Life with Critical Illness Cover
Business Protection
Designed to pay a cash lump sum or a monthly income if the person covered dies or is diagnosed with a terminal or specified critical illness. Life with Critical Illness Cover is part of our flexible menu plan. Choose a combination of covers with different amounts and terms, which can evolve to meet your clients’ and their businesses’ changing needs.
Key benefits
- Simple, but comprehensive Critical Illness Cover where it matters most. 30 main conditions and 10 additional conditions. Also includes Children’s Critical Illness Cover and Children’s Life Cover.
- 5 year renewable cover option and Guaranteed Insurability Options for businesses, to increase cover without further medical underwriting.
- Scottish Widows Care, with RedArc, gives long-term practical advice and emotional support to policyholders and their families, from day one.
- Free Replacement Cover on all joint life policies. Terminal Illness Cover at no extra cost. Free Accidental Death cover while we process your clients’ applications.
- Optional Life Cover Buy Back. If your client claims under the critical illness part of their policy, they can ‘buy back’ life cover without further underwriting.
| Key details | |
|---|---|
Basis of cover |
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Minimum Term |
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Minimum age when cover starts |
18 |
Maximum age when cover starts |
64 |
Maximum age when cover finishes |
70 next birthday |
Minimum Sum Assured |
£10,000 |
Maximum Sum Assured |
£3,000,000 |
Minimum Income Benefit |
£5,000 per year |
Maximum Income Benefit |
£150,000 per year |
Premiums |
Guaranteed |
Total Permanent Disability |
This can be selected at application stage. There are restrictions to the maximum payout amount we will make in respect of a Total Permanent Disability claim. Please see our Policy Summary (PDF, 2MB) for full details. |
Critical Illness Definitions |
See the 30 full Critical Illness conditions and 10 additional conditions we cover |
Key documents
Policy Summary document (PDF, 800KB)
Guide to Critical Illness conditions (PDF, 442KB)
See all our protection documents in one place, including forms, guides and brochures
Our Life with Critical Illness Cover also has
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We will pay the full sum assured for 30 critical illness conditions and we also have 10 additional payment critical illnesses. The additional payment will not be taken from the main sum assured. The payments for the additional conditions will be equal to £30,000 or 25% of the sum assured, whichever is lower, and will not affect the main sum assured.
If we pay out on an additional condition claim, we won’t pay any further claim for that additional condition in respect of the person covered, but they may still make a claim in relation to any of the other additional or full critical illness conditions.
If we pay out on a full critical illness condition the policy will end.
For full details of the conditions we cover please see the definitions section.
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Children’s Critical Illness Cover is automatically included with all of our Critical Illness Cover policies at no extra cost. It covers any natural child, step child, legally adopted child or any child the person covered is the legal guardian for. We’ll pay out £30,000 or 50% of the main sum assured (whichever is lower) if the child is diagnosed with one of the illnesses in our list of definitions and is covered under the policy after birth and before 22 years.
We also cover 5 specific children’s conditions. Cover excludes terminal illness and Total Permanent Disability. Any payments made under Children’s Critical Illness Cover will not impact on the main cover.
For full details regarding our Children’s Critical Illness Cover please see our Policy Summary (PDF, 2MB)
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Children’s Life Cover is automatically included with all of our Critical Illness Cover policies at no extra cost. A one-off payment of £10,000 will be paid in the event of the death of a child. It covers any natural child, step child, legally adopted child or any child the person covered is the legal guardian for. The child will be covered from 30 days until their 22nd birthday.
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Terminal Illness Cover is automatically included and is payable if the life assured has a definite diagnosis by the attending Consultant of an illness that satisfies both of the following:
- The illness either has no known cure or has progressed to the point where it cannot be cured; and
- In the opinion of the attending Consultant, the illness is expected to lead to death within 12 months.
Once the sum assured has been paid Life Cover will end and no more premiums will be collected.
