Critical illness cover

Details of critical illnesses

For each critical illness or condition listed in alphabetical order below, we have set out the definition we'll use when we're assessing a claim.

• Aorta graft surgery - for disease or trauma.
• Aplastic anaemia
• Bacterial meningitis
• Benign brain tumour- resulting in permanent symptoms or requiring invasive surgery.
• Benign spinal cord tumour
• Blindness - permanent and irreversible.
• Cancer - excluding less advanced cases.
• Cardiac arrest- with insertion of a cardiac defibrillator. 
• Cardiomyopathy - of specified severity.
• Coma - with associated permanent symptoms.
• Coronary artery by-pass grafts
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Deafness - permanent and irreversible.
• Dementia - of specified severity.
• Devic's disease - with persisting clinical symptoms.
• Encephalitis
• Heart attack
• Heart valve replacement or repair
• Intensive care - requiring mechanical ventilation for 10 consecutive days.
• Kidney failure - requiring permanent dialysis.
• Liver failure
• Loss of hand or foot- permanent physical severance.
• Major organ transplant - from another donor.
• Motor neurone disease - resulting in permanent symptoms.
• Multiple sclerosis - where there have been symptoms.
• Multiple system atrophy
• Paralysis of a limb- total and irreversible.
• Parkinson's disease - resulting in permanent symptoms.
• Pneumonectomy- removal of a complete lung.
• Primary pulmonary hypertension - of specified severity. 
• Progressive supranuclear palsy
• Pulmonary artery surgery
• Rheumatoid arthritis - of specified severity.
• Severe lung disease - of specified severity.
• Stroke
• Structural heart surgery
• Systemic lupus erythematosus - of specified severity.
• Terminal illness - where death is expected within 12 months.
• Third degree burns- covering at least 20% of the body's surface area or covering at least 20% of the surface area of the face or head. 
• Traumatic brain injury- resulting in permanent symptoms. 

Details of additional critical illnesses 

Our Critical Illness Plan includes additional critical illness benefit. If you’re diagnosed with one of the following illnesses during the policy term and survive for 10 days we’ll pay:

 The lower of £25,000 or 25% of the cover amount

• Carcinoma in situ of the breast- requiring surgery to remove the tumour.
• Low-grade prostate cancer – with specified treatment.

The lower of £20,000 or 20% of the cover amount

• Arteriovenous malformation (AVM) of the brain – with specified treatment.
• Bladder removal 
• Carcinoma in situ of the cervix –requiring treatment with hysterectomy.
• Carcinoma in situ of the testicle – requiring surgical removal of one or both testicles.
• Cerebral aneurysm – with specified treatment.
• Crohn’s disease – treated with intestinal resection.
• Non-malignant pituitary tumour – with specified treatment.
• Removal of an eyeball
• Ulcerative colitis – treated with total colectomy.

Each person covered by the policy can claim for each of these conditions once. If you claim for an additional critical illness, your policy will continue. It won’t affect what we pay for any other benefit in the future.

Children's benefit 

We also include a children’s benefit in our critical illness cover. This benefit covers all your children (natural, step and legally adopted), including any future children. Your children need to be aged between 30 days and their 18th birthday, or their 21st birthday if they’re in full time education.

If you claim for children’s benefit, your policy will continue. It won’t affect what we pay for any other benefit in the future.

 

Children’s critical illness cover

If during the policy term, any of your children:

• are diagnosed with one of the critical illnesses or additional critical illnesses we cover (excluding terminal illness), and
• survive for 10 days after diagnosis,

we’ll pay you the lower amount of either:

• £25,000, or
• 50% of the cover amount.

We won’t pay out for children’s critical illness if the:

• critical illness was present at birth (whether diagnosed or not)
• child had symptoms of the critical illness before they were covered by the policy.

For more information, please read the policy conditions.

 

Children’s death benefit

If any of your children die during the policy term, we’ll pay £5,000. We’ll pay the children’s death benefit on top of any payment we make for children’s critical illness. We’ll pay children’s critical illness benefit and children’s death benefit once for each child.