British Friendly's Income Protection Guide

Introduction

We want to make it as easy as possible to do business with us. That’s why we created this interactive guide to Income Protection from British Friendly. It’ll quickly give you all the information you need to recommend British Friendly with confidence.

Contents

For ease of navigation you can click any heading below to skip forward to that chapter of the guide.

Introduction and Contents

Who We Are

A Background to British Friendly.

Why Income Protection matters

What is IP and why should you recommend it?

Key contacts and communication

Meet the Sales and Marketing Team, learn about other key contacts across all areas of our business and find out about key communications you’ll receive.

Product focus

Learn about our products and our key selling points.

Mutual Benefits and BF Care

Learn about our added-value benefits, available to your clients at no extra cost.

Submitting Business and Commission

A guide to our Quote and Apply system and Commission queries.

Client Care

A guide to Premium payments, Arrears and our Claims process. Our Top Tips

Sales tools and resources to help bring Income Protection to life.

Throughout this guide you’ll see a tick box icon – part of our Interactive Checklist which you can use to keep track of your progress and tick off each chapter once you’ve completed it.

Who We Are

At British Friendly, we’ve been protecting incomes for those in need since 1902. We specialise in Income Protection. We feel it’s the most important insurance product that working people need. And as a mutual we’re committed to being fair and inclusive. It’s why we welcome business for those who are typically harder to insure. Those who are self-employed, with incomes that go up and down, as well as manual workers and those in the gig-economy.

We apply our principles to everything we do, from decision-making to relationship building and everyday operations. We hope our Principles give you a deeper insight into our business.

Our Principles

Our Principles are the values and beliefs we’ve built our business and culture on. They’re what we measure ourselves on. They are:

To be easy to do business with

To do the right thing

To be a trusted provider in times of need

To put our members at the heart of all we do

We apply our principles to everything we do from decision making to relationship building and everyday operations.

Why Income Protection?

The one protection policy every working adult in the UK should consider is the very one most of us don’t have –Income Protection - Which?

To bring Income Protection to life for your clients why not show them our ‘What is IP’ sales tool?. You can view it here.

Whether you’ve sold hundreds of policies or you’re new to Income Protection, we’re here to help you start conversations with your clients about the value of this amazing product.

Why Income Protection matters

We all know that Income Protection pays out a weekly or monthly payment when a client becomes too ill or injured to work. It helps clients pay the bills and keep food on the table. Without it, how many of your clients would join the 65% of UK adults who claim they couldn’t last as long as 3 months without borrowing, if they lost their income*.

To put the risk into context, 1.8 million workers in the UK suffered work-related ill health in 2022/23. Not all of them would have access to sick pay**.

Income Protection the foundation of good protection advice

What makes Income Protection so important to good protection planning? It’s a question of risk.

The biggest risk your client faces throughout their working life is loss of income through illness or injury. While Critical Illness Cover will pay out in the event of a very serious illness. Income Protection will pay out even if the illness or injury isn’t life threatening. And it pays out monthly or weekly, just like an income.

According to Swiss RE clients are 26 times more likely to be incapacitated and off work than die before 65*. Most of these will be for illness or injures not covered by a Critical Illness plan**.

Something as simple as a sore back can cause workers real financial hardship. How many of your clients wouldn’t be able to work and earn an income while they recovered? With Income Protection you can protect them against this risk. Fulfilling your duty of care to your clients. Great work! You’re well on the way to becoming an

*https://www.covermagazine.co.uk/feature/2433388/insights-visit-income-protection

**https://www.moneysupermarket.com/life-insurance/critical-illness/?source=GOO-0X0000048C2D9DD150&gclid=Cj0KCQjw1ZeUBhDyARIsAOzAqQKCC9Wwuqh5qlGPFYVB3va_r_NhDqry1d3ajFPcH-AKKQItvlreJKUaAu3eEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

Key Contacts and Communication

As specialists in Income Protection, we’ll always do our best to put cover in place.

