Simplification

In the past, insurers have provided customers with long lists of illnesses that they either covered or fell outside of the scope of their policies. This can make what is a fairly straightforward product appear complex and difficult to understand.

In turn, advisers face a challenging conversation that risks ending with clients taking out a policy that is not right for them or not taking out this type of protection at all.

“When it comes to protecting what matters most, clients are looking for clarity, simplicity and reassurance that they have the right plan in place. That’s why our refreshed Critical Illness Cover focuses on comprehensive cover with simplicity at its heart,” says Amanda Kerr, Head of Protection Proposition at Scottish Widows.

“We’ve combined some conditions and grouped our 30 main conditions under 5 easy-to-understand headings and visualised these through the image of the body. This helps advisers to explain Critical Illness Cover and customers to understand what they are covered for.”

Amanda adds: “Considering that less than one in 10 (9 per cent) of people in the UK have Critical Illness Cover*, we need to do everything we can to make what’s seen as a complex product easier to understand.”

Our solution is straightforward: a simplified protection proposition that is even more comprehensive in its coverage.

Clarity

First, we have combined some conditions and grouped our 30 main conditions under five easy-to-understand headings: Brain and neurological system; heart and arteries; organs; senses; and cancer.

Then, we have taken these five areas and visualised them through the image of the body to create a useful infographic. Rather than reading through a list of illnesses, advisers can present this resource to clients to make clear the illnesses that we cover. 

This helps you, the adviser, explain Critical Illness Cover and your clients to understand what they are covered for. 

We want to help support your client conversations and the simple body diagram ensures we do just that. 

Simplicity

We said our cover is simple yet comprehensive and that’s because we have widened the scope of our definitions. For example, we have added five new conditions, including heart failure, heart surgeries, neuroendocrine and gastrointestinal stromal tumours.

Then, we have also reduced the overall number of definitions to 40 from 49, and lowered the number of main conditions to 30 from 41. 

Where previously we had six separate heart surgery definitions, now they fall under one definition.

All of this means your clients’ illnesses or conditions have a greater chance of being covered and, therefore, they are more likely to receive a payout.

Simplicity across our protection offering is vital. Ultimately, it helps advisers like you to engage your clients on the importance of taking out cover for them and their families.

Reassurance

As an adviser, you will be used to providing your clients with reassurance across many areas of their financial lives. So you will know just how important it is for your clients to feel reassured that they have the right protection plan in place.

Providing Critical Illness Cover that prioritises and protects the whole family is important to us and to your clients. Once again, conversations with clients about Critical Illness Cover for their children are never easy. 

For that reason, our cover now includes total permanent disability and children’s cover at no additional cost. Not only is children’s cover automatically included in our policy but we have also extended this cover to all main and additional conditions.

This will provide your clients with peace of mind should the unthinkable happen. 

At its heart

Clarity, simplicity and reassurance are the foundations of our approach to Critical Illness Cover. At Scottish Widows, we are committed to improving the protection conversations between advisers and their clients. 

By making our Critical Illness Cover easier to explain, you can provide your clients with the protection products that they need and that may help ease their financial strain at challenging times.

We need to do everything we can to make what’s seen as a complex product easier to understand in order to significantly increase the number of people that have Critical Illness Cover.

That’s why our refreshed Critical Illness Cover focuses on comprehensive cover with simplicity at its heart.

^{*Scottish Widows Protection Research 2019}