NORWICH Union Healthcare's income protection product, SafeGuard, has been relaunched with a package of better benefits and improved pricing.
NORWICH Union Healthcare's income protection product, SafeGuard, has been relaunched with a package of better benefits and improved pricing.
The new-look SafeGuard offers greater flexibility, allowing people to increase cover in a variety of circumstances without further medical underwriting, policy charge or minimum premium.
And it features two additional deferred periods of 56 and 112 weeks, making it a perfect fit with mortgage payment protection insurance.
This means a 30-year-old non-smoking office worker earning Ł30,000 pa who is accepted on standard terms, could choose a monthly tax-free* benefit of Ł1,500 payable up to the age of 60, if he needs to claim after a deferred period of 112 weeks, for a monthly premium of Ł15.15**.
Nick Homer of Norwich Union Healthcare said: "Income protection could mean the difference between keeping and losing their home for anyone who becomes unable to work through illness or injury.
"The new deferred periods available on SafeGuard mean that anyone unable to work for longer periods of time can feel reassured that income protection benefits will take over at the end of their mortgage payment protection claim period.
"And as well as significantly improving the SafeGuard benefits package, we have taken the opportunity to improve our new business pricing so that we remain highly competitive."
As well as the introduction of the two longer deferred periods, the new additional benefits now available on SafeGuard include:
- Guaranteed Insurability Option: allowing greater flexibility to increase cover due to a life event such as increase in mortgage, marriage, parenthood or significant increase in salary due to a professional qualification, without further medical underwriting, policy charge or minimum premium
- Hospital benefit: Ł75 a night, after 7 consecutive nights, paid for up to 90 further nights in hospital during the deferred period
- Retirement benefit: three times monthly benefit to be paid to claimants who have been receiving incapacity benefit for one year leading to their termination age
- Lump sum death benefit: to be paid if the claimant dies during the first year of incapacity benefit payment
- Career break option: this allows a client to decrease cover and premiums to those of a houseperson. Cover can be increased again during the next 5 years without further underwriting after the client has spent three consecutive months back in employment
- Personal Capability Assessment: to assess incapacity for housepersons, unemployed and part-time workers and people in high-risk occupations, replacing the previous "any occupation" definition
- Increase maximum benefit for housepersons: maximum is now Ł12,000 pa
Nick Homer said: "Our latest research shows that over two thirds of IFAs have income protection, but only 11% of the total working population have this kind of cover.
"We hope these improvements will help advisers to help their clients value income protection as much as they clearly do."
* Under current UK tax rules 04/200
** His initial monthly premium rate will be fixed for 5 years, it may then be reviewed annually.
Full details are in the new policy wording, available on request
Media contact
Louise Zucchi, Norwich Union Press Office
Tel. 01603 684506
Notes to Editors:
- Norwich Union Healthcare was founded in 1990 as the healthcare arm of Norwich Union and now provides a range of income protection and private medical insurance products to around 600,000 customers. It is one of the largest providers of income protection and private medical insurance in the UK.
- CGU and Norwich Union merged on 30 May 2000 to create CGNU plc - the world's 6th largest insurer, the UK's largest insurance group and one of the top-five life insurers in Europe with substantial positions in other markets around the world.
CGNU's principal business activities are long-term savings, general insurance and asset management, with worldwide premium income and retail investment sales of Ł26billion and assets under management of more than Ł200 billion.
From October, the combined life and pensions, general insurance and retail fund businesses in the UK will operate under the Norwich Union brand, while the institutional business will operate under the Morley Fund Management brand.