Home / Types of Life Insurance Policies / - Royal Liver Assurance, Life Insurance Company
Royal Liver Assurance manages over 5 million policies and has over 1 million members.
Royal Liver Assurance was originally known as the Liverpool Burial Society and was set up in July 1850 by a group of working men in the Lyyer Inn. The aim was to provide for “the decent interment of deceased members”.
At the time Liverpool ’s port was attracting many hundreds of the poor and impoverished who had little or no provisions in place in the event of their death.
The newly founded Society was very popular with these people, for as little as a penny a week, members, whatever the hardships they might suffer in life, were at least assured of avoiding a pauper’s grave.
At the end of the 1890’s a decision was taken to build a new head office building to reflect the pride felt by those who worked for the society. The result was the Royal Liver Building , built at the Pier Head in Liverpool in only three years and opened on 19 July 1911. Today, restored by extensive refurbishment, it remains a world famous landmark.
Delegation System
To ensure that members are represented today, Royal Liver Assurance operates a delegation system. This system was first introduced in 1886 and today some 230 or so elected delegates from all over the UK and Ireland act as the sole representative body of the Society. The delegates meet once a year at the annual general meeting and are authorised by the rules of the Society to take decisions on behalf of the members.
06 June 2008 17:50:32
A medical study has produced an unusual way of measuring nicotine exposure in patients and has uncovered a link between levels of the drug and heart disease.
The American Journal of Epidemiology study involved analysing the toenails of female smokers.
Patients that were diagnosed with heart disease had double the level of nicotine in their toenails than those without.
Dr Al-Delaimy, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, said: "The use of toenail nicotine is a novel way to objectively measure exposure to tobacco smoke and could become a useful test to identify high-risk individuals in the future."
Ellen Mason, a cardiac nurse at the British Heart Foundation (BHF), said the study was yet another illustration of the health problems that smokers can endure.
Ms Mason warned that smokers are twice as likely to suffer a heart attack as those who don't and advised that giving up was the best way for individual's to protect themselves against disease.
19 September 2007 17:32:10
Researchers at Penn State University have found that people who display a high level of 'eating competence' are more likely to be successful at lowering their counts of LDL, the so-called 'bad cholesterol' associated with heart disease.
The news could prove particularly interesting for those people consider life insurance or critical illness cover - both essential things in today's climate of heart disease risks.
Scientists studied 48 men and women aged 21 to 70 who were deemed to be at high risk of cardiovascular disease because of their high LDL levels.
"We wanted to see if people were at higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease if they were not 'eating competent' to begin with," said Barbara Lohse, associate professor of nutritional sciences at the university.
'Eating competence' refers to a nutritional model that matches the body's ability to maintain a suitable Body Mass Index level with subjective indicators such as hunger awareness, apetite and eating enjoyment.
By combining responses from a questionnaire with various medical readings the researchers found that participants who were not 'eating competent' were five times as likely as the others to have LDL levels above the prescribed cut-off point.
Dr Lohse said the results illustrated the potential benefits of a 'nutritional curriculum' that could help people improve their eating habits and so slower their chances of contracting potentially life-threatening heart disease.
22 January 2008 12:16:33
The insurance industry's pledge to pay out on more life insurance, critical illness and income protection claims has been welcomed by the UK’s leading general insurance organisation.
Representatives for the British Insurance Brokers' Association (BIBA) commented on the Association of British Insurers' (ABI) decision regarding customers who unintentionally withhold medical information.
Announced earlier this month, the ruling means that only people who deliberately conceal details about their medical history will be financially penalised.
"I think that there were some grey areas previously [where] clients, insurers and medical practitioners were unsure of the position over what was and wasn't a valid claim," remarked Graeme Trudgill, BIBA's technical and corporate affairs executive.
He stated his belief that the ABI is seeking to "make the situation a bit more black and white" in order to help customers do the right thing and receive legitimate payouts.
Mr Trudgill echoed public concerns following a number of recent high-profile claim rejections when he noted that critical illness and life insurance cover have had "a difficult time in the press".
According to BIBA, individuals can often clarify the finer details of life insurance and critical illness policies with the help of a financial advisor or insurance broker.
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