Improved coverage

Changes to Enhanced Critical Illness cover have improved the cover relating to nine conditions and added four new conditions as well .

WHERE WE HAVE SEEN THE POTENTIAL FOR MEANINGFUL NEW COVERAGE , WE HAVE ACTED ON IT

“ This relates back to the same objective of improving customer outcomes and genuinely adding value and quality to the product .”

At the same time , two elements of the Enhanced cover have been moved . Uplift benefit , whereby the diagnosis of certain critical illnesses before a certain age attracts double the payout , is now a feature of the Enhanced Plus cover , as previously described .

And pregnancy complications now sit under a new optional extra called Pregnancy and Early Childhood Cover . This short-term cover provides relevant and comprehensive cover from pregnancy right through until a child turns seven and has been specifically designed for those customers who are planning to start a family or add to their family .

Greatest innovation

The brings us onto cover for children – and this is arguably where the greatest innovation has taken place .

There are still two levels of cover , Children ’ s Cover ( previously Children ’ s Benefit ) and Children ’ s Enhanced Cover ( previously Enhanced Children ’ s Benefit ), but customers can now select the amount of cover they want between £ 10,000 and £ 100,000 , too .

Previously , the level of children ’ s CI cover was aligned to the adult CI cover , so someone with core adult cover could only add core children ’ s cover . Now , adult and children ’ s cover has been de-coupled to allow customers full flexibility to select the level of cover that best meets their needs .

Congenital conditions , such as cerebral palsy , Down ’ s Syndrome , muscular dystrophy and spina bifida , are no longer covered in Enhanced Cover and instead fall under the new Pregnancy and Early Childhood Cover , which can be added to either level of children ’ s cover .

Once the child reaches the age of seven and this cover is no longer needed , it can be removed – and premiums will reduce accordingly .

“ Unless you are planning on having children in the future , none of the pregnancy-related or early childhood conditions are relevant and therefore you shouldn ’ t have to pay for them ,” says Lewis . “ But up until now , if you wanted the best cover for your existing , older kids , what the market forced you to do was buy cover for everything – even things you could never claim on .”

And there ’ s more flexibility still . All of Zurich ’ s new children ’ s cover options can be added to any variant of critical illness cover and also to a life-only policy .

Bespoke solutions

The greatest benefit of the changes for advisers and their clients is that they allow for the creation of a package of cover that is truly aligned to individual circumstances .

“ Previously the market was quite segmented ,” says Lewis . “ What we have developed is a critical illness proposition with a range of variants to suit more customer ’ s needs , wants , life stage and budget .

“ We want to be more relevant to more customers . It means that whoever walks through the IFA ’ s door there should be a solution available from Zurich for them .

“ It means that advisers can craft bespoke solutions to meet the client ’ s needs and also meet the needs of their family .”

Importantly , the customer pays only for the cover that they need and want and do not have to pay for the cover that is irrelevant and therefore of no value to them . And this is true both when they first take out the cover and throughout the lifetime of the policy .

“ We know that life is unpredictable so crucially , each policy can change and flex to keep pace with the customer ’ s evolving needs ,” adds Lewis .

“ It is this flexibility that allows the product to continue to be fit for purpose throughout its term and helps advisers to meet their obligations under the Consumer Duty .”

For more information , contact your protection account manager or visit the critical illness page on the Zurich for intermediaries website at zurichintermediary . co . uk / critical-illness-cover .

| PROTECTION ADVISER | AUTUMN 2023 | 29