PruProtect unveils premium-reducing enhancements

People who look after their health by taking part in PruProtect's vitality programme may see almost 10 per cent reductions in what they pay for life, serious illness and income protection cover, according to the insurer.

Last week the provider also announced the lesser premiums would become "locked in" at the levels to which they fall.

In order to pass PruProtect's vitality test, customers have to prove they eat healthily, exercise and do not smoke and can receive discounts from a raft of health product providers, including LA Fitness and Virgin Active gyms and Champoneys health resorts.

The average saving would see a 30-year-old non-smoking male with a 20-year term life policy pay around £20 per month instead of £22.

Kevin Carr, director of protection development for PruProtect, said with these changes the potential for annual price increases across PruProtect's life cover, serious illness cover and income protection has now been removed.

Pipeline and existing customers will be given the opportunity to either continue with their existing policies or move to the new policy model, without additional underwriting.

He said: "Our serious illness cover is already the most comprehensive of its kind in the UK.

"As well as becoming more competitive, we are enhancing our proposition for consumers by allowing them to reduce their future premiums and keep them low."

Roger Sanders, an IFA with London-based Helm Godfrey, warned people's commitment to PruProtect's vitality programme "could be hard to prove".