Guardian is to be launching Income Protection in the coming weeks, to sit alongside its existing Life Protection, Critical Illness Protection, Combined Life and Critical Illness Protection, and Children’s Critical Illness Protection covers.

With the launch of Income Protection, Guardian will offer a full menu on its Protection Builder 2.0 quote and apply system, allowing advisers to combine different cover types, amount and terms to create bespoke, needs-based protection recommendations for clients.

Some highlights of Guardian’s Income Protection:

• Cover for ‘own job’, not ‘own occupation’ – a distinction that gives clients more certainty their cover will pay out when they need it to
• No activities of daily working definition – if Guardian is able to offer terms, it will offer them for the client’s own job, and won’t ever downgrade new policyholders to the traditional activities of daily working definition often offered for more manual roles, as this rarely results in a successful claim
• Premium Waiver as standard – paying out after 28 days regardless of deferred period and no requirement for loss of income
• Option to add Optional Children’s Critical Illness Protection – to adult stand-alone Income Protection and choose the amount up to £100,000, limited to the adult’s cover amount
• Higher cover amounts – with cover for up to 65% of annual earnings up to £60,000
• 2-year and full-term payment periods, with a variety of deferred periods – giving advisers options to suit different client needs and budgets
• Choice of payment date – clients can choose which date of the month, or day of the week, they would like to receive their Income Protection claims payments to fit with their own personal circumstances and monthly direct debits
• Annual statements – sent each year so clients always know what they’re covered for and to encourage them to speak to their adviser if their earnings change, and to help them better appreciate the value of their protection policy
• HALO – specialist bespoke return-to-work support, available as soon as policyholders become too ill to work regardless of deferred period

Jacqui Gillies, marketing and proposition director, Guardian, said: “We know many advisers have been keen to see us enter the Income Protection space and we’re delighted to announce today that it’s coming very soon! At the core of our design is the customer and what they should expect from an Income Protection policy; namely, a definition that is easy to understand and pays out when they need it to. So, one particular highlight of Income Protection, is that we’ll cover ‘own job’, rather than the more traditional ‘own occupation’.

“This distinction gives our customers more certainty that, if they need to claim, their cover will pay out based on an assessment of the actual job they do, and not just a wider assessment of their occupation. ‘Own job’ is language customers know and understand, and that’s important for customers to know what they’re covered for. We also won’t offer terms based on activities of daily working as this rarely results in a successful claim.

“On top of this, our Premium Waiver goes further than most – we’ll waive premiums after 28 days, even if the customers’ deferred period is later and if they’re not yet losing income. And as we do with our current products, after the policy has been in force for 12 months, we’ll waive premiums for up to 6 months for maternity/paternity and redundancy. We’ve done this to encourage customers to let us know as early as possible of illness or injury, so our HALO claims service can start supporting them and getting them back to being themselves and back to work as soon as they feel able.

“By offering a choice of 2-year and full-term payment periods with a variety of deferred periods, our Income Protection will provide a range of options to suit different needs and budgets. We also have the option to add Children’s Critical Illness Protection to standalone Income Protection and to choose the amount up to £100,000, which gives families greater cover.

“Income Protection completes our full protection menu and we’re looking forward to working with advisers to make sure more people get the protection they need.”