Choosing your cover

Life Cover at a glance

• Life Cover can pay out a cash sum if you die, or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, whichever happens first, before the end of the policy term.
• You can choose to add Premium Protection at the outset for an additional cost, which will pay your premiums if you are unable to work due to sickness or an accident.
• Once your plan is set up you have the flexibility to adapt or increase the amount of cover at any time, increase or reduce your term, or add on benefits when you need to.

Some changes will lead to us carrying out further underwriting.

The policy will end if we pay out the cash sum. If this amount has not been paid out by the end of the term, the policy will end and you will get nothing back. The policy has no cash-in value.

See the Key Features of Life Cover (pdf: 227k) for more information.

Critical Illness with Life Cover at a glance

• Critical Illness with Life Cover can provide a cash sum on death or on diagnosis of a terminal illness or specified critical illness within the policy term.
• Children’s critical illness cover is automatically included at no extra cost.
• You can choose to add Premium Protection at the outset for an additional cost which will pay your premiums if you are unable to work due to sickness or an accident.
• Once your plan is set up you have the flexibility to adapt or increase the amount of cover at any time, increase or reduce your term, or add on benefits when it suits you.

Some changes will lead to us carrying out further underwriting.

The policy will end if we pay out the benefit amount. If this amount has not been paid out by the end of the term, the policy will end and you will get nothing back. The policy has no cash-in value.

You’ve chosen the benefit you want to apply for, you know how much cover you require (benefit amount) and how long you need cover for (the term) to help you meet your specific protection needs.

Lifetime Cover at a glance

• Lifetime Cover can pay out a cash lump sum when you die, or if there are two people covered, when the last person dies.
• If you take out Lifetime Cover for a benefit amount of £15,000 or less, you’ll be guaranteed cover in almost all circumstances without having to go through a medical*.
• You can take out Lifetime Cover on a single life basis or with two lives assured. Lifetime Cover with a benefit amount of £15,000 or less is only available on a single life basis.
• You pay an amount each month for the cover until you reach age 90. After age 90, your cover continues but you don’t pay any further premiums.
• You can choose to add Premium Protection at the outset for an additional cost, which will pay your premiums if you are unable to return to work due to sickness or accident.  Premium Protection is not available on policies with a benefit amount of £15,000 or less.
• Once your plan is set up you have the flexibility to adapt or increase the amount of cover at any time, increase or reduce your term, or add on benefits when it suits you. Some changes will lead to us carrying out further underwriting.

The policy will end when we pay out the cash sum. The policy has no cash-in value at any time.

*As with all our contracts, we carry out random checks of recently started Lifetime Cover policies so if your policy is chosen, you’ll be asked within 30 days to undergo a medical examination.

See the Key Features of Lifetime Cover (pdf: 141kb) for more information.

Next, choose your options

You can choose to have a benefit with:

Level cover – this means that the benefit amount and your premiums remain the same throughout the benefit term. You always know what your pay-out will be and can be used, for example, to protect an interest only mortgage.

Decreasing cover – this means that the benefit amount reduces each month and can protect a repayment mortgage or loan. As you pay back what you owe on your debt, you are paying for less cover to protect it. Although premiums are the same throughout the policy, they start out lower than level or increasing benefit amounts. We will assume a fixed rate of interest of 10% a year.

Increasing cover – this means that the benefit amount automatically increases each year in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI). The increases will be at least 2% up to a maximum of 10%. At the same time, your premium will increase at a higher rate than the increase in benefit amount.

If you choose Critical Illness with Life Cover, your premiums are reviewable every 5 years. Please refer to the Key Features for further details.

Premium Protection on a policy gives you cover for your premiums so you don't have to pay them if you have to stop working as a result of an accident or sickness. We will start to pay the premiums for you after 26 weeks. This option can only be added, at an additional cost, at the time you take out the benefit. Premium Protection is not available on Lifetime Cover when the benefit amount is for £15,000 or less.

We will continue to pay the premiums until you return to work, reach age 66, or the policy ends, whichever is sooner. This helps to safeguard your policy and your protection.

Please note that once selected, Premium Protection can't be removed. See Key Features of Life Cover (pdf: 215k), or Key Features of Critical Illness with Life Cover (pdf: 257k) , or Key Features of Lifetime Cover (pdf: 141kb) for more details.

Putting your policy in Trust

Find out more information here.

Free cover options

We will only pay once under any type of free cover in respect of the same person.

90 Days' Mortgage Free Cover

You will be covered instantly from the date we receive your fully completed application, direct debit and you've exchanged contracts (concluded missives in Scotland). This means we would pay the initial amount applied for up to a maximum of £250,000 on death, terminal illness or critical illness, depending on which of these you have applied for. Any claim must meet the claims criteria for both the benefit applied for and the 90 Days' Mortgage Free Cover. Mortgage Free Cover continues until the earlier of:

• the start date of the policy applied for
• the date any claim is made
• the date on which we inform you of whether or not we accept the application
• 90 days after we receive the application

To be eligible for 90 Days' Mortgage Free Cover, you must:

• * be aged 59 or under when you apply
• be a UK resident (meaning England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland but not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands),and
• not have, or be in the process of applying for, similar cover with another insurance company

See our Mortgage Free Cover guide pdf (60k) for more details.

30 Days' Free Accidental Death Cover

The 30 day free cover period starts from the date we receive your fully completed application and direct debit. If an accident happens within this 30 day period, and you die within 60 days of the date of the accident, we could pay out the initial amount applied for up to a maximum of £250,000 if the claims criteria for both the benefit applied for and 30 Days Free Accidental Death Cover are met.

Accidental Death Cover continues until the earlier of:

• the start date of the policy applied for
• the date any claim is made
• 30 days after the start date of Free Accidental Death Cover

To be eligible for Free Accidental Death cover you must:

• be aged 59 or under when you apply
• be a UK resident (meaning England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland but not the Isle of Man or the Channel Islands) and,
• not have, or be in the process of applying for, similar cover with another insurance company

See our Free Accidental Death Cover guide pdf (37k) for more details.

What next?

If you have more questions our FAQs may well answer them. Otherwise, please contact us.