The new service offers products with a payment period of 1, 2 and 5 years with the sum insured based on gross annual income and the cover based on an inability to work through illness or injury or loss; it also covers both full time, part time and self-employed individuals.
The insurers on the new panel are Aviva, Bright Grey, British Friendly Society including both their Protect and Breathing Space products, Exeter Family Friendly, Friends Life, Legal & General, Vitality Life and LV= including both their Budget IP and Personal Sick Pay products.
LifeQuote has also taken the opportunity to automate provider maximum benefit calculations with this release to simplify those seeking to identify the levels of cover that insurers offer.
Neil McCarthy, sales and marketing director, DirectLife, commented:
“Several factors are driving an increase in demand for short term income protection as an alternative to traditional IP. Housing inflation has meant that many buyers are stretching their finances, and this, coupled with the demands of the MMR, means that shorter term planning is often taking priority. The more buoyant employment market also creates opportunities to change job, which may necessitate a review of any benefits provided, stimulating demand. From an adviser’s perspective this is good news, but also necessitates having systems and processes in place that allow them to search across providers both on cover and price and be able to transact on a single platform.”
