The specialist protection and healthcare insurer has enhanced its income protection policy tailored to low risk and professional occupations. Formerly known as the Professional Income Protection plan, the policy has been improved in a number of areas and renamed to increase both its relevance to meeting consumer’s needs and its appeal to the intermediary market.
Commenting on launch of Income One, head of intermediary sales, Mike O’Brien, said: “We are constantly looking for ways to improve the products and service we offer and we’re really excited by this latest enhancement. Income One is a much more saleable and relevant plan for a wider range of customers.”
The plan which is targeted at the largest sector of the income protection market - those in low-risk, professional and mainly administrative occupations - now includes the option for customers to protect a higher proportion of their income; the previous maximum was 50%, which has now been increased to 65%.
In addition, the list of occupations covered by the plan has been reviewed and increased; both changes were made as a direct result of intermediary feedback.
O’Brien continued: “The recent ECJ ruling dictates that insurers will all have to make a change if they price their plans according to gender, but we wanted to make that change as positive as possible by taking the opportunity not only to do this, but at the same time make the enhancements that have a positive impact on intermediaries. We asked exactly what they wanted to change and delivered it.
“We constantly engage with advisers and ask for their input and feedback into what we do. They have consistently told us that if we could increase the proportion of income that can be covered, we would open up Income One to more customers; so that’s what we’ve done.
“It’s a simple change, but one we believe has the potential to have a large impact on the market.”
In addition to these changes, Income One now includes an improved option for customers to “fix” a proportion of their benefits, removing or reducing the risk of over-insurance.
O’Brien concluded: “The acid-test of any income protection plan is ultimately how it performs at claim. By allowing policyholders to “fix” a proportion of their benefits, not only are we taking the worry of over-insurance away, we’re speeding up the claims process, so our policyholders can focus on what’s important, their health.”
