Friends Life Income Protection

Income Protection Overview

A comprehensive income protection product with a limited term payment period option and many additional benefits making it a very flexible offering.

• Friends Life use an ‘Own Occupation’ incapacity definition for the vast majority of occupations.
• The Friends Life product has a core premium which is guaranteed for the full term of your policy.
• It is good to know Friends Life publish their claim statistics where many insurers still decline to do so.
• The Friends Life product has an application which includes full medical underwriting so you know exactly where you stand from the outset.

Friends Life Policy Conditions

An overview of the key policy details of Friends Life Income Protection Solutions proposition.

We have taken care to ensure that the information on this Drewberry owned website is accurate. However we can give no guarantee as to the accuracy of the content of the site. We accept no liability for any losses whether direct or indirect arising from errors on our part.

Drewberry Reviews Friends Life Income Protection…

Finding itself with three different income protection policies within the one company, Friends Life took the best aspects each insurer’s plan and rolled out a market leading policy with the best array of additional benefits available in the market.

Key Comparison Points

• As a traditional Income Protection insurer, Friends Life will not cover those in very manual occupations (such as builders) with own occupation cover (Friendly Societies will provide this definition of incapacity);
• Please be aware that this insurer will take account of your age when calculating premium rises as your level of cover increase due to inflation (there are insurers that do not do this). This only applies when the indexation option is selected;
• In order to contain the monthly premium for individuals on a tight budget, Friends Life also offer a policy option where the plan could only payout for up to 24 months in total;
• This insurer provides the following contractual benefits: (lump-sum) Trauma Benefit of six months cover (up to a maximum of £40,000) if you suffer a specified disability; child-carer benefit of four months cover (up to a maximum of £25,000) if your child is diagnosed with a specified critical illness; and a hospital inpatient benefit of up to £200 per night for up to 90 nights;
• Friends Life also provide the following non-contractual benefits: Bupa HealthLine, which is a 24 hour nurse helpline; Therapy Benefit of £100 per year for complementary medicine; and Best Doctors for an expert second opinion on any medical diagnosis;

Policy exclusions

The only standard exclusion relates to incapacity arising whist being outside of certain countries listed in the policy terms for more than 13 weeks in any 12 month period (these are mainly countries outside of the EU, North America and Australasia).

Please note that there are a specific set of terms and exclusions for the additional benefits listed above (full details can be found in the policy terms conditions, which can be downloaded above).

Financial strength

Friends Provident (the insurer that acquired the life insurance business of Bupa and AXA UK) was formed in 1832, demonstrating the long-term financial prudence of this insurer.

With over 5 million clients and 4,000 employees worldwide, Friends Life is one of the largest insurers in the UK. In 2011 Friends Life had estimated IGCA surplus capital resources of £2 billion.

Friends Life Personal Protection: Questions and Answers

A series of commonly asked questions with regards to the policy coverage of the Friends Life persona income protection product.

Q. I’m deciding how much cover I need to take and thought it would be wise to include the premium for this policy so it doesn’t lower my benefit, but I’m not sure if I would have to pay the premium if I was claiming?

A. No, you would not need to pay Friends Life the monthly premiums if you’re making a claim.

Most (but not all) income protection policies include something called ‘waiver of premiums’ as a standard part of the plan. This essentially means that the insurer will ‘waiver’ the premiums if you are incapacitated past your chosen deferred period.

Q. With the option that can only payout for two years, what happens if a) I am ill for longer than two years and b) I can go back to work for a while but then cannot cope?

A. These are key questions relating to this option. To summarise this option, you can only claim on the plan for up to 24 months in total, which can be all in one claim or split over several claims.

Thus, on the first question, Friends Life would stop paying benefits after two years even if you are still unable to return to work. For long-term protection without this restriction do not select the limited benefit option.

With regards to the second question, it is fine to make multiple claims and if the next claim is within 12 months for the same condition the insurer will not apply the deferred period again. It is just important to note that Friends Life will not payout for more than 24 months in total.

Need Expert Income Protection Advice?

As you can see, there are a lot of points to consider when comparing insurers. With so many factors in play, it can be time-consuming to pull up key information across every single insurer in the market, so why not ask an adviser for help?

Why Speak to Us…

We started Drewberry because we were tired of being treated like a number and not getting the service we all deserve when it comes to things as important as protecting our health and our finances. Below are just a few reasons why it makes sense to talk to us.

• There is no fee for our service
• We are independent and impartial
  Drewberry isn’t tied to any insurance company, so we can provide completely impartial advice to make sure you get the most appropriate policy based solely on your needs.
• We’ve got bargaining power on our side
  This allows us to negotiate better premiums for you than you going direct yourself.
• You’ll speak to a dedicated expert from start to finish
  You will speak to a named expert with a direct telephone and email. No more automated machines and no more being sent from pillar to post – you’ll have someone to speak to who knows you.
• Benefit from our 5-star service
  We pride ourselves on providing a 5-star service, as can be seen from our 3769 and growing independent client reviews rating us at 4.92 / 5.
• Gain the protection of regulated advice
  You are protected. Where we provide a regulated advice service we are responsible for the policy we set-up for you. Doing it yourself or going direct to an insurer won’t provide this protection, so you won’t benefit from these securities.
• Claims support when you need it the most
  You have support should you need to make a claim. The most important thing when it comes to insurance is that claims are paid and quickly. We are here to support you during the claims process and make sure it’s as smooth and stress free as possible.