Aviva Update their Income Protection Cover

Aviva have taken a good look at their competition for Income Protection and have made some clear changes to their product to keep up with all of the changes happening in the insurance marketplace.

First things first, the cost of Income Protection with Aviva has come down!!

Whilst the monthly premiums for Income Protection can be a key factor in deciding who to place your application with, it is not the be all and end all. Aviva have made numerous improvements to their product to remain a clear competitor for Income Protection:

• Own occupation definition for all – if your application is accepted your cover will come with an own occupation claims definition, the best available. This applies to both full-time, part-time and self-employed workers.
• The monthly benefit you are insured for will not be reduced if you receive Employment Support Allowance.
• Linked claims – If you make a claim for the same reasons within a 12 month period, you will only need to wait for your set deferment period on the first occasion.
• Hospital benefit – you can receive £75 for every night spent in hospital (after an initial seven day period).
• Temporary accident cover – 90 days of free accident cover from the date that your application is submitted
• Death benefit – if you were to pass from an illness that causes a successful claim within 12 months of the claim approval, then your family will receive a one-off payment of up to 12 times the value of the monthly benefit.
• Retirement benefit – if you receive a claim benefit for 12 consecutive months and your policy reaches its end date, Aviva will pay you an additional one-off payment to the value of tree times the final monthly benefit that was paid.
• NHS doctors and surgeons – will receive their monthly benefit once their employed sick pay entitlement has stopped, regardless of deferment period on the policy.
• You can choose for the Income Protection policy to run anywhere from five years up to your expected retirement age.

Aviva have not yet released their Income Protection claims statistics for 2013, but their analysis shows that in 2012 93.5% of Income Protection claims were approved and paid. This is clearly a high proportion of the claims placed with them, showing that they not only offer Income Protection insurance, but will also honour the terms of their contracts.