Aviva has today launched new flexible individual protection propositions for the adviser market, with a range of adaptable solutions that feature enhanced and extended benefits and make a tailored protection solution available for everyone.
Combines the best protection solutions, support and services
Digital ALPS platform offers advisers and customers ease and choice
Three tier critical illness to meet the needs of all customers
New full payment conditions and additional benefits added
Key enhancements to child critical illness cover
Bringing together the best from both Friends Life and Aviva’s individual protection offers, the launch marks the culmination of a year of market consultation and development to create an integrated and fully flexible suite of protection products and benefits.
Aviva acquired the Friends Life business in April 2015 and until now Friends Life protection products have been separately available for advised sales alongside Aviva products.
From today, all advisers across the protection market will be able to access the new, adaptable range of high quality solutions through the digital platform ALPS, (Aviva Life Protection Solutions), which offers ease and choice through real-time applications and tracking, online trusts, secure online policy documentation and high rates of straight-through underwriting.
The new products are Life Insurance+, Critical Illness+ and Income Protection+, all of which include a rich range of optional benefits for enhanced cover.
All customers taking out the new products will immediately benefit from access to ‘Support Plus’, a first class range of added value benefits to help them through any difficult times. These are Second Opinion by Best Doctors®, BUPA Anytime Healthline, and Counselling and Carer Support through Workplace Options.
In addition, advisers are able to offer their customers the opportunity to add the very successful Global Treatment and market leading Fracture Cover to any of the three core products, or to add Extra Care Cover to their critical illness or life with critical illness cover.
Paul Brencher, Managing Director of Individual Protection at Aviva, said: “This is a true synergy. We’ve brought together two leading propositions and created a single compelling individual protection proposition that is stronger, broader and richer than the sum of its individual parts.
“Combining the strengths of the Aviva and Friends Life protection products into a single, integrated proposition means that we can offer a range of solutions that will allow advisers to meet every customer’s needs and budget, backed up by the highest level of service and support.
“We’ve been in a unique position, to fully consider how best to bring our market-leading propositions together. We’ve taken time to listen and to ensure that the needs of our customers and our financial adviser community are at the heart of our new propositions.
“The result is a multi-level flexible offering to the market which, together with seamless adviser and customer journeys provided by our digital ALPS platform, will help us achieve our aim of protecting more lives, more easily, across the UK.”
Aviva individual protection solutions product guide:
Life Insurance+ and Critical Illness+
Life cover is available as level, decreasing or family income cover, with flexible options including waiver of premium, increasing cover, renewal option and conversion to a whole of life policy.
Life Insurance+ is also available as life with critical illness cover that includes additional options to upgrade the critical illness cover, upgrade children’s benefit, add Extra Care Cover and include cover for Total Permanent Disability.
Life Insurance+ and Life Insurance+ with CIC automatically carries Aviva’s ‘protection promise’, which provides free life cover during underwriting up to £500,000. Life change benefit, separation benefit and house purchase cover are also available subject to underwriting at no extra cost.
Three tier critical illness
Aviva’s new critical illness product is a three tier proposition designed specifically to enable advisers to offer critical illness cover that meets a wide range of customers’ needs and budgets.
The products include children’s cover in order to provide families with support at critical times, evolved from both providers’ claims experience and understanding of customers’ needs.
The core critical illness cover includes 36 full payment conditions, two additional critical illness conditions, (less advanced cancers of the breast and prostate), and six surgical treatments covered under an accelerated surgery benefit. Children’s benefit on policies provides cover from 30 days old and includes all 38 conditions applicable to the covered adult life, as well as hospital benefit and children’s death benefit.
Customers can choose to upgrade their cover to include a further 13 full payment conditions, 36 additional critical illness conditions, and four surgical treatments provided under an accelerated surgery benefit1. Upgraded children’s cover provides cover from birth and includes a further eight children’s critical illness conditions, 11 conditions covered under child extra care cover, (which features a boosted payment of up to £50,000), advanced illness benefit and death benefit from 24 weeks gestation.
Extra Care Cover to enhance critical illness cover
Extra Care Cover as an additional purchase option alongside critical illness offers further cover in the most severe cases where an illness has a prolonged life-changing impact. Extra Care Cover provides an additional £50,000 payment to the full cover amount for those customers who suffer from a critical illness, upgraded critical illness or total permanent disability and are left with severe and permanent symptoms.
