2007
Public Limited Company
Launched in September 2007, PruProtect was a partnership between Discovery, a South African insurer, and Prudential.
In 2014 Discovery bought Prudential’s share in the business and rebranded the firm Vitality.
As was core to the original product, VitalityLife has an extensive healthy living benefits scheme aimed at improving the health and wellbeing of its customers.
Vitality have built a reputation for providing a unique offering in the market right across its health and protection products. With regards to Income Protection specifically, the core of its policy is the same as other providers’ offering but it also offers a unique set of additional benefits.
If you choose the Vitality Optimiser or the Vitality Wellness Optimiser, your premiums could still rise each year even if the core element of the premium is guaranteed. This is because you have to keep up with its activity regimen to ensure premiums remain flat or fall.
Overview of Key Policy Details
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|---|---|
Policy Type | Income Protection |
Premium Type | Guaranteed or Reviewable |
Maximum Claim Duration | Unlimited |
Incapacity Definition | Own Occupation / Activities of Daily Living / Special incapacity Definition Special incapacity definition applies to some higher risk occupations. Benefits are paid in full for 12 months, after which incapacity will be reassessed. If you fail 3 activities of daily living, you continue to claim in full. If you fail less than 3 activities of daily living, your benefit is reduced by 50%. |
Deferred Period | 1 week or 1/3/6/12 months |
Indexation | Optional
|
Waiver of Premium | Automatically Included |
Maximum Cover | Comprehensive policies are limited to the lower of £16,666 per month or 60% of your earnings capped up to £2,500 per month and 50% of any earnings above. ‘Primary’ and short-term plans are capped at the lower of £10,000 per month or 50% of your income. |
Minimum Entry Age | 16 years old |
Maximum Entry Age | 59 years old |
Maximum Policy Cease Age | 70 years old |
Guaranteed Insurability |
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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.
The Vitality programme is used throughout the account to help promote healthier living, in turn rewarding you with lower premiums.
This unique feature of Vitality’s Income protection policies allows policyholders to take control of their policy and get something back.
There are several options that you can choose from: Vitality’s Optimiser and Vitality Wellness Optimiser, or simply add Vitality Plus to any core product, although with Optimizer you get an initial upfront premium discount.
These programmes allow you to reap all kinds of rewards from your policy,including freebies, discounts, cashback and annually reducing premiums.
It is important to know that with the Optimiser policies, your premiums could go up as well as down. If you do not engage with the Healthy Living programme and maintain a healthy lifestyle, your premiums may increase.
As a partnership between Prudential (founded over 150 years ago) and Discovery, PruProtect was founded with the joint financial knowledge of two leading insurers. In 2014 Discovery bought Prudential’s remaining share of the business and rebranded the company Vitality.
Vitality is covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme – if it cannot meet its financial obligations you may be entitled to 90% of the value of your loss.
We aim to know the policies we advise on, inside out and back to front. Below is a couple of commonly asked questions with regards to the policy coverage.
A. If the policyholder is permanently based outside the UK, Vitality will keep them covered provided they reside either in Andorra, Australia, Canada, the Channel Islands, Gibraltar, the Isle of Man, Liechtenstein, Monaco, New Zealand, Norway, San Marino, the United States and the EU (except Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia).
If the policyholder is permanently based outside the UK and not in a country listed above, Vitality will not cover them and end the policy. For individuals temporarily based outside the UK, you will still be able to claim but the benefit payments will be paid for a maximum of 12 months.
A. Vitality doesn’t have any general exclusions on its Income Protection policies.
Instead, Vitality use an Underwriting process when you apply to determine whether there is anything that it feels should be excluded on your policy. By doing this, you know exactly what you are covered for in your policy from the very start.
A. Vitality offers a Back to Work benefit that helps you get back on your feet if you can’t return to work full-time. This benefit provides a cash bonus on top of your normal salary for the first and second month of being back at work.
For short-term and primary cover policies, this bonus amounts to 25% of your monthly benefit amount for the first month and 10% for the second month.
With a comprehensive Income Protection policy, you will be entitled to a bonus of 50% for the first month and 25% for the second month.
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?
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.
If it is all getting a little confusing and you want to talk you through your options to make sure you find the most suitable cover please don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Pop us a call on 02084327333 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.
Tom Conner
Director
I’ve held a policy with Drewberry for several years now. They are always friendly, insightful and offer great service.
Or call us on 0208 432 7333
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