diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/src/views/users/views/groups/groups.html b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/src/views/users/views/groups/groups.html
index dddd931b1d..119c4f559d 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/src/views/users/views/groups/groups.html
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web.UI.Client/src/views/users/views/groups/groups.html
@@ -84,6 +84,7 @@
             <a class="umb-list-item" ng-click="vm.clickUserGroup(group)" ng-class="{'umb-list-item--selected': group.selected}" href="" ng-switch-when="true">
                 <div style="margin-right: 25px;">
                     <div class="umb-list-checkbox"
+                         ng-hide="group.group.alias === 'admin'"
                          ng-class="{'umb-list-checkbox--visible': vm.selection.length > 0}"
                          ng-click="vm.selectUserGroup(group, vm.selection, $event)" >
                         <umb-checkmark checked="group.selected"></umb-checkmark>
diff --git a/src/Umbraco.Web/Editors/UserGroupsController.cs b/src/Umbraco.Web/Editors/UserGroupsController.cs
index 33b1d9dc08..18777395d3 100644
--- a/src/Umbraco.Web/Editors/UserGroupsController.cs
+++ b/src/Umbraco.Web/Editors/UserGroupsController.cs
@@ -133,7 +133,10 @@ namespace Umbraco.Web.Editors
         [UserGroupAuthorization("userGroupIds")]
         public HttpResponseMessage PostDeleteUserGroups([FromUri] int[] userGroupIds)
         {
-            var userGroups = Services.UserService.GetAllUserGroups(userGroupIds).ToArray();
+            var userGroups = Services.UserService.GetAllUserGroups(userGroupIds)
+                //never delete the admin group
+                .Where(x => x.Alias != Constants.Security.AdminGroupAlias)
+                .ToArray();
             foreach (var userGroup in userGroups)
             {
                 Services.UserService.DeleteUserGroup(userGroup);