Guardian has added two new ‘core’ covers – Critical Illness Essentials and Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials – to its Essentials range.
The provider said these additional covers will give advisers more opportunities to recommend Guardian where clients need value and quality and will sit alongside Guardian’s current enhanced protection product range.
These additions build on Life Essentials, introduced in 2024 to support households that need more affordable, good quality cover. It’s designed for more price-conscious clients who don’t need, want, or can’t afford all the enhanced features within the Protection range.
Guardian added it worked closely with adviser firms to develop the new offerings in response to demand from advisers for a lower-cost alternative to Guardian’s more comprehensive critical illness protection.
Advisers can mix and match the new covers with others across Guardian’s Essentials and Protection ranges, including life cover and income protection, to build solutions tailored to client priorities.
The new covers go live in the coming weeks.
The cover features a dual life approach rather than traditional joint life, keeping couples’ cover separate and a premium waiver as standard that pays out after 26 weeks if the policyholder is unable to work due to illness or injury.
There is also beneficiary nomination through payout planner for the life element of Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials and optional children’s critical illness protection can be added at any time.
There are also free additional benefits from day one with Guardian Anytime including access to GP24/7, second medical opinions, emotional wellbeing and aches and pains consultations
Available within the Protection Menu, alongside existing life, critical illness and income protection options, the cover also offers 35 full pay out conditions covered (including terminal illness) and four additional early-stage cancer pay out conditions, which is broader than many ‘core’ market alternatives – Carcinoma in situ of the breast, low-grade prostate cancer, low-grade testicular cancer and ovarian cancer of borderline malignancy. These conditions pay out 30% of the cover amount, or £30,000, whichever is less.
There is also up to £25,000 of children’s critical illness cover is built in, with the option to add further Children’s Critical Illness Protection if needed, an optional extra of a total permanent disability, a built in lifestyle promise for smokers which means Guardian may reduce a smoker’s premium if they stop smoking and immediate cover of up to £300,000 – this is temporary cover that starts as soon as Guardian receives a completed application form.
Hilary Banks, chief commercial officer at Guardian, (pictured) said: “We’re very excited to announce the imminent launch of our much-awaited Critical Illness Essentials and Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials.
“Guardian has, and will continue to, set the bar for quality cover and service in the protection market.
“This latest addition to our Essentials range allows us to offer great Guardian cover to clients whose priority is more affordable, high-quality protection. It also means we can now support clients at the more price-sensitive end of the market, while maintaining the quality and service that clients and advisers expect from us.
“Advisers have told us they want to recommend Guardian to more clients, but need a simpler, more affordable option for those on tighter budgets. By working closely with adviser firms, we’ve created exactly that.
“Our new Essentials covers give advisers greater choice and flexibility when supporting their clients”.
