Home / Frequently Asked Questions
1. Who can apply for cover?
If you live in the UK , Channel Islands or the Isle of Man and are aged between 18 and 69, you can.
2. How much cover should I get?
It depends on your own situation. Some things to take into account are: how would your financial dependants meet their bills without your financial contribution? Ensure that any mortgage that you are responsible for paying for is repaid upon death, then add up how much additional cover would be required to support your family. Click here for our 'Cover Calculator'
Try a few quotes and see what you can get for your money. This is not advice or a recommendation. If you need advice then please call our customer services team free on 0800 980 9801 from 8am to 9pm Monday to Friday, and from 9am to 3pm on Saturdays.
3. How long should I get cover for?
Most people usually take out their insurance until some key date in the future. It could be when they intend to retire, when their mortgage is paid off, or when they feel their children may leave home and support themselves. Work back from that date to now, and that will help you decide the number of years you need to be insured for.
4. Can I start my application now?
Yes, you can start you application online anytime which will in many cases mean the plan is in force within 24 hours. If you need cover “right now” then call free on 0800 980 9801 and we will be pleased to help.
5. Can I cover my mortgage?
Yes, we have level and reducing (mortgage protection) plans that can be set up to repay interest only and repayment mortgage types on death. You can also opt to include critical illness insurance and waiver of premium too.
Furthermore in most cases we can add insurance to help pay your mortgage during periods of long term sickness (which statistically is much more likely across the population) and if necessary unemployment insurance is available also.
6. Can we buy joint life policy?
Yes, joint life policies are available, but “advisers” will typically recommend two single life policies as they usually cost hardly any extra and will provide “double cover”, (this means that if both lives die together both policies pay out, rather than just one joint policy).
Having this “double cover” can provide very valuable extra cover which can help support surviving family members for hardly any extra cost.
Policies that include critical illness benefit would almost certainly be better split into two separate plans as if life 1 is diagnosed with say cancer, life 2 will not want their cover to be lost, which would be the case on a joint life, first claim policy.
7. How do I pay my premiums?
Monthly by direct debit is usual.
8. How do I make a claim?
If you have a living benefit (critical illness, income protection, waiver of premium or unemployment cover), then you should check the policy booklet for details about how to claim. If you need help then please call us on 01243 817917.
If you need to make a death claim on behalf of another, then please call us on 01243 817917, our team is highly efficient and very helpful.
9. Who gets the money?
You, if the benefit is a living benefit, and either your Trustees if the policy is in Trust, who are then responsible for carrying out the provisions of the Trust, or your Estate if you have not placed the policy in Trust.
If the policy is a joint life policy, not in Trust, then the proceeds are payable to the surviving owner of the policy, (the other life assured).
10. Will the proceeds be taxed?
Both terminal illness and life claims are usually paid free of personal liability to income and capital gains tax but in some circumstances inheritance tax may be payable. You can normally help avoid this by putting your plan under a suitable trust. Click here to visit our 'Trusts' section
11. Can I cancel the policy at any time?
Yes, but of course the cover will stop also.
12. Will my payments change?
Not normally. Good practice is normally to arrange policies with “guaranteed” premiums which whilst they might change during underwriting are fixed for the policy term once the plan goes into force.
Sometimes however plans with critical illness included are arranged on a “reviewable” basis as they provide significantly more cover at outset for a lower premium which might better suit the circumstances. Reviewable plans are clearly marked and normally the premiums are not reviewed up or down for the first fives years.
13. Do I get any money back if I don't die before the end of the term?
The policy provides life insurance (and/or critical illness insurance, income protection insurance, unemployment cover), only and there's no cash-in value.
03 July 2008 17:55:57
An outbreak of the bug Clostridium Difficile has led to a record number of pensioners in Scotland contracting the virus which could effect UK life insurance for those that have C Diff.
Figures showed that there were 1861 cases of C Diff among the over 65s between January and March of this year - a 14 per cent increase from a similar time period in 2007.
These figures are released following an outbreak at Vale of Leven Hospital in west Dunbartonshire, where nine people were killed and a further 50 were infected with the C Diff bug.
Health Secretary, Nicola Sturgeon, said that she had asked health boards to ensure systems for tackling hospital infections are being followed.
She said: "Scotland has one of the most comprehensive sets of policies and procedures to manage healthcare associated infection (HAI) in Europe.
"However, recent events at the Vale of Leven show how vital it is for boards to ensure that these policies and procedures are applied to a high standard."
Normal fatality rates for people that contract C Diff are at 7 per cent, however at Vale Leven this increased to 30 per cent - when taking into account the further 16 deaths directly linked to the outbreak.
Contracting a superbug may well effect patients life insurance policies.
03 July 2008 17:48:03
A government fertility watchdog has given the go-ahead for stem cell research that will be used to study fatal heart diseases.
Warwick Medical School researchers will use part-human and part-animal embryos for the first time to carry out their study which could eventually have an effect on the cost of life insurance policies for patients with heart disease.
The team plans to create embryos that are 99.9 per cent human DNA and 0.1 per cent pig DNA and stem cells extracted from the embryos will be grown into human heart cells.
Chemicals will be used to destroy the pig DNA before the researchers grow the human heart cells.
Justin St John, heading up the research team, explained what they hope to achieve from the process: "Ultimately they will help us understand where some of the problems associated with these diseases arise, and they could also provide models for the pharmaceutical industry to test new drugs."
Licenses have been granted to two other British teams that are hoping to create hybrid embryos but neither planned to extract animal DNA from the stem cells first.
Conditions such as heart disease can often have an impact on the cost of UK life insurance.
02 July 2008 17:03:39
A baby born with half a heart has just two weeks to live unless a donor can be found, doctors have told his parents.
Born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome, Theo Davies is currently on a life support machine which can only keep him alive for a short period of time, unless he has a transplant.
Talking about her desperation, Theo's mother Rebecca Giles, said: "People say 'Oh, it must be a nightmare for you'. But it's worse than that. I can't think of a worse situation to be in."
She continued: "Our child will die in two weeks unless we can find a heart donor. But to find another heart for Theo means that another child will die."
Theo has already had to endure five major operations since he was born and survived his heart stopping for an hour last week.
Surgeons in the US are about to undertake the first implantation of a Jarvik heart pump which, it is hoped, could help to solve a shortage of donor hearts.
One of the biggest difficulties facing people with heart problems is securing regular life insurance.
