LV= is increasing non-medical limits for its Flexible Protection Plan (FPP) Income Protection plan.
It has also removed additional evidence requirements such as teleinterviews.
The changes, which come into immediate effect, mean that the provider has:
- Removed the requirement for automatic medical telephone interviews. It won’t be replacing these with additional evidence requirements.\
- “Significantly” increased limits for paramedical screening reports and cotinine levels for clients up to age 41 and 47-51.
- Reduced GP report limits for clients aged 57-60.
Debbie Kennedy (pictured), protection director at LV=, said that through the pandemic, the life office has “constantly reviewed our approach and practices and have made a number of positive changes for consumers, existing policyholders and advisers”.
She said: “The need to protect income has never been more relevant, so we must be more flexible in these turbulent times.
“With COVID-19 continuing to impact our everyday lives and place further strain on our NHS, we’re actively seeking to responsibly push the boundaries to make protection easier to access and apply for. We expect that this latest change to our non-medical limits will increase our straight through acceptance rates for income protection, with more than 70% of cases accepted with no further evidence required.”
Limits for LV= Personal Sick Pay remain unchanged, except for adding screening reports instead of a medical tele-interview, “likely to affect only a handful of cases a month”, a LV= spokesperson said.