Our underwriters aim to make a decision as soon as possible. And they’re always prepared to review the decision if you can give us more information to support the review.

Our pre-sales telephone line gives you direct access to an underwriter who will give a provisional decision, based on the information you provide and help with any pre-sales questions.

Key Contact for Underwriting

Contacts for New Business

Key Contacts for Member Services

Contacts for Claims

Regular Communications

We’ll send you emails at least once a month to support you with client conversations and to keep you up to date with all things British Friendly.

Key Contacts for Sales and Marketing

Our team of National Account Managers and Partnership Support Executives will tailor our support to your needs. Whether you need guidance at each stage of the application process, or just occasional assistance, we’re here to help.

Our team will help you with training, client objections and retention conversations. Giving you the help you need to acquire and retain clients.

Meet the Sales Team

Natalie Summerson

Sales and Marketing Director

Natalie joined British Friendly in June 2021, having spent over 20 years in the Individual Protection industry. In her spare time she enjoys going to the gym and watching the local rugby.

Craig Dickinson

Head of National Partnerships and Sales

Craig joined the team in August 2023 having previously held the position of Sales Manager for Aegon UK for 18 years. He has a passion for Protection and wants to educate as many as possible on the importance of protecting yourself and your loved ones. Outside of work he enjoys a daily gym session, watching Manchester United and spending time with his family.

Debbie Bonser

Key Account Manager

Debbie joined British Friendly in October 2017. She has worked in Financial Services for over 30 years, as a Mortgage Adviser but mostly in business development/consultancy roles for protection providers. In her free time, she enjoys walking the dog or going out on her bike.

Timur Dalrymple

Key Account Manager

Timur joined British Friendly in August 2022, having worked for an Independent Financial Adviser for 10 years, with a further 7 years in the corporate environment looking after broker relationships as a Key Account Manager for the likes of Legal & General and Vitality. An avid petrolhead, weekends are spent go karting and catching up with family and friends.

Adam Rowles

Telephone Account Manager

Adam has been with British Friendly since January 2019, before this Adam worked in Recruitment and Estate Agency roles. In his spare time you will most likely find him walking his dog Lottie with his wife or watching his favorite football club, Liverpool.

Thomas Breedon

Telephone Account Manager

Tom has over 7 years industry experience. Before joining British Friendly, he worked with the Exeter. Tom is passionate about Income Protection and strongly believes it’s a product almost every working adult should have. This fuels his conversations with advisers. In his spare time, Tom is a passionate supporter of Derby County, you can find him on the golf course and he enjoys long walks with his 4 year old collie.

Katie Perry

Partnership Support Manager

Katie joined British Friendly in June 2018 and has over 15 years experience within sales and customer service. In her spare time Katie enjoys spending time with family, friends and travelling whenever possible.

Grace Donnelly

Agency Support Executive

Grace joined British Friendly in 2023 and has over six years of customer service experience. In her spare time, Grace enjoys long walks with her dog as well as meeting up with friends.

Meet the Marketing Team

Meredith Illman

Head of Marketing

Meredith joined British Friendly in January 2015 and has over 10 years experience in marketing across various sectors including Financial Services, Wellbeing and Fleet Management. In her spare time, Meredith enjoys playing tennis, being outdoors, baking, DIY projects, travelling back home to the US and, most importantly, spending quality time with her husband and her small sons.

Pouja Ram Barot

Marketing Manager

Pouja joined British Friendly in November 2016 and has 7 years marketing experience. In her spare time Pouja enjoys spending time with her huge family, eating desserts and watching crime thrillers.

Briony Winn

Marketing Communications Executive

Briony joined British Friendly in June 2022 following 8 years in marketing roles in the automotive industry. In her spare time, she enjoys long weekends away hiking, trying out new outdoor activities and riding her motorbike.

Product focus

We designed our Income Protection policies to meet the needs of more of your clients. From bricklayers to hairdressers, drivers to web designers, we’ve got it covered.

