Payments have been increased on the insurer's Children's Critical Illness Extra product, from £30,000 to £35,000, and on additional benefits - with payments for terminal illness increasing to £35,000 from £10,000, family accommodation (£3000 from £1000) and funeral cover (£10,000 from £5,000).
Changes have also been made to its Guaranteed Insurability Options (GIOs) across all products to allow larger increases of cover and more opportunities to revise cover in response to a customer's life changes.
The insurer has also changed its definitions for cancer, heart attack and dementia including Alzheimer's disease, following recommendations made by the Association of British Insurers.
All changes will apply to policies bought from 26th March 2023.
Julie Godley, Director of Intermediary, Retail Protection, Legal & General Retail comments:
“At Legal & General, we are committed to supporting advisers in giving their customers help when they need it most. We listened to feedback from intermediaries around changing customer need and in response we have made these important updates.
"We understand that lives change, sometimes unexpectedly, and the updates to our Critical Illness products and GIOs allow advisers to offer their clients the flexibility to adapt the cover to meet their needs.
"Helping advisers to protect and support their clients is central to what we do, and we work with them to provide the tools and knowledge they need to support people in making better-informed decisions, reach good customer outcomes and further demonstrate the value of their advice.”
Alan Lakey, director at critical illness comparison service CI Expert, said:
“All of these changes are positive with a strong emphasis on improved customer outcomes and with Consumer Duty in mind too, they’ll be welcomed by advisers and consumers alike. Legal & General has shown an increasing appetite in recent years to move away from the low premium approach and mingle with those insurers operating at the quality end of the market. Already the leading insurer in terms of sales, this can only increase their share of the market.”
