Provider: Liverpool Victoria Product: MIMI - Income protection (IP) MIMI is a protection plan des...
Provider: Liverpool Victoria
Product: MIMI – Income protection (IP)
MIMI is a protection plan designed to pay off a client's residential mortgage on death or critical illness (CI) and to meet their monthly payments in the case of redundancy or disability. Clients can choose from a range of options and change them or add to them as their circumstances change.
IP cover is available as follows:
• Mortgage payment protection – integrated health. This benefit is designed to pay the client's monthly mortgage payments after a deferred period of one, two, three, six, 12 or 24 months. The IP element is integrated with the CI cover so that the benefit will cease if a CI claim is paid under the plan.
• Mortgage payment protection health – health. This is standalone insurance against incapacity due to sickness or accident. A choice of cover is available: Full cover – benefit continues until recovery, death or until the end of the term. Budget cover – benefit continues until recovery, death or until the end of the term subject to a maximum of 24 months benefit.
• Non-mortgage related cover. Available with a choice of deferred periods, one, two, three, six, 12 or 24 months, and RPI indexation or level cover. The benefit can be on a full term basis or with benefit payments limited to 24 months.
Maximum age at attained at entry: Maximum male age is 59 attained.
Retirement age 65 available: Yes
Option for benefits to be paid for a limited period:
Budget cover – benefit continues until recovery, death or until the end of the term subject to a maximum of 24 months benefit.
Vary the retirement age after start date: The term can be extended or reduced.
Vary benefit subject to underwriting: The benefit level may be increased or decreased subject to satisfactory evidence of insurability.
Guaranteed insurability options (GIO) available: If the assured has selected mortgage payment protection – health or integrated health, the assured will be able to increase existing cover by up to 100% of the benefit detailed in the benefit schedule (subject to a maximum of £700 per month and only up until the life assured's 50th birthday) within three months of:
• Increasing a mortgage as the result of a house move
• Increasing a mortgage to undertake home improvements
Benefit amount index linked: The benefit will go up in line with the increase in the general index of retail prices for the 12 month period ending three months earlier. Policyholders will be contacted if Liverpool Victoria decides to use a replacement index because the general index of retail prices is not available. The premium will go up in proportion to the increase in benefit. If Liverpool Victoria is paying IP benefit at the date benefit is due to go up, the increase in benefit will be limited to a maximum of 12% for that year.
Plan available without indexation: Yes
Guaranteed premium rates available: The planholder has a choice of guaranteed or reviewable rates. For IP, only guaranteed rates will apply.
Reviewable premium rates: This condition does not apply to premiums that are identified as guaranteed in the benefit schedule. Premiums which are identified as reviewable are guaranteed for the first five years after the commencement date shown in the benefit schedule, but Liverpool Victoria reserves the right to review the amount of premium paid after five years and at any time after that. If the premium is changed it will be guaranteed for 12 months.
No review will take place as a direct result of any claims made under the policy. The review will, however, be based on the actual claims experience under individual IP policies issued on the lives of insured persons of the same sex. The premium for this benefit may go up or down as a result of a review.
Liverpool Victoria will write to the policyholder at least one month before any change in the premium is due to take place to notify the policyholder of the change, which they have the right not to pay. In these circumstances, Liverpool Victoria will reduce the benefits under the policy from the date the increased premium is due. The reduced benefits will be the amounts Liverpool Victoria considers that the existing premium will provide.
Houseperson cover available: Homemakers and those in part-time work may apply for a maximum benefit of £900 per month.
Income protection: Incapacity will mean that because of sickness or accident the planholder is doing no other work and they are totally unable to carry out regularly at least two of the following tasks without the help of another person:
Shopping, cooking, laundry, housekeeping and child care.
Deferred period applicable to housepersons benefit: One, two, three, six, 12 or 24 months will be available.
Relapse benefit available: Yes, if within six months of returning to work and incapacitated from the same cause.
Benefit payable during unemployment: If the life assured is unemployed when incapacity starts, Liverpool Victoria will pay the lower of:
• The full amount of IP benefit at the time.
• £1,000 a month less the monthly equivalent of the benefit of any other sickness or accident insurance on the life assured's life that the policyholder or the life assured has.
Disability counsellors used: Yes
Maximum % of income insurable: The maximum monthly benefit will be calculated in the following way: 50% of the life assured's income before incapacity and divide by 12 to obtain the monthly equivalent. Then deduct the monthly equivalent before tax of any of the following payments that the policyholder or the life assured receives or is entitled to receive, which relate to the period for which benefit is paid:
• The benefit from any other sickness or accident insurance on the life assured's life, including any mortgage payment protection.
• Health policies
• 60% of ill health or retirement benefits from any source.
• 60% of any continuing income, excluding income earned before the start of incapacity.
If the life assured does not qualify for any State benefits in respect of his or her sickness or accident, Liverpool Victoria will add the basic State long-term Incapacity Benefit (or its equivalent) at the time.
The result is the maximum monthly benefit. Liverpool Victoria may alter the way in which it works out the maximum benefit if any of the following change:
• The rules for determining State benefits paid in the event of incapacity.
• The way IP benefit is taxed.
• The way any of the payments taken into account in working out the maximum benefit are taxed.
Liverpool Victoria will notify the planholder of any alteration when working out the maximum benefit.
Notification of a change in occupation required: No
Standard definition of disability: By incapacity (or incapacitated ) Liverpool Victoria means that because of sickness or accident the life assured is totally unable to carry out the essential duties of his or her normal occupation and is not doing any other work.
Essential duties are those duties that cannot reasonably be omitted without affecting the life assured's ability to carry out his or her normal occupation. If the life assured is unemployed at the start of a period of incapacity, then by incapacity it is meant that because of sickness or accident the life assured is unable to go outdoors without help.
Any suited definition of disability: Only available for rate class four.
Definition of disability linked to being confined to home: If the life assured is unemployed at the start of a period of incapacity, then incapacity means that because of sickness or accident the life assured is unable to go outdoors without help.
Deferred Period: Yes, deferred periods of one, two, three, six, 12 or 24 months will be available.
Number of occupation classes: Five. The occupation rate classes are as follows:
• Class A1 - professionals
• Class 1 - standard premium
• Class 2
• Class 3
• Class 4
• RC – Refer to company
• SOC – Special occupation clause added to policy in view of the standard of fitness required or nature of duties.
For those in the following professions, special reduced premium rates will apply.
Number of exclusions applying to the plan: One
HIV/Aids excluded: Yes. No benefit will be payable in respect of incapacity directly or indirectly due to or arising from HIV, except in the following circumstances:
A claim will be considered for medical or dental practitioners or anyone who is employed in a medical or dental establishment and satisfactory evidence is provided that:
• The insured was infected by HIV in the UK while carrying out the duties of their normal occupation as a result of contact with an HIV infected patient, or with blood or body fluids from an HIV infected patient, or with an HIV infected medical instrument
• The incident occurred after the commencement date shown in the schedule.
• The incident was reported, investigated and documented in accordance with the established procedure for such an incident in the medical or dental establishment in which it occurred.
• The investigations included a test for HIV carried out within ten days of the incident indicating that HIV was not present and a subsequent test was carried out within 12 months of the incident indicating that HIV infection was present at that time.
