Royal London has made changes to its critical illness cover (CIC) to help improve protection claims outcomes for parents and their children.

The pay-out for additional cover conditions for parents has increased from a maximum of £25,000 to £30,000. This also increases the pay-out under enhanced child critical illness cover.

Under the enhanced child CIC, Royal London has increased the children’s death benefit and the payment for still birth to £10,000 (both previously £5,000). For standard child CIC, a new child death benefit of £5,000 has been added.

Parents will now also be able to protect their children on Royal London’s child CIC up until the age of 22 or 23 for those still in full time education.

Jennifer Gilchrist (pictured), protection specialist at Royal London, said: “The recent improvements to our critical illness cover are essential to make sure we are providing financial support and the best possible outcomes for our customers. No parent should ever have to experience the death of a child, which is why some of the changes are targeted at pregnant mothers and parents to help provide protection for themselves and their children in the best way possible.

“But insurance isn’t just about financial support at Royal London and, as ever, our Helping Hand service providing invaluable emotional and practical support is there throughout to listen, empathise and help people cope with their experience of illness or bereavement.”

Nicola Welsh, chief executive at Held in our Hearts, a local charity providing baby loss counselling and support to families, added: “When a family’s baby dies, it is an incredibly traumatic and extremely lonely time as parents struggle to find others who can connect with the overwhelming emotions they experience. The majority of our staff are bereaved themselves, so we are there to let them know they are not alone.

“It’s great to see insurance accommodating what can be a traumatic event, and with our support services, we walk alongside families providing empathy, whilst they start to come to terms with what has happened and help support them in their grief.”

Royal London has also introduced two new cover increase options for renters.

The first option allows renters to increase their cover if their rent increases; the second allows renters to increase their cover if they take out their first mortgage. The renter’s cover is available across Royal London’s Life, Critical Illness and Income Protection cover.