Awareness of Relevant Life Plans (RLPs) has reduced by 24% in the last two years, with only 28% of businesses being aware of such policies in 2015, according to Legal & General.

The insurer’s research, which surveyed nearly 850 business owners across various industries, showed that awareness was higher two years previous, with 37% of owners in 2013 knowing about RLPs.

Among the respondents who had heard of RLPs, 47% had taken one out. 52% of those who had taken an RLP out had done so with a financial adviser.

Of the 53% who had not taken out an RLP, 31% “did not see the need for it” and 27% said they “did not know enough about it”. However, after an explanation of what an RLP is, only 12% of these business owners said they either “definitely” or “probably” wouldn’t be interested in such a policy.

The research found that those businesses least likely to have heard of RLPs were not for profits, small businesses and those in the property/real estate and education sectors.

Richard Kateley, head of specialist protection at Legal & General, said: “Relevant Life Plans are policies which many employees would like to be offered by their company, if only they knew about them. However our research shows that few know they exist and therefore are unaware of the benefits they could offer. Our research actually shows that there has been a reduction in this awareness among business owners over the last few years.

“Once business owners learn about the product, nearly 50% had taken one out, showing an impressive conversation rate and advisers have played a massive part in this awareness. But this just shows that both advisers and providers have much more work to do.

“It’s important that these policies are raised with business owners as clearly many of them are keen for such conversations, and they can often lead to wider discussions around business protection policies.”