- Critical Illness Essentials and Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials now live as part of Guardian’s Essentials range.
- Advisers and industry experts have welcomed the 4 additional payout conditions for early-stage cancer, when comparable policies cover less.
- New, simplified policy terms and conditions to make it easier for clients to understand their cover and see clearly what they can claim for.
- The new covers are available today on The Protection Platform from UnderwriteMe, iPipeline’s SolutionBuilder and comparison service, Iress’ The Exchange and Novium.
- They are also available for advisers to compare on CIExpert, Protection Guru and Defaqto Engage.
Guardian’s new critical illness covers have gone live for advisers and their clients today.
Guardian’s 2 new core covers – Critical Illness Essentials and Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials – are designed for clients who want quality cover at a more affordable price without compromising on service, and for those who don’t need all the enhanced features that come with Guardian’s Critical Illness Protection.
Guardian worked closely with advisers to design and develop Critical Illness Essentials, following feedback that showed there was a clear need and demand for a lower-cost critical illness option from Guardian.
Early feedback on the product has been positive, especially on its 4 additional payout conditions for early-stage cancer, when much of the industry still only offers 2 on core policies. They have also responded positively to the inclusion of Guardian’s dual life approach. For these 2 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 have the flexibility to add the optional Children’s Critical Illness Protection for a higher level of cover for their family.
Advisers and their clients will still receive the same level of high service they have come to expect from Guardian.
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 Engage.
Advisers can view full product details and comparisons between all the covers in the Essentials and Protection ranges at: advisers.guardian1821.co.uk
New and improved policy documents
As well as launching 2 new covers today, Guardian has also announced improvements to its policy terms and conditions to help policyholders better understand their cover and see clearly what they can claim for.
Guardian has split its policy terms and conditions, and key facts into 8 separate versions, one for each type of cover within its menu. Instead of receiving a single document containing all covers, policyholders will now only receive information that’s relevant to their policy.
This builds on the improvements Guardian made earlier this year to its MyGuardian policyholder dashboard and adviser dashboards.
Minor improvements and changes to existing policies
At the same time Guardian has also announced a number of improvements and changes to its existing proposition:
- Reduced the ‘survival period’ on Critical Illness Protection and Children’s Critical Illness Protection from 14 days to 10 days for new policyholders. This means policyholders need to survive for a shorter period after their critical illness diagnosis to be eligible for a payout, aligning with their new Critical Illness Essentials.
- Life Protection and Combined Life and Critical Illness Protection have been updated so that no claim will be paid if death is due to suicide or intentional self-inflicted injury within the first 12 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.
- Made minor wording changes to 7 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. With Guardian’s cover upgrade promise, all existing policyholders benefit from improved definitions at no extra cost.
Alan Lakey, Founder and Director at CIExpert, said: “Guardian continues to invigorate the critical illness market with its new Critical Illness Essentials plan. 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, said: “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.”
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.”
-Release ends-
Notes to editors:
Press enquiries to Rachael Welsh, 07538 999 896, Rachael.welsh@guardianfs.co.uk
Guardian Financial Services is an appointed representative of Scottish Friendly Assurance Society Limited which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority.
All products are provided by Scottish Friendly Assurance Society Limited and we have an agreement with them to underwrite and issue the protection policies we distribute through the UK intermediary channel.
As an appointed representative of Scottish Friendly Assurance Society Limited, Guardian Financial Services Limited is the market-facing brand under which we promote our proposition and engage with advisers.
Background to Guardian Financial Services, owned by Gryphon Group Holdings
Guardian, the life and protection insurance business, launched in 2018 and pledged to grow the protection market. The brand promise of ‘Life. Made Better.’ reflects the company’s commitment to rethink and reinvent protection for the better; making sure customers get cover that’s easier to understand, simple to buy and designed to never let them down.
Guardian’s business partners
Gryphon Group Holdings is majority owned by Punter Southall Group as the largest equity capital investor. Guardian partners with UnderwriteMe for its Underwriting Engine, Liss Systems, the UK arm of Nasdaq-listed EXL, for its policy administration technology, and Space, for its front-end technology, branding and marketing. Guardian’s reinsurance partners are Hannover Re, Gen Re and Swiss Re.