Royal London has updated its income protection offering, introducing new features designed to reflect modern working lives.
The insurer said the changes are built around three priorities: stronger support for families, clearer value, and improved financial resilience.
Developed in partnership with advisers, the updates introduce additional event-based support alongside traditional income protection cover.
These are designed to provide help during significant life events that may not result in a formal claim, but can still create financial pressure.
The changes include support for serious child illness, loss and hospitalisation, a three-month post-redundancy grace period, sabbatical cover, a protected benefit promise of up to 10%, and a fixed death benefit.
Royal London said the changes are intended to provide greater clarity and consistency at claim stage, reduce ambiguity and support fairer outcomes for customers.
Fi Wynn, head of protection proposition at Royal London, said the updates reflect changing working and family lives.
She said: “People’s lives and working patterns have changed, and protection needs to evolve with them.
“Our income protection enhancements broaden the role protection can play, going beyond traditional definitions of incapacity.
“They provide meaningful support for families, even more value for customers, and greater resilience in real-life situations.
“Designed with advisers, these changes are straightforward to explain, easy for clients to understand, and focused on delivering fair, consistent outcomes when it matters most.”
Jo Miller, managing director at the Income Protection Task Force, said it was positive to see insurers considering a wider range of life events in product design.
Commenting on the changes, she said: “It’s encouraging to see an insurer thinking more carefully about the moments in people’s lives that don’t fit neatly into a traditional claim definition.
“Redundancy, a seriously ill child or a career break are exactly the kinds of situations where people feel financially exposed and often don’t realise that protection can help.
“We believe that when features such as these are included in advice conversations, they encourage growth in the market and develop trust with customers.”
