Frequently asked questions
Underwriting
We’ve listed below some frequently asked questions which may be helpful when going through the application and underwriting process.
Medical
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We can only consider customers over the age of 50 with Type 2 Diabetes in certain circumstances. Please speak to our underwriting team on individual cases.
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Although a lot of inhalers do contain small amounts of steroids, this question only needs to be answered “Yes” if steroid tablets have been prescribed.
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Dependent on the site of the cancer, the prognosis and the number of years passed since last treated, we could consider Critical Illness Cover with a cancer exclusion. You can contact the Scottish Widows Protect Team on 0345 030 6240 to discuss individual circumstances.
Family history
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We do not include half brothers or sisters when assessing family history.
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We understand there are circumstances such as adoption or estrangement where clients do not know of their parent or siblings' health. In these instances this question can be answered “No”.
Process
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Our claims experience for this product shows that one third of claims are for Life cover and two thirds are for Critical Illness cover. Therefore the ratings are split accordingly.
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No. The online application system will use the smoker status from the original quotation. If this is incorrect then you will have to produce a new quotation and re-apply.
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Premium protection will not be available for either life. You could re-submit the applications as two single life policies to get this benefit.
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You can email the declaration to Protect@scottishwidows.co.uk or you can post to:
Scottish Widows Protect Team
15 Dalkeith Road
Edinburgh
EH16 5BU -
Our underwriting limits (PDF, 98KB)
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No. We will request a General Practitioners Report when required as part of our routine medical evidence. If there are any medical disclosures we are increasingly making use of Targeted General Practitioners Reports that only ask for information about the disclosed condition.
General
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Please see our residency and travel section for more information.
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Our underwriting outcome tool allows you to input client information and obtain an indicative underwriting decision for some commonly disclosed illnesses and conditions.
We have a number of underwriting factsheets giving useful information on a variety of conditions within our literature library
For our underwriting evidence requirements, medical and financial limits and FAQs, you can find your answer on our site.
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We try to provide 'Own Occupation' definition of TPD to as many of our customers as possible, so where some occupations would normally not be allowed this, we have charged a small extra premium to provide them with this cover. This equates to roughly 5% loading for Life with Critical Illness Cover or 7.5% for standalone Critical Illness Cover.
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At point of sale you will be advised on screen. Otherwise the definition will be confirmed on the policy schedule but you can call us to find out if you are unsure.
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At point of sale you will be advised on screen. Following manual underwriting your client will receive an explanation of the reason for any declined or postponed outcomes. You can contact the Scottish Widows Protect Team on 0345 030 6240 to discuss individual circumstances if necessary.
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Our online application system does not support joint life business cover so these applications will require a paper application to be completed. You can find a copy of the paper application (PDF, 1MB)
Financial
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You can find out how to calculate the sum assured in our Financial underwriting section
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We only ask for financial information once your client’s total cover in the market place, including their current application, exceeds more than £1,000,000 Life Cover and/or £500,000 Critical Illness Cover.
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Yes. You will need to disclose all cover that your client has, including cover from other providers which is to remain in place.
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If you apply online for more than one policy at the same time to cover commercial loans and the total cover, including any existing business cover to remain in force, is over £1million Life Cover or £500K Critical Illness Cover then you should add the loan amounts together and use the longest of the loan terms when answering the online underwriting questions.
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If the sum assured exceeds £3.5m for Life Cover and/or £1.5m for Critical Illness Cover the case will be referred for a manual check by our underwriters.
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We expect the majority of applications to fall within these guidelines, but we appreciate that each case is individual. If the application doesn’t fit within our criteria, it will be referred for manual assessment. One of our senior underwriters will then call you to discuss the case.
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If a case doesn’t fit into the above criteria or for larger sums assured, the application will be referred for manual assessment. One of our senior underwriters will call you to discuss the case and we may ask your client to give additional information to validate the sum assured.
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No. Any mortgage cover is in addition to personal cover.
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Employed – gross salary detailed on your client’s last P60.
Self Employed – an average over the last 2-3 years of your client’s net relevant earnings.
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The total remuneration figure should include basic salary, regular bonuses and/or dividends and any other regular taxable income. For clients with a variable income or who are self-employed you should use an average over the last 2-3 years.
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No. All cases that do not meet our criteria will be referred for assessment by one of our senior underwriters who will contact you to discuss the case.
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Not at all. Paper applications have to cover all possible questions to make sure any one piece of relevant data is recorded. In the same way that we have developed our underwriting system to ask appropriate responses to medical disclosures, so we do the same for financial assessment, removing all redundant questions.
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No. For business loan cover we’ll assess directly against the liability amount and term. Applications for Relevant Life Cover just require the customer’s remuneration. For all other covers we’ll keep the process simple and use the same thresholds. The maximum number of additional questions asked is four.
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If your client has their own valuation then you can send this to us. If we think it is a reasonable valuation then we’ll be happy to proceed using your client's figure.
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We’ll allow full cover for up to 3 directors, owners or key persons for business loan cover. This will give small businesses peace of mind that liabilities are paid off in full on a successful claim. For 4 or more directors, cover should be split to protect the share of the liability each person covered is responsible for.
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If you apply online for more than one policy at the same time to cover commercial loans and the total cover (including any existing business cover to remain in force) is over £1,000,000 Life Cover or £500,000 Critical Illness Cover, then you should add the loan amounts together and use the longest of the loan terms when answering the online underwriting questions.
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Cover for Key Person will be set at a maximum level based directly on either their remuneration or loss of profits attributable to the person covered. You can discuss covering death in service or pension contribution payments if this suits the business needs. However such amounts should form part of the total available and should not be offered in addition to the level of cover calculated.
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Yes, we have a Relevant Life Cover policy.