"Our new IP product is the next step on our mission to help people build their financial resilience and make it easier for advisers to serve more of their customers’ needs with a streamlined process and slicker experience through technology partners like Iress."
- Rose St Louis, Protection Director at Scottish Widows
Last month, Scottish Widows launched its new flexible Income Protection (IP) product to help bridge the IP gap after finding less than one in ten (8%) adults in the UK have protection in place. Yet 42% worry that their household wouldn’t cope if they were unable to work due to ill-health or injury.
Scottish Widows’ IP policy includes fracture & hospitalisation benefits as standard with no extra charge, rehabilitation/proportionate benefit as a top-up payment to help customers return to the workplace, and partnership benefits such as ‘Clinic in a Pocket’ (included in cover) to access GP services 24/7 and receive GP sick notes, as well as dedicated personal nurse service via RedArc.
Customers will receive immediate income payment whilst their claim is being assessed, provided a GP note is supplied and once the deferred period has passed and Scottish Widows won’t decline an IP application for mental health without an underwriting review conducted by a real person, rather than AI; the provider will also ask the customer if they’re doing anything to improve their health so it can provide better underwriting rates.
Furthermore, Scottish Widows is offering a price lock promise which guarantees the quote for up to twelve months, subject to underwriting terms being imposed. If a customer’s earnings have reduced, as long as their monthly claim payment is more than £1.5k, Scottish Widows won’t pay them less than this.
Scottish Widows’ IP launch adds to the suite of products available via its recently digitised Protect platform (and via UnderwriteMe’s Protection Platform), with the intention of becoming available on other protection portals.
READ MORE: Scottish Widows launch new IP offering & enter long-term commitment with IPTF
Today, Iress announced that Scottish Widows’ IP product has been added to its quote & apply platform for intermediaries. This product now accompanies Scottish Widows’ existing Term, Multi-Benefit, and Mortgage Protection propositions on The Exchange.
“As long-standing partners of Scottish Widows, we’re delighted to support its launch into the IP space through our extensive distribution network on The Exchange. It also supports our commitment to offering the broadest range of products to brokers & advisers,” explained Jacqueline Durbin, Global Head of Product for Life, Pensions & Mortgages at Iress.
Rose St Louis, Protection Director at Scottish Widows, added: “Our goal is to help people to be better prepared financially if they were not able to work. Our new IP product is the next step on our mission to help people build their financial resilience and make it easier for advisers to serve more of their customers’ needs with a streamlined process and slicker experience through technology partners like Iress.”
