Zurich reveals crafted critical illness protection giving policyholders more flexibility at different stages of life

Zurich UK has enhanced its critical illness proposition to offer customers bespoke packages of targeted cover.

Zurich’s improved “modular” approach allows advisers to craft individual solutions for every customer, with packages of cover that can be added or removed, giving policyholders comprehensive protection at different stages of life.

As part of its product transformation, Zurich has added an entirely new layer of critical illness cover, its most comprehensive and best-paying product yet, offering market-leading protection and payout levels.

The insurer has also de-coupled child cover from adult cover, giving policyholders more flexibility at different stages of life, and introduced a market-first optional pregnancy and early childhood cover, which can be added or removed for those planning to start a family.

Three levels of cover

Zurich now offers its critical Illness cover in three levels.

The most affordable, ‘Critical Illness’, is designed for those who want quality cover for the most claimed on conditions at a competitive price.

This level offers revised and improved definitions from Zurich’s previous standard package for brain injury, cardiomyopathy, pulmonary hypertension and less advanced cancer of the prostate. Zurich has also updated its cancer, heart attack and dementia cover in line with Association of British Insurers guidelines.

For clients who want its most comprehensive cover at a competitive price, Zurich now offers ‘Critical Illness Enhanced’. This improved policy option, formerly known as ‘Select’, now includes cover for all neurodegenerative conditions, all bowel diseases, accidental hospitalisation, permanent pacemaker insertion and severe sepsis, and improved cover for a range of conditions including mental illness, coronary angioplasty and drug resistant epilepsy.

Zurich has also added an entirely new level of cover, 'Critical Illness Enhanced Plus', designed for clients who want market leading cover and pay-out levels.

The maximum payout for additional payment conditions has been doubled at this level from £25,000 to £50,000. It also includes additional uplift benefits providing extra financial protection for the most severe conditions, the maximum payout of which has been improved from £100,000 to £200,000. The maximum age for the uplift benefit has also been raised from 50 to 55.

Children’s Cover

For parents, there is the option to add cover for children to Zurich’s Personal Protection policy, including on Life Cover.

This comes in two forms; ‘Children’s Cover’, which includes children’s critical illness that pays the same sum for all named conditions. It now also includes a new hospital stay benefit which provides a contribution to the out-of-pocket expenses during a prolonged stay in hospital. Cover for child death is also included in this package.

This option can be added or removed from adult cover at any time, and parents and guardians are free to choose a level of cover that suits their need and budget, from £10,000 to £100,000.

Policyholders also have the option to add ‘Children’s Enhanced Cover’, for those who want Zurich’s most comprehensive protection. This improves upon ‘Children’s Cover’ by providing the same critical illness cover for children as Zurich’s Critical Illness Enhanced option and also includes a new child permanent dependence benefit, which pays out if the child is rendered unable to permanently live independently.

Pregnancy and Early Childhood Cover

Finally, policyholders can now add an extra layer of ‘Pregnancy and Early Childhood Cover’, an optional short-term solution aimed specifically at those planning to have children in the future, which can be removed once it is no longer needed.

This cover also provides critical illness protection for cerebral palsy, craniosynostosis, cystic fibrosis, Down’s syndrome, Edward’s syndrome, hydrocephalus, muscular dystrophy, osteogenesis imperfecta, Patau syndrome, and spina bifida.

This can be added at any point during the policy term and carries improved cover for pregnancy complications including late-stage miscarriage, child death cover including cover for still births, and new cover for birth defects.

In a market-first, this cover also includes a contribution of £50 per night to the unexpected costs of hospital stays due to premature births.

Louise Colley, Director of Retail Protection at Zurich, said:

“Our enhanced approach to critical illness will allow advisers to offer crafted cover to customers at any stage in life. The FCA’s new Consumer Duty regime focuses the mind on creating solutions that meet customers’ needs more than ever before, rather than off-the-shelf products that may not always be suitable.

“With the ability for customers to add and remove elements of cover throughout the life of the policy, this is the only critical illness product that policyholders will ever need. The peace of mind this will offer customers, combined with the simplicity it offers to advisers, makes this an offering we are incredibly proud to share with the market.”