Vitality Income Protection
VitalityLife Plan
Founded
2007
Company Type
Public Limited Company
Company Overview
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.
Documentation
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Income Protection Overview
Rewards for healthy living. Get discounts, cashback and bonuses when you keep up with the Vitality Plus programme, which can be included with certain policies.
Vitality use an Own Occupation definition of incapacity for the majority of occupations they cover.
Vitality allow you to fix 100% of your monthly benefit. If your income drops during your policy’s term, your benefit will still be paid in full.
Their application process involves Full Medical Underwriting, so you will know from the very start of your policy what you are and are not covered for.
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 their activity regimen to ensure premiums remain flat or fall.
Neil
Pensions Advice
Robert
Income Protection
Vitality Income Protection Policy Conditions
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Overview of Key Policy Details
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Policy Type |
Income Protection |
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Premium Type |
Guaranteed or Reviewable |
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Maximum Claim Duration |
Unlimited |
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Incapacity Definition |
Own Occupation / Activitiess 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%. |
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Deferred Period |
1 week or 1/3/6/12 months |
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Indexation |
Optional If RPI increase is 0-2%, premiums are increased by RPI + 1.5% |
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Waiver of Premium |
Automatically Included |
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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. |
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Minimum Entry Age |
16 years old |
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Maximum Entry Age |
59 years old |
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Maximum Policy Cease Age |
70 years old |
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Guaranteed Insurability |
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Drewberry Reviews Vitality Income Protection…
Key Comparison Points
- The most unique aspect of Vitality Income Protection is their Vitality Plus Programme, which gives Income Protection policyholders access to cheaper premiums, cashback, or other rewards. The programme requires them to take an active approach to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
- With an index-linked Income Protection policy with Vitality, your premiums will increase with any changes in the RPI while your premiums will increase by this amount plus an additional percentage on top for each increase.
- The maximum cover they offer in monthly benefits – £16,666 – makes Vitality Income Protection suitable for high earners. However, Vitality also offer a less expensive option with their short-term policy options, which cap benefits at £10,000 a month.
- Vitality are the only insurer on the market to offer the option to fix the whole benefit. By providing proof of your income when you apply for an Income Protection policy, Vitality will fix your benefit. If your income were to fall in the future, Vitality will still pay out your benefit in full without reducing it to account for you new salary.
- With a comprehensive policy, you will also have access to a Permanent Disability Increase. if you are left permanently disabled and unable to perform at least 3 activities of daily living, your benefit will be increased by 10%. However, the policy’s annual limit of £200,000 still applies.
- Vitality offer a Recovery Benefit which gives policyholders access to recovery therapies and nursing support. Vitality will organise the services you need and pay the service provider directly to a limit of either 1 month’s benefit (with a primary policy) or 2 months’ worth of your benefit (with a comprehensive policy).
The Vitality Life Programme
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.
Vitality Plus
- Can be added to any core protection product for an additional £5 charge
- Earn Vitality points through exercise, healthy living and annual reviews
- Get 40% off Virgin gym membership and discounts on products fitness gadgets, bikes, running gear, holidays, as well as free weekly cinema ticket and Starbucks drink
- Use points to unlock better rewards as well as lower insurance premiums and earn cashback
- Your premiums will not be increased if you do not engage with the programme
Vitality Optimiser
- Vitality Plus is included as standard at a price of £3.80 (you cannot remove Vitality Plus from the policy)
- The additional charge for this programme is included with the cost of the policy
- Get an upfront discount on your ‘optimised’ insurance policy and lower premiums
- Earn Vitality points through exercise, healthy living and annual reviews to spend on rewards
- Have your premiums reduced annually if you collect enough points to reach ‘platinum’ Vitality status
- Premiums will increase if you do not engage with the programme and some discounts can only be accessed by collecting a certain amount of points regularly
Vitality Wellness Optimiser
- Vitality Plus is included as standard at a price of £3.80 (you cannot remove Vitality Plus from the policy)
- The additional charge for this programme is included with the cost of the policy
- Get a significant upfront discount on your ‘optimised’ insurance policy and lower premiums
- Earn Vitality points through exercise and healthy living to unlock rewards and reduce premiums.
- Earn Wellness points by maintaining a healthy BMI, cholesterol, blood pressure and blood glucose level to unlock rewards and reduce premiums
- Premiums will increase if you do not engage with the programme and some discounts can only be accessed by collecting a certain amount of points regularly
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.
Financial Strength
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 they cannot meet their financial obligations you may be entitled to 90% of the value of your loss.
A simple policy well explained good impartial advice and knowledge done with a smile! Many thanks.
Vitality Income Insurance: Questions and Answers
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 of the Vitality Income Protection.
If you need any further help please do not hesitate to call us on 01273646484.
Sam Barr-Worsfold
Independent Insurance Expert at Drewberry
Q. Can I claim on my Vitality Income Protection policy if I’m travelling overseas?
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 their 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.
Q. Do Vitality Income Protection policies have any standard exclusions?
A. Vitality don’t have any general exclusions on their Income Protection policies. They don’t generally exclude incapacity as a result of alcohol or drug use.
Instead, Vitality use an Underwriting process when you apply to determine whether there is anything that they feel should be excluded on your policy. By doing this, you know exactly what you are covered for in your policy from the very start.
Q. Do Vitality offer financial support after I have returned to work following a period of incapacity?
A. Vitality Income Protection policies offer 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.