Income Protection+
Building on Friends Life’s market leading income protection offer, Income Protection+ offers advisers more flexibility than ever before with a generous benefit calculation to help them design cover that suits their customers’ individual needs.
Alongside a competitive maximum benefit level of up to £20,000 a month and underwriting on an own occupation basis, a range of extra benefits and support services are included as standard to support customers who become unable to work through illness or injury.
Through the ALPS platform, advisers will be able to take their customers through a simple user-friendly calculation where they can choose the monthly benefit they would wish to receive, how long they would like to receive the payments for, and when they would like payments to start.
Cover includes a benefit guarantee and customers can choose an annual benefit increase to account for salary increases.
Support for income protection customers unable to work is just as vital as the monthly ‘salary’ benefit they receive. The new Income Protection+ offers highly tailored individual support through an experienced claims team that includes clinicians and specialists in rehabilitation, psychiatry and physiotherapy.
All Income Protection+ policies also provide access to a ‘Back to Work’ benefit, family carer benefit, hospital benefit and physio treatment. Trauma benefit and significant professional development are also available subject to underwriting.
Support Plus: added value benefits for all protection customers and their families
Recognising that customers and their immediate families often need support beyond financial help during difficult times, all customers taking out the new protection products will now be able to access the following valuable support services whenever they need to: Second Opinion by Best Doctors®, Bupa Anytime Healthline, and Care and Counselling Services from Workplace Options. Each of these services is available seven days a week, 365 days a year.
Second Opinion by Best Doctors® provides access to a network of worldwide medical experts to answer any customer questions if they are suffering from a medical condition. Once contacted, Best Doctors® will assess the customers’ medical records and choose the best medical specialist for the condition, who will then review the case and provide their expert medical opinion on the diagnosis and recommended treatments.
Bupa Anytime Healthline provides telephone support access from a qualified nurse any time of the day, to get answers to questions or concerns about any medical condition or advice about general health and wellbeing.
Care and counselling Services offers face to face or telephone based support for any customer and members of their family experiencing difficulty in their life; from mental wellness issues arising from bereavement or work-related stress, to facing the challenges that come with caring for a loved one.
In addition to these support services, customers taking out the new products through their adviser can choose to purchase Global Treatment, Fracture Cover and Extra Care Cover.
Global Treatment provides an exclusive opportunity for customers and their children to access a second opinion and overseas treatment carried out by top medical experts from around the world if they are diagnosed with certain serious illnesses or medical conditions. The cover also includes travel, accommodation and daily expenses. Global Treatment is offered exclusively by Aviva through Best Doctors®, provides £1 million of annual cover per person2, renews every three years and can be purchased for only an additional £4 per month.
Fracture Cover provides customers with peace of mind that if they suffer from an injury, a lump sum payment of up to £6,000 is available to help them with any inconvenience and unexpected costs they might experience. Cover is provided for 28 injuries, which include specific fractures, ligament and tendon injuries and dislocations, with one claim payable in each 12 month period. Customers taking out one of the new protection products can add Fracture Cover for just £3 a month.
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If you are a journalist and would like further information, please contact: Melissa Loughran; Aviva Press Office: 01904 452791: 07800 691947: Melissa.loughran@aviva.com
Notes to editors:
- Aviva’s upgraded critical illness provides cover on a total of 49 full payment conditions, 39 additional payment conditions and 10 surgical treatments provided under an accelerated surgery benefit.
- Aviva’s Global Treatment has a maximum benefit of £1 million in any one policy year. Customers can be treated multiple times up to a maximum of £2 million over the policy term.
- Aviva provides life insurance, general insurance, health insurance and asset management to 33 million customers, across 16 markets worldwide
- In the UK we are the leading insurer serving one in every four households and have strong businesses in selected markets in Europe, Asia and Canada. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE100 index.
- Aviva’s asset management business, Aviva Investors, provides asset management services to both Aviva and external clients, and currently manages over £319 billion in assets.
- Aviva helps people save for the future and manage the risks of everyday life; we paid out £30.7 billion in benefits and claims in 2015.
- By serving our customers well, we are building a business which is strong and sustainable, which our people are proud to work for, and which makes a positive contribution to society.
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