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

Income Protection Overview

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.

• 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 it covers.
• 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 its activity regimen to ensure premiums remain flat or fall.

Vitality Income Protection Policy Conditions

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 Vitality Income Protection…

The Vitality programme is used throughout the account to help promote healthier living, in turn rewarding you with lower premiums.

Key Comparison Points

• The most unique aspect of Vitality Income Protection is its 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 it offers in monthly benefits – £16,666 – makes Vitality suitable for high earners. However, Vitality also offer a less expensive option with its 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

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 it cannot meet its financial obligations you may be entitled to 90% of the value of your loss.

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.

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 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.

Q. Do Vitality Income Protection policies have any standard exclusions?

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.

Q. Do Vitality offer financial support after I have returned to work following a period of incapacity?

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.

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 2477 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.

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