Brokers and protection experts have shared their views on Zurich’s new Pregnancy and Early Childhood Cover (PEC), aimed at people looking to start or grow their family. And the overall verdict is very positive.
The PEC is available alongside Zurich’s Children’s Cover and Children’s Enhanced Cover, and is made up of five key elements:
- Children’s Critical Illness Cover – In addition to all of the conditions covered with Children’s Cover or Children’s Enhanced Cover, PEC offers coverage for an additional 10 full-payment conditions including Down’s Syndrome, Cystic Fibrosis and Spina Bifida.
- Birth Defect Cover – We will pay out £5,000 if your child is diagnosed with one of four birth defects including cleft palate and club foot.
- Specified Complications of Pregnancy – If the life assured or their partner suffers one of six specified complications of pregnancy including placental abruption, Ectopic Pregnancy and Eclampsia, we will pay out £5,000.
- Premature Birth Hospital Stay Benefit – With 1 in 7 babies admitted to neo-natal care in the UK, our Children’s Premature Birth Hospital Stay Benefit can help by paying £50 per night from the 7th night if your client’s child needs to stay in hospital following a premature birth.
- Children’s Enhanced Death Benefit – If your client’s child dies from the 24th week of pregnancy, we will pay £5,000.
According to David Stirling, independent financial adviser at Belfast-based Mint Mortgages & Protection: “Based on this evidence, Zurich have jumped to the top of the pile as far as comprehensive critical illness cover is concerned. While Vitality’s Serious Illness Cover 3X was mooted as groundbreaking, it has not really taken off. The simplicity of Zurich’s new offerings with various bolt-ons means that people, with the help of their brokers, can create a bespoke portfolio of protection products to suit their family needs. Bravo Zurich.”
Austyn Johnson, founder at Colchester-based Mortgages For Actors was also upbeat: “It’s great to see Zurich changing things up in this underserved area of the market. While some other providers also offer this type of protection, Zurich are trying to rock the boat as the covers in question are a bit more comprehensive than those offered elsewhere and can easily be bolted onto straightforward and cheap life insurance. With their new wording on critical illness, too, it’s almost a one-stop shop and should see them getting a fair amount of business this coming year.”
Rhys Schofield, brand director at Peak Mortgages and Protection, was another protection expert to welcome the news: “Anything to raise awareness around children’s critical illness cover is to be applauded as unfortunately it’s something claimed on more often than many of us would like to think. Advisers sometimes neglect to consider that the good policies also cover pregnancy complications but here at Peak we’ve had two clients make successful claims for precisely that this year. This just shows how important it is to take proper advice when setting up any protection policy.”
While welcoming the product, Simon Bridgland, director at Release Freedom, warned that it will need to be advised tactfully: “It’s great to see innovation in the insurance industry like this, which will help families at a time of great stress and upset. Advisers lining up conversations around this feature will need to be incredibly tactful. People don’t like to think of their own mortality or serious ill health, so when talking about that of their kids or the family they are planning, advisers should use their ears more than their mouth when discussing.”
Meanwhile, Scott Taylor-Barr, financial adviser at Barnsdale Financial Management, was “torn”: “I will admit to being a little torn. On the one hand, I do love the extra levels of cover and protection that Zurich is delivering. Some of them are the first of their kind in their market and I can completely understand why they are all add-ons to the basic cover, allowing those that want them to pay for them. But I do have this nagging doubt about how this form of menu pricing plays out in people’s minds. Do they see these options as valuable additions, or upsells that are just there to get more money from them? Will we see people looking at these plans in the same way they view Ryan Air’s pricing policy and looking for ways to “beat the system”, figuratively wearing all their clothes to avoid paying the baggage charge? I guess only time will tell.”
For Justin Moy, managing director at Chelmsford-based EHF Mortgages, the new products ultimately drive home the importance of widening the protection conversation: “This is a welcome innovation from Zurich and adds to the wealth of additional benefits policyholders can benefit from if they have good life insurance in place. This does show the need to widen the conversation from just ‘covering the mortgage’ to ‘protecting the family’.”
