British Friendly has extended its discretionary Mutual Benefits programme to provide health and support benefits to members’ wider family.
Last year, the society launched its Care Assistance Benefit, which was designed to provide members with a regular weekly payment of £125 per week for up to 26 weeks if their spouse, partner or child up to the age of 18 suffered from a medical condition that meant they needed full-time care.
This benefit, which is uniquely offered to all new and existing insured members, has now been extended to cover parents and parents-in-law with a regular weekly payment of £125 per week for up to 13 weeks.
British Friendly launched its Mutual Benefits programme – a discretionary programme that offers all members a wide range of benefits including death benefit and access to medical services through Square Health - in February this year.
From today (19 September), members will be able to share their entitlement to Square Health services with their spouse/partner or children up to the age of 23, providing 24/7 access to to virtual GP consultations, medical second opinion, physiotherapy and counselling via an app.
Nick Telfer, British Friendly product and marketing director, said: “As a friendly society, we exist to support our members in times of need by paying as many claims as possible.
"We recognise that things can happen to the health of a loved one, which can have a dramatic impact on the family finances and create emotional strain.
“These enhancements will provide our members and their families with the essential extra help they need to deal with these consequences through financial support and access to quicker diagnosis and treatment.”
Lucy Brown, head of protection at London & Country, said: “Because you are speaking about policies you don’t want people to have to claim on, having additional features helps people to engage more.
“It means that people are more likely to keep cover if they can make use of GP services and understand that extras are being extended.
"It is a great way of keeping people engaged and making them feel they are getting something extra back.
“It is a really good feature of policies today that they have these additional benefits built into them – it is a great thing to talk about with customers."
simon.allin@ft.com