We offer two main product types:

ƒ Protect is linked to earnings

ƒ Breathing Space is not linked to earnings and there’s no underwriting at application or claims stage. We will only ask for proof of an income in the months before claim.

View more detailed information here

Protect

Who is this product designed for?

We designed this product to replace some of the income lost when a member is unable to work due to illness or injury.

You can tailor the policy to your client’s personal needs and budget.

Key features include:

Option of either level guaranteed premiums or guaranteed age-costed premiums

We will cover your client for up to 65% of the first £60,000 of their yearly income before tax and then 45% up to a maximum of £100,000 (maximum benefit up to £4,750 per month)

Choice of benefit periods from short term (1, 2 or 5 years) or until retirement

No limit to the number of claims allowed

Maximum policy end date age of 70

Choice of deferred periods from day 1 (guaranteed age-costed premiums until retirement only), week 1 (guaranteed age-costed premiums only) or 4, 8, 13, 26 or 52 weeks

Benefit guarantee up to £1,500

Indexation option available

Automatic waiver of premium starts once claim has been accepted

Sick pay protection for teachers or NHS doctors, surgeons, nurses, midwives and dentists

Range of Guaranteed Insurability Options

Mortgage Payment Option

Occupation Promise

Premium Holiday

Gives you the option to add Fracture Cover as an additional benefit at an extra cost.

Gives you the option to add Children’s Critical Illness Cover as an additional benefit at an extra cost.

For a more detailed view of Protect, read the Protect Product Profile here, the Protect Policy Summary here, the Protect Terms and Conditions here.

Breathing Space

?

Who

is this product designed for?

We designed Breathing Space to replace some of the income your client would lose, if they became too ill or injured to work.

It is particularly suitable for clients who may struggle to prove their level of earnings in the event of a claim such as newly self-employed, casual, part time workers, gig economy workers or people with irregular incomes.

Key features include:

Guaranteed age-costed premiums

No financial underwriting at claims stage - the client must only provide proof that they had an income in the months prior to their claim

Maximum Benefit of £1,250 per month

Choice of 1 or 2 years limited benefit periods

No limit to the number of claims allowed

Maximum policy end date of 70

Choice of 1, 4, 8, 13, 26 or 52 week deferred periods

No occupation ratings – all occupations pay the same premium

No minimum hours worked

Automatic waiver of premium starts once claim has been accepted

Range of Guaranteed Insurability Options

Mortgage Payment Option

Occupation Promise

Premium Holiday

Gives you the option to add Fracture Cover as an additional benefit at an extra cost.

What’s the difference between level guaranteed and guaranteed age-costed premiums?

Level guaranteed premiums will stay the same for the whole of the policy. They will only go up if your client makes certain changes to their policy, or chooses increasing cover.

Guaranteed age-costed premiums go up in line with your client’s age. These will typically start lower than a level guaranteed premium, but increase as your client gets older. Their policy schedule will detail how much their premiums will go up each year.

Gives you the option to add Children’s Critical Illness Cover as an additional benefit at an extra cost. For a more detailed view of Breathing Space, read the Breathing Space Product Profile here, the Policy Summary here or the Terms and Conditions here. Use our Age-Costed Vs Level Premium calculator to get a detailed long-term premium comparison. Email marketing@britishfriendly.com to arrange a demonstration or to get a price comparison. Now you should be a British Friendly product expert! Tick to complete ‘Product Focus’ chapter

Fracture Cover

Fracture cover is available to add to new Protect and Breathing Space policies.

Add fracture cover to your client’s new Income Protection policy for an extra £4 each month.

It offers a lump sum payment in the event of a specific fracture, for example a broken ankle or wrist. Whether your client needs help paying the bills or support to cover additional costs that come with injury, Fracture Cover can make a difference. And that might just make dealing with their injury a little more manageable.

Fracture Cover Key Features

Guaranteed monthly premium of £4 per month.

