Aviva has expanded the children’s benefit on its group critical illness policy with the addition of four new child-specific conditions.
The conditions are: Down’s syndrome, Edwards syndrome, Osteogenesis imperfecta and Patau syndrome.
The additions mean that Aviva now covers nine child specific conditions under its children’s benefit.
An additional change means that children’s cover will no longer stop following payment of a claim for them.
Claims for children will be treated the same as the group member and their spouse or partner meaning that they can now claim as many times as needed.
Aviva revealed it paid out more than £41m in group critical illness claims last year helping 572 individuals and their families.
The average age at claim was 48 years, with the youngest being children who were diagnosed with a covered condition at birth.
In 2023, Aviva also paid £375,928 in children’s benefit through its group critical illness policies, offering financial help to 30 families along with care and support from claims teams.
The insurer said that with additional features such as a fast-track children’s claim process, to initiatives like Project Teddy – which saw hundreds of members’ families receiving specially chosen gifts – its support extended far beyond the lump sum benefit – which averaged £12,531 in 2023.
Jason Ellis, group protection sales director at Aviva, said: “We regularly review our products and services to ensure that they continue to meet the changing needs of our customers.
“We believe that these recent enhancements, mean that we now offer one of the most extensive children’s critical illness benefits on the market.
“While we sadly can’t prevent childhood illness happening, we can be there for members and their families when they need us most.
“Over the past five years, Aviva has paid out a combined total across its individual and group critical illness policies of over £28m in children’s benefit to support families when the unthinkable happens.”