Royal London has removed all Covid restrictions to its underwriting for cases up to £3m and below age 80, returning the mutual insurer to a pre-pandemic underwriting philosophy.
The firm added it has updated its application process so that it will no longer ask about self-isolation, positive coronavirus tests in the last 30 days, and symptoms of Coronavirus. Instead, customers will only be asked if they needed treatment for Covid in hospital in the last three years.
In addition Royal London has shortened the automatic postponement periods for customers with a history of hospitalisation for Coronavirus.
For some higher risk cases above £3m, the customer’s vaccination status will either be confirmed from their medical records or over email, so they can also be offered the same breadth of cover. For customers aged 80 and over, maximum ratings have been extended to +100 with a maximum sum assured of £100,000.
The move builds on Royal London’s easing of its Covid underwriting approach announced last May. At the time the mutual estimated the May update would result in around six in 10 applications that were postponed due to Covid restrictions being offered terms of cover.
But Royal London told Health & Protection that based on pre-pandemic quote levels from 2019, it believes 99.9% of applicants could now be offered cover under its normal underwriting philosophy following these latest changes.
The mutual added the vast majority of remaining people should still be able to access cover as their sum assured and underwriting rating would be below the new limits.
And for certain cases over £3m, Royal added it only asks for vaccination status to allow cover for higher risk cases and it does not have rating restrictions. But this has not affected the number of customers it has previously been able to offer cover to.
Commenting further, Craig Paterson, chief underwriter at Royal London, (pictured) said: “With the progress of the vaccination programme and as the UK moves towards a strategy of living with Covid, we’re pleased to return to a pre-pandemic underwriting philosophy for our customers aged below 80 and up to a sum assured of £3m.
“The positive changes to our customer journey and the approach for a past history of Coronavirus makes it easier to take out cover with us and ensure greater access to insurance,” he added.
“We will continue to monitor our underwriting philosophy as circumstances dictate but we are delighted to announce these positive changes to the market.”
