"It’s designed for the discerning client who is unable to afford fully comprehensive cover but still aspires to high-quality coverage."
- Alan Lakey - CIExpert
Guardian’s two new core covers, Critical Illness Essentials and Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials, have gone live for advisers and their clients today.
The new covers are designed for clients who don’t need all the enhanced features that come with the covers in Guardian’s Critical Illness Protection range.
Guardian says it worked closely with advisers to design and develop Critical Illness Essentials, following feedback that showed there was a clear demand for a lower-cost critical illness option from Guardian.
It also reports that early feedback on the product has been positive, especially on its four additional payout conditions for early-stage cancer and the inclusion of Guardian’s dual life approach.
For these two covers, Premium Waiver is included as standard for clients who apply before age 65 and pays out after a 26-week deferred period if the client is unable to work due to illness or injury. Additionally, alongside the built-in children’s cover, customers can add the optional Children’s Critical Illness Protection.
The new covers are available today on The Protection Platform from UnderwriteMe, iPipeline’s SolutionBuilder and comparison service, Iress’ The Exchange, and Novium. They’re also available to compare on CIExpert, Protection Guru and Defaqto.
Guardian has also split its policy terms and conditions and key facts into eight separate versions, one for each type of cover within its menu.
At the same time, Guardian has revealed several changes to its existing proposition. This includes reducing the 'survival period' on Critical Illness Protection and Children’s Critical Illness Protection from fourteen days to ten days for new policyholders, meaning that policyholders need to survive for a shorter period after their critical illness diagnosis to be eligible for a payout.
Life Protection and Combined Life and Critical Illness Protection have also been updated so that no claim will be paid if death is due to suicide or intentional self-inflicted injury within the first twelve months of the policy for new policyholders. This is the same as Life Essentials and Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials, and brings Guardian in line with standard market practice.
Guardian has also made minor wording changes to seven definitions across Critical Illness Protection, Combined Life and Critical Illness Protection and Children’s Critical Illness Protection to provide clearer descriptions of exactly what is covered.
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"Guardian continues to invigorate the critical illness market with its new Critical Illness Essentials plan," Alan Lakey, founder and director at CIExpert, said. "It’s designed for the discerning client who is unable to afford fully comprehensive cover but still aspires to high-quality coverage.
"The inclusion of 34 conditions that pay out in full, plus four additional payment conditions for less advanced cancer of the breast, prostate, ovary and testicles, makes it stand out in the market.
"The additional payment conditions pay the lower of £30,000 or 30% of the sum insured, and advisers should note that there are 9 conditions which pay out if added to the NHS waiting list for surgical treatment."
Chloe Davies, head of protection distribution at L&C Mortgages, added: "It’s been a real pleasure to get to work alongside Guardian to help shape what we then take out to clients. This sort of collaboration is what’s needed in our market to help more people access the level of protection they need.
"It’s great to see a provider genuinely listening to advisers and acting on it. The new split policy terms and conditions are just another way Guardian is going above and beyond to make life easier not only for us, but for our clients too. This, combined with what we know is a stellar service and fast underwriting, is exactly the kind of product we’ve been asking for."
Nilesh Patel, chief revenue and customer officer at UnderwriteMe, commented: "Adding both Critical Illness Essentials and Combined Life and Critical Illness to our panel will provide advisers with further high-quality protection products at an affordable price.
"These are important product developments in the marketplace as they offer an affordable entry point for clients that are looking for protection but need their adviser to look at cost-effective options. We’re delighted to add them to our platform and be able to offer more options that can provide valuable protection for more UK adults."
Hilary Banks, chief commercial officer at Guardian, said: "Often, lower-cost cover means cutting corners on quality or service. We didn’t think that was good enough. By working with advisers to design our new covers and listening to what they and their clients need, we’ve built Critical Illness Essentials to deliver quality cover with the fast, dependable support that Guardian is known for, at a more accessible price point."
