Medical underwriting

No, we can use the same online application or telephone interview for both policies.

Your cover is an employee benefit, arranged by your employer. The policy documents are provided to whoever manages employee benefits at your company. If you have any questions that we do not answer here, please contact your HR team.

Under our policies, a set amount of cover is provided to eligible employees without us needing to know more about their health and lifestyle. We call this set amount the ‘non-medical limit’.

If your benefit exceeds the non-medical limit, we’ll need to know more about your health and lifestyle before we can accept the excess. 

Over time, your benefit may have increased in line with your earnings. This might mean that your benefit now exceeds the non-medical limit for the first time, so we need to ask you some questions about your health and lifestyle. 

Sometimes we’ll need to obtain a report from your GP, ask you to attend an examination, or have some simple blood tests. We will arrange everything and pay any doctors fees.

Once we have reached a decision about your cover, we will share this with your employer, usually via their financial advisers. 

Don’t be surprised if you don’t hear from us. This just means we are in touch with your employer’s financial advisers. Once the underwriting process is complete, your HR team will be able to tell you what we decided. 

If you need help for any reason, please do contact us using the details below, or ask your HR team to contact us for you. We’ll be very happy to support you in any way we can.

Temporary cover

Group Income Protection

If temporary cover applies, we will provide cover for the amount of benefit that is being underwritten. 

However, we will not pay benefit for absences caused by a medical condition for which the member: 

• Received treatment, care or services (including diagnostic measures) or 
• Took prescribed drugs or medicines 

in the 12 months before temporary cover started.

Group Life Insurance

If temporary cover applies, we will provide cover for the amount of benefit that is being underwritten up to a maximum of £5 million. 

However, we will not pay benefit for death arising from a medical condition for which the member: 

• Received treatment, care or services (including diagnostic measures) or 
• Took prescribed drugs or medicines 

in the 5 years before temporary cover started.

Forward underwriting bar

Where a forward underwriting bar applies, we will allow increases in benefit without the need for further underwriting as shown below.

Group Income Protection

We will allow an initial increase of up to 10% of benefit without the need for further underwriting. We call this the forward underwriting bar.

If increases in benefit add up to less than the forward underwriting bar, the excess will be carried over and a further 10% is added at the following policy renewal and at each subsequent renewal.

If the benefit increases exceed the accumulated forward underwriting bar, we will let you know that further medical underwriting will be required for the excess. Benefit increases are subject to a maximum benefit entitlement, which is specific to the policy and shown in the policy conditions. 

If the forward underwriting bar is exceeded within 12 months of the date the application form or telephone interview was completed, we may be able to use that information to consider the increase. If this is the case, please contact us and we will advise whether any further information will be needed.

Group Life Insurance

We will allow an initial increase of up to 10% of benefit without the need for further underwriting. We call this the forward underwriting bar.

If increases in benefit add up to less than the forward underwriting bar, the excess will be carried over and a further 10% is added at the following policy renewal and at each subsequent renewal.

Further underwriting will be required if:

• benefit increases exceed the accumulated forward underwriting bar, or
• the total benefit exceeds £5,000,000, or
• 5 years have passed since the last underwriting decision

If further underwriting is required within 12 months of the date the application form or telephone interview was completed, we may be able to use that information to consider the increase. If this is the case, please contact us and we will advise whether any further information will be needed.

Once & done  

Where ‘’Once & done’’ applies, we will allow increases in benefit without the need for further underwriting as shown below.

We will allow salary-related increases in benefit without the need for further underwriting.** We call this “Once and Done.”

Salary-related means that the underlying benefit calculation basis remains the same and the increase is solely the result of an increase in salary.

If the benefit basis changes, then underwriting will be required for the next increase.

Benefit increases are subject to a maximum benefit entitlement, which is specific to the policy and shown in the User Guide or Policy Schedule.

**For Group Life and/or Dependants insurance ‘’Once and Done’’ is limited to a combined benefit of £5,000,000.

One of our experienced underwriters will phone you at the agreed time and ask you questions about your health and lifestyle. The call will be recorded and we’ll use your answers to help us make an underwriting decision.

A telephone interview enables us to gather the information very efficiently and our underwriter can answer any questions you may have.

You may find it helpful to review any medical records you have access to, in preparation for the call, however this is not essential. We only ask you to tell us about the medical information you remember.

There’s no difference. The questions we ask are the same whichever route you choose. We offer three options so you can select the application process that works best for you:

• An online application. You will receive a copy of the application for your records.
• A recorded telephone interview with one of our experienced underwriters, which can be booked at a date and time that works for you.
• A PDF form which you can complete offline, in your own time.