Aviva's Relevant Life is a ‘breakthrough'

This initiative from Aviva will surely shake up the market for those looking for tax-efficient solutions. Until quite recently Relevant Life plans could only provide life assurance protection. Relevant Life plans offer tax relief to employers effecting insurance on one or more employees and is a tax-efficient means of obtaining insurance, particularly for directors.It will only be a matter of time before other providers will look to bring their own versions, but for now, it appears Aviva has a monopoly.

To meet legislative requirements children's cover is not included, however it does include access to the Best Doctors service.

Details

• The plan is identical to the existing Aviva personal cover plan albeit without any children's cover.
• The plan covers 43 100% payment conditions and a further 11 additional payment conditions as well as terminal illness cover.
• The plan can be taken out for a minimum 1 year period and can run until age 75, or age 72 if TPD is included.

Claims

Historically, Aviva has evidenced a high quality claims paying record. During 2014, the latest advised year,
Aviva paid 2,095 claims, 93.2% of those submitted, higher than the industry average of 92.0%.

Quality of claims wordings

Aviva shows up well on the CIExpert comparison tables and has historically sought to balance above- average condition wordings with a lower than average premiums.

CIExpert verdict:

Alan Lakey, director of CIExpert said: "As an industry we continually cry out for innovation and amongst the glut of annual changes very few insurers prove to be truly inventive.

"Relevant Life with critical illness is a breakthrough. Previously, a number of insurers had investigated the potential for such a plan but had been unable to navigate the onerous requirements of legislation. Aviva's legal advisers have succeeded where others failed and this plan is capable of creating a whole new target audience for critical illness.”