The update, available from 26th January 2026, means advisers can now include Guardian alongside Vitality and Zurich when tailoring children’s critical illness cover. The tool allows advisers to recommend different levels of cover to better reflect individual client needs.
Through CIExpert’s cost versus quality analysis, advisers can recommend Guardian children’s critical illness cover in amounts between £10,000 and £100,000. The functionality is designed to support advisers when balancing affordability, suitability and regulatory requirements, including Consumer Duty.
The customiser is available to all CIExpert subscribers at no additional cost and is integrated with a number of adviser platforms, including Iress Exchange, Xplan for Mortgages, iPipeline’s SolutionBuilder, UnderwriteMe’s Protection Platform and Synaptic.
Alan Lakey, director at CIExpert, said: “The role of children’s critical illness cover has evolved significantly. It is no longer just a scaled-down version of adult cover. Today’s policies reflect a much wider range of family needs, including birth-related and congenital conditions, and they often extend cover through to early adulthood, right up to university age.
“Our Critical Thinking 2024 research highlighted that many parents now see children’s CI not just as a financial lifeline for time off work, but also as a way to fund childcare or treatment in situations where NHS support may be limited.
“In 2025, children’s cover was included in 85% of all comparisons on our platform. That tells us this is no longer a niche consideration. It is becoming central to high quality, family focused protection advice.”
Hilary Banks, chief commercial officer at Guardian, said: “The research we sponsored with Young Lives vs Cancer in September 2023 found that around 4,000 children and young people in the UK are diagnosed with cancer each year, and families face almost £700 a month in extra costs for essentials like travel for treatment, parking, food and clothing.
“It highlights why children’s critical illness cover should be a central part of financial advice, and why giving families the flexibility to tailor their cover really matters.”
