Protection from Bright Grey
Overview: The following types of cover are available under Protection from Bright Grey: life; life or critical illness (CI); CI; income cover for sickness; income cover for unemployment; payment cover for sickness; payment cover for unemployment.
All Bright Grey customers get free access to the following helplines: medical and legal; career advice; and qualified counselling. The insured will always be speaking to someone who is up to date with their claim.
For life cover, CI cover and terminal illness cover claims, customers will be offered the services of a fully qualified independent counsellor or nurse.
Maximum age attained at entry: 59
Retirement age: Between 23 and 65.
Option for benefits to be paid for a limited period: Income cover for sickness: benefit payable for one or two years or full term; income cover for unemployment: benefit payable for one or two years.
Can retirement age be increased after start date (other than GIO): Yes, up to a maximum of 40 years depending on age.
Can term be decreased after start date? There is a minimum five-year term on income cover for sickness so decrease in term cannot result in less than this amount.
Guaranteed insurability on marriage: Yes.
Guaranteed insurability on childbirth or adoption: Yes.
Guaranteed insurability on moving house/increasing mortgage/loan: Yes.
Guaranteed insurability on promotion or salary increase:
Yes.
Benefit amount indexed by RPI: This only applies to any cover that is payable as an increasing lump sum or increasing regular payments.
Is the plan available without indexation? Yes
Are guaranteed premium rates available? Rates are always guaranteed throughout term for life cover and income cover for sickness. Income cover for the unemployed is reviewable annually.
Is a career break option available? If someone takes a career break they can reduce the cover and would be assessed as a houseperson.
Houseperson cover: If at the time of a claim the person covered is not in work, the amount Bright Grey will pay is also subject to a maximum of £1,000 a month.
Deferred period applicable to houseperson's benefit: Four, 13, 26 and 52 weeks.
Is relapse benefit ('connected claim') available? A connected claim happens if Bright Grey starts to pay a claim, and the person covered then goes back to work but has to stop work again within the next 26 weeks. Bright Grey will treat the further period of incapacity as a connected claim and start to pay the cover straight away provided that:
- the person covered did not go back to work against the advice of their doctor;
- the person covered is incapacitated from the same cause as the original claim;
- the person covered is still working in the same occupation at the time the further period of incapacity starts;
- and the person covered tells Bright Grey within two weeks of the date he or she stops work again.
Bright Grey will only pay a connected claim for the remainder of the cover payment period if:
- there is a cover payment period shown in the additional features; and
- the person covered returns to work within this period.
Bright Grey will calculate the remainder as the cover payment period less the number of months for which the person's claim was paid before the person covered returned to work. If there is a cover payment period shown in the additional features and the person covered returns to work after the end of this period, Bright Grey will not pay any further claim for any cause until the person covered has returned to work continuously for at least 26 weeks.
Maximum percentage of income insurable: Up to 55% of pre-tax earnings if in work. Regardless of the level of earnings, Bright Grey will not pay more than £6,250 per month.
Pre-incapacity or pre-unemployment earnings: If the person covered is employed, this means their total pre-tax earnings for PAYE assessment purposes (excluding benefits in kind) in the 12 months before they became incapacitated or unemployed. This may include:
- regular bonuses and commission received by the person covered;
- dividends received by the person covered from a private limited company in which they and no more than three other shareholders are employed as full-time working directors.
The dividend amount must:
- represent their share in the net trading profit of that company from its normal regular business;
- be consistent with the trading position of the company; and
- stop being paid as a result of their incapacity.
If the person covered is self-employed, this means their total share of pre-tax profit from their trade profession or vocation for the purposes of Schedule D Case I and II of the Income and Corporation Taxes Act 1988 for the 12 months before they became incapacitated or unemployed.
If the earnings of the person covered vary significantly from one year to another, for example because they are made up mainly of commission or bonuses, Bright Grey will use their average earnings over the last three years before the claim. Income received from savings and investments will not be included.
Number of salary tiers used in maximum benefit calculation: One
Other insurances deducted from benefit amount: If the person covered has any other plan with Bright Grey or another company which provides what Bright Grey judges to be similar cover, Bright Grey will reduce the amount it pays by the total amount of cover from all such plans.
If the person covered continues to receive earnings from any form of employment or self-employment or payments from any pension arrangement while they are incapacitated, Bright Grey will reduce the amount it pays by the total of all such earnings or pension payments.
Standard definition of disability: Incapacitated for income cover for sickness and payment cover for sickness. Bright Grey will pay if the person covered is diagnosed as being incapacitated. All diagnoses must:
- be made by a consultant at a hospital within the geographical limits shown in Section C1 who is a specialist in an area of medicine appropriate to the cause of claim or allied health specialist relevant to the person covered's condition in order to assess function and restrictions and limitations; and
- be confirmed by Bright Grey's Chief Medical Officer.
The additional features section of the cover summary shows which definition applies to each cover.
Own-occupation definition of incapacitated: Any illness or injury arising before age 65 which:
(a) prevents the person covered from doing the essential duties of their own occupation; or
(b) causes mental failure
The essential duties of an occupation are those duties which cannot reasonably be omitted without affecting the ability to carry out that occupation. If the person covered is under age 65 but is not in a paid occupation at the start of a period of incapacity a working tasks definition will apply. If the person covered is over age 65 at the start of a period of incapacity a living tasks definition will apply. If the person covered reaches age 65 while a cover is being paid Bright Grey will reassess the claim at that time based on a living tasks definition.
Four weeks/one month deferred period: Yes
13 weeks/three month deferred period: Yes
26 weeks/six month deferred period: Yes
52 weeks/one year deferred period: Yes
Two deferred periods in one plan? Yes.
Number of exclusions applying to the plan: Bright Grey will not pay a claim if:
- it is the result of intentional self-inflicted injury;
- you are permanently resident outside of the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man for more than 12 months if you are temporarily resident outside of the UK, Channel Islands or Isle of Man.
ANALYST'S COMMENT
Launched in March 2003, Protection from Bright Grey took the menu concept to a new level with the inclusion of a variety of customer-focused features designed to encourage a healthy lifestyle and support policyholders.
Underpinning these added-value benefits is a flexible platform that allows the inclusion of a range of life, CI and income protection (IP) benefits.
The IP element within the Bright Grey menu checks all the 'must have' boxes. It offers quality of cover, guaranteed premium rates and flexibility of construction, enabling it to be tailored to a wide variety of client needs and budgets.
The availability of a range of guaranteed insurability options together with the ability to vary cover levels, subject to underwriting, ensures that the plan can adapt to changing client circumstances. Benefit indexation, linked to retail prices index, is available as an option. Clients are able to decline up to five consecutive indexation invitations without losing the right to further increases.
The maximum benefit percentage of 55% removes the need to automatically deduct state long-term incapacity benefits and, although the annual benefit limit of £75,000 is lower than that offered by some plans, this should still be sufficient to make it suitable for the majority of clients.
Protection from Bright Grey has moved IP into a new age by demonstrating that an insurance company has far more to offer than merely the promise of a claim cheque.
Nick Telfer, head of life & protection, Defaqto
