Posted 16 Feb 2021 Children’s critical illness cover – want it or need it?The team at iam|INSURED is incredibly proud to be working closely with Teenage Cancer Trust in 2021. This incredible charity provides vital support to cancer patients between the ages of 13 and 24.We see this as an opportunity to help raise awareness for teenagers and young adults coping with a cancer diagnosis. Also, it is an opportunity for us to help increase awareness around children’s critical illness cover.Children’s critical illness cover is an amazing product introduced to the protection market several years ago. This benefit provides critical illness cover to children up to the ages of 18 years for some providers and 23 years with others (depending on cover and education).The reality is that should a family need to claim on a children’s critical illness cover policy, then we should be supporting them as best we can. Parents will dread to think about the possibility of their children becoming critically ill.This type of benefit should be something that we promote more heavily as an industry, but there are limits to it.Summary of cover currently available through standard insurance providers:Provider% of sum assuredMaximum benefitMax. age (not in education)Max. age (in full-time education)Available with Life onlyAIG CiC Start50%Up to £35,0002222NOAIG YourLife PlanN/A£50k group 1 / £25k group 2 conditions2222NOAviva50%Up to £25,0002118NOAviva Upgraded ChildN/AUp to £25,000 (£50k for child extra care)2222NOCanada Life50% / 25%£25k full payment£25k additional payment cond.2218NOGuardianN/A£10,000 to £100,000. Payments between 100% and 25% based on the severity2323YESLegal & General50%Up to £25,0002222NOLegal & General CCIx50%Up to £30,0002222NOLV=50%Up to £25,0002323NOLV= Enhanced Children’s CI50%Up to £35,0002323NORoyal London50%Up to £25,0002321NORoyal London Enhanced Children’s CI50%Up to £50,000Additional conditions up to £25,0002321NOScottish Widows50%Up to £30,0002222NOVitality PPPN/A£10,000 to £100,000Payments between 100% and 5% based on the severity2318YESZurich (Core & Select)50%Up to £25,000Additional conditions up to £25,0002222NO SummaryThe reality of this table shows that most of these benefit options are fairly similar, however, there are some major differences.Age limits are similar for most insurers, however, there are some who are clearly more flexible if your child is no longer in full-time education. Providers offering cover up to higher limits in this instance are AIG, Aviva (upgraded), Guardian, Legal & General, LV=, Royal London, Scottish Widows, and Zurich.Maximum sum assured levels are fairly consistent across the board with most insurers on the standard cover. Guardian and Vitality both offer the highest levels of cover of up to £100,000, severity based.Benefit limitationsThe biggest limitation that we can see, especially for people with pre-existing medical conditions, is that only two insurers offer this benefit with life only. Every provider except for Guardian and Vitality will only allow you to add this benefit if you take out a critical illness cover policy.Based on our experience in this area of protection, this excludes a significant number of people from taking children’s critical illness cover. We would like to see more insurers allow customers to add this benefit with life-only. About Latest Posts Daniel Sharpe-SzunkoManaging Director at iam|INSUREDDaniel is an extremely passionate and accomplished expert within the insurance and mortgage world. He has dedicated almost all of his 20+ years in the financial services industry to helping people with different needs and circumstances to get the best outcomes... Over the past two decades, Daniel has worked with some of the biggest financial services brands to help promote fairer treatment for people who are not classed as 'standard' by insurers or lenders. Daniel also works with numerous health and medical charities, as well as providing support for a number of events to help raise awareness for medical conditions in the UK.Email: daniel@iaminsured.co.ukLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielsharpe-szunkoLatest posts by Daniel Sharpe-Szunko (see all) Life insurance Covid claims 2020 - April 7, 2021 Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month - March 21, 2021 Children’s critical illness cover – the facts - February 16, 2021