Up to £6,000 lump sum per policy year.

Covers 18 specific fractures.

Available to add to new Protect and Breathing Space policies.

Flexible cover that can be removed at any time but once removed you can’t add it back on.

Can be claimed alone or alongside your client’s Income Protection policy.

We designed Fracture Cover for new customers who would like to receive a lump sum if they suffer from one of the specific bone fractures we cover. To apply they must be aged 18-59.

You can add it to new Protect and Breathing Space polices only. It is not available as a standalone policy.

Take a look at our Fracture Cover Product Profile here, and to read our Fracture Cover brochure, click here.

Children’s Critical Illness Cover

Our Children’s Critical Illness Cover is one of our optional benefits, meaning it can be added to your client’s Income Protection policy for an additional cost. It’s flexible too, and they can choose from £1,000 to £25,000 worth of cover to suit their needs. It pays a cash lump sum in the event of their child being diagnosed with one of 78 critical illness conditions. This means your client can worry less about the costs and focus on the things that really matter.

1

Who does it cover?

Children’s Critical Illness Cover covers your client’s current and/or future children from birth up to aged 18, or 23 if they’re full-time education. It lasts until their youngest child reaches the upper age limit. Once this happens, they just need to get in touch with our team and we’ll take it from there.

They can remove this cover completely if they’d like, but it can’t be added back on once removed.

2

Can

cover

be added at a later date?

Yes, our Children’s Critical Illness Cover is flexible, and it fits around growing families. You can add it when your client applies for their policy, during pregnancy, or within 6 months of: the birth of a child, the adoption of a child, becoming a step-parent, or becoming a legal guardian or being granted parental responsibility for a child. It also offers a great opportunity to get back in touch with these clients at a later date, to check that everything still fits their needs.

Key Features

18

The age every child is covered up to

£25,000

Maximum cover amount

58

Full payout conditions

8

20 Additional payout conditions

Child-specific conditions

Cerebral palsy, Cystic fibrosis, Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome, Hydrocephalus, Muscular dystrophy, Patau syndrome, Spina bifida

Take a look at our Children’s Critical Illness Cover Product Profile here, and to read our Children’s Critical Illness Guide, click here.

Mutual Benefits and BF Care

Value-added benefits that give your clients more than just Income Protection

Mutual Benefits offers our members a range of support and rewards. We make these available to their partners and children too. Through Mutual Benefits we give members and their families access to healthcare specialists, rewards and support every day, whether they claim or not. And all at no extra cost.

For more detailed information take a look at our Mutual Benefits Terms and Conditions here and our Mutual Benefits Privacy Policy here for more details.

Mutual Benefits

Everyday health, wellbeing and rewards for your clients and their families at no extra cost

in a Pocket

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ƒ

ƒ 2 Second

ƒ 1 Health

Services are allocated on an annual basis. To access them, your clients can download the Clinic in a Pocket app, select ‘register’ and enter the pin sent to them in their Activation Invite or Activation Guide.

Benefits include: Click here to learn about the full-range of our Mutual Benefits programme.

ƒ Monthly cash draws

ƒ 5 random winners of £100 each

ƒ Paid directly into your client’s bank account

ƒ No limit to the number of times your client can win

We will automatically enter your cient into our prize draws every month if they are up-todate on their premium payments.

BF Care

BF Care is our discretionary benefits package. We include it with our Income Protection policies at no extra cost. BF Care allows you and your family to claim additional financial support during life changing events. The amount you’ll receive depends on your Income Protection benefit, and the £2,000 cap we apply. Your can learn more in our BF Care Brochure here

Financial support for your clients and their families through life-changing events.:

Death Benefit

Death Benefit offers a lump sum of 26 weeks’ worth of your Income Protection benefit, up to a maximum of £2,000. When you take out a policy with us, you can choose who we pay your Death Benefit to in the event of your death. Losing a member of the family is always hard. Death Benefit can help take some of the financial stress away from your loved ones.

Bereavement Benefit

Bereavement Benefit offers a lump sum of 13 weeks’ worth of Income Protection benefit. It can be claimed once per member, as long as you haven’t already claimed Terminal Illness Benefit. Bereavement Benefit pays up to a maximum of £2,000. You can claim Bereavement Benefit if your partner or spouse, or child aged up to 18, dies. This benefit gives you some financial breathing space, following the death of a close family member

Terminal Illness Benefit

Our Death Benefit and Bereavement Benefit also include a Terminal Illness Benefit option which is available if the member or their partner, spouse, or child aged up to 18, receives a terminal diagnosis (an illness or condition which is expected to lead to death within 12 months). A separate claim for Death Benefit or Bereavement benefit cannot be made if a Terminal Illness Benefit payment has been made. Terminal Illness Benefit pays up to a maximum of £2,000.

Care Assistance Benefit

Care Assistance Benefit pays you a weekly benefit of £125 for up to 13 weeks for your parents or parents-in-law, or up to 16 weeks for your partner, spouse, or child up to aged 18. We’ll pay this benefit if your family member needs full time care for at least 4 weeks. Care Assistance Benefit is available to those who have taken out their Income Protection policy between 18-54 years old. This benefit ends on the member’s 60th birthday.

Recovery Support Benefit

If you’ve claimed on your Income Protection policy following an illness or injury, and received your benefit for more than 6 months, then you may be entitled to Recovery Support Benefit. This benefit pays up to £2,000, to help support you as you return to work. This allows you to focus on getting back to business following an extended time off recovering.

Now you’re in a great position to show your clients the full range of inclusive benefits we offer with our Income Protection plans.

Tick to complete ‘Mutual Benefits and BF Care‘ chapter

Submitting Business and Commission

Demystifying

our

online Quote and Apply journey and Adviser Portal

Use our quick and easy online quote and apply service to make an application online or to get a quote advisers.britishfriendly.com

You can also access our products on all the major protection portals. This includes IRESS, ipipeline, Webline and LifeQuote.

We offer the option to book a telephone interview with a trained nurse to complete detailed medical questions with your client.

If we owe you commission, we will send a statement confirming the amount you can expect to receive. If you owe us money because of clawback, we will confirm this with a statement on a weekly basis.

For more details about our commission, see Schedule 2 of our Terms of Business.

When will we pay your commission?

If we put the policy in force before 5pm on a Monday, we will pay to your authorised bank account on the Thursday of the same week. If the policy goes in force after 5pm on a Monday, we will pay your commission the following week.

Clawback

If your client cancels their policy or lapses within the agreed clawback period, a proportion of commission will be due to British Friendly Society Limited. If your statement shows there is a clawback due to us, we will deduct this from your next commission payment. In the absence of any future commission payments, please contact us to arrange payment of any clawback. Our bank details are:

Sort code: 60-02-13

Account number: 51326418

Client Care

Here’s some information to help with your duty of care to your client. Here we explain what your client can expect once their policy with us is up and running.

Premium Payments

Your client can choose a date between the 1st and 28th of each month to pay their monthly premium. Once their policy is live, we will collect their monthly premiums by direct debit. We will do this, throughout the term of their policy, on the date they agree with us.

Your client’s policy documents will give them advance notice of when we will collect the first premium.

Arrears

If your client misses a premium payment their policy goes into arrears. While their policy is in arrears, they will not be able to claim. They will only be able to claim once they have paid their missed premiums in full. After 4 missed payments we will cancel their policy.

Help to keep your client protected

Click here to learn how we can support your clients through financial difficulties and help them keep their policy, even if they fall into arrears.

Annual Statements

When your client’s guaranteed age-costed policy is about to enter a new age band, or their cover is increasing in line with RPI we will write to them. We will do this to remind them that their premium is about to increase and to reinforce the value of Income Protection cover.

1 2 3 4

We never forget we are dealing with people, not claims.

We pride ourselves on our personