minimum participation, no annual renewal process for you to run.
- It is voluntary, individually and entirely. Your people deal with us directly. Nobody has to take part, and you never see who did.
- Nobody loses it by changing jobs. An employee who leaves keeps their policies, and in Nova Scotia their classification is protected through to the next renewal.
- We will give you something to hand out. Co-branded material for your intranet, your onboarding package or a toolbox talk — written so it does not read as an insurance advertisement.
06 / How to Join
How to Join
There is no enrolment form and no window to miss. It works the same way as any other quote, except that the group rate is applied when we place it.
- Confirm your employer is a member. If you are not sure, tell us where you work and we will check it.
- Send us your current declaration pages. Home and auto, and anything else you carry. We read what you have before we quote against it.
- We market it, group rate included. Across our markets rather than to one carrier, so the comparison is real.
- You see what changed and what it costs. Coverage differences first, price second. If your current policy is better, we will tell you that.
- We handle the switch. Cancellations, effective dates and any gap in between.
07 / Other Options
Not With CANS or CAPEI?
- Other associations and member organizations. Nova Scotia’s rating rules recognise occupational and professional associations, and non-profits that have been running at least two years. If that is your organization, a programme is possible — talk to us about what it takes.
- Employers outside construction. A single employer can sponsor a programme for its own staff on the same no-cost basis.
- Personal insurance — the same home, auto, recreational and high-value coverage at standard rates, if no programme applies to you.
- Business insurance — the commercial programme for the member company itself, reviewed beside the household.
- Construction & Development — wrap-ups, builder’s risk and the bonds that go with them, for the firms these associations represent.
08 / Questions
Frequently Asked Questions About Group Insurance
We do not publish a percentage, and you should be sceptical of anyone who does. Group discounts advertised in Canada range from roughly 15 to 35 per cent, and the spread has more to do with which sponsor negotiated which deal than with what any household will actually pay. In Nova Scotia the group element is a filed, approved part of the insurer’s rating system — a broker cannot set it or vary it. What we can do is apply it and then market the file properly, so the number you see is a real comparison rather than a headline. Discounts for multiple vehicles, bundling, claims-free history and alarm systems generally stack on top of it.
No, and the difference matters. Group health and dental is usually funded largely by the employer, needs minimum enrolment to work, and is administered through payroll. Group home and auto is a voluntary personal purchase: the individual pays the whole premium, there is no minimum participation, and there is nothing for the employer to run. The only thing the two share is the word “group”.
You keep your policies either way. Nova Scotia’s risk-classification regulations specifically prevent your classification from changing before your next renewal, whether you have left the member company or the group plan itself has ended. At that renewal we review the file with you and re-market it if the rate no longer holds. Nothing lapses and nothing changes silently mid-term.
Yes. The household extension is part of how these programmes are defined in Nova Scotia: a spouse or common-law partner is included, and so are children under 25 who live at home or who are away at school full-time. Your spouse does not have to work in construction. It is the single most commonly missed part of the programme.
Nothing. There is no employer contribution, no payroll deduction, no administration and no minimum number of people who have to sign up. The member company carries no part of the premium and no part of the risk. What it gets is a benefit it can put in front of its people at no cost, and we will supply co-branded material to make that easy.
You can, and for a straightforward household it may work out fine. The limitation is structural: a single-carrier programme has one set of underwriting rules, so a member who falls outside them gets declined with nowhere else to go inside the programme. We place group business across several markets, so the group rate is applied through whichever insurer actually fits — and if the fit is poor everywhere, we will say so rather than sell you a discount on the wrong policy.
Check If You Qualify
Tell us where you work and send your current declaration pages. We will confirm eligibility, apply the group rate and show you what actually changes. You will hear back from a broker who handles the file themselves.
Ready to See What the Group Rate Does?
One conversation and your current declaration pages are enough. If your existing coverage is better than what the programme would give you, we will tell you that too.
Call (902) 454-8641, email info@stanhopesimpson.com, or use the form — whichever is fastest for you.