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Up to 90 days' Free Accidental Death Cover is automatically included and starts from the date we receive your client’s fully completed application form. Free Accidental Death Cover continues until the acceptance, decline or postponement of the application, 90 days have passed or the date a claim is made, whichever is earlier.
In the event of a claim we will pay the sum assured applied for or £250,000, whichever is lower. The claim received must meet the claims criteria for both Free Accidental Death Cover and for Life Cover under the policy applied for.
For full details regarding Free Accidental Death Cover, including eligibility and exclusions please see our leaflet (PDF, 500KB)
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Renewable Cover is a 5 year level term cover with the option to apply indexation (ie this sum assured will increase each year in line with RPI). When the initial term ends options exist to renew for a further 5 years without any further underwriting.
For full details regarding our Renewable Cover please see our Policy Summary (PDF, 2MB)
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This option allows your client to increase the sum assured in certain circumstances without further underwriting provided the original cover was issued on our standard terms. Your client can use their Guaranteed Insurability Option when any of the following events occur:
- Change in value of key person.
- Change in value of partnership.
- Change in shareholding.
- Change in value of business loan.
- Promotion or salary increase.
For full details regarding Guaranteed Insurability Options including eligibility, restrictions and limits please see our Policy Provisions (PDF, 2MB)
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Replacement Cover is automatically included on all Life and Critical Illness Cover polices set up on a joint life basis. In the event of a claim this option allows the life who has not claimed to take out a new single life policy for the remaining term of their original policy without the need for further underwriting.
When exercising this option, your client must apply for the policy within 3 months from the date we paid the claim. The original terms and conditions will apply to the new policy, the only difference will be the premiums – they’ll be based on the rates, the life assured's age and the remaining policy term at the time the replacement policy is taken out.
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Premium Protection protects your client’s policy premiums so that they are paid if they suffer an illness, disability or accident which leaves them unable to work. This option can only be added at the time the policy is taken out at an extra cost. It can be removed at any time but can’t be added in again once it has been removed.
The minimum age when cover starts is 18, the maximum age that cover starts is 60.
In the event of a claim we will start to pay the premiums for the policy holder after 26 weeks and continue to pay the premiums until the policy holder returns to work, reaches age 70, or the policy ends, whichever is sooner.
Cover will end 26 weeks before the policy holder’s 70th birthday (if payments are already being made as part of a claim these will continue to be made until the 70th birthday). For Joint Life cases Premium Protection can be selected for one or both lives (cover stops for both lives when the older person reaches age 70).
Premium Protection is not available on a life of another basis.
For full details regarding Premium Protection please see our Policy Provisions (PDF, 2MB)
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In the event of a valid critical illness claim this feature allows the policy holder who made the claim to ‘buy back’ the life cover part of the policy as a new policy without the need for further underwriting.
The following conditions apply:
- The option must be selected during the application stage. It can’t be added after the policy has started.
- In the case of a joint life policy the Life Cover Buyback option can be applied to one or both people covered.
- The person covered must advise us within 3 months of the claim being settled that they want to use their buyback option. The new policy will start twelve months after the claim is settled.
- The new policy provided under this option can only be taken out for the remaining term of the original policy.
- The premium the customer will pay for the new Life Cover policy will be the premium rates as at the date the claim is settled. However, the original underwriting terms and policy terms and conditions that applied when the original policy was taken out will still apply.
- For joint life policies where both lives have selected the Life Cover Buyback option, only the life making the claim will be able to use the buyback option. The other life will receive a new policy under the Replacement Cover option which includes Life Cover Buyback.
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Scottish Widows Care, provided in partnership with RedArc, gives the person covered and their family access to practical advice and emotional support from the day the policy starts and for as long as it’s needed. See how we support your clients
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Our protection policies are flexible and can be adapted at any time during the policy. This flexibility means your clients can apply to make changes to their cover as their protection needs change without having to cancel the existing cover first.
Our protection policies are also portable. Where two people have policies within the same plan, they have the option to split the plan and move policies into a new plan should they wish (for example, in the event of divorce or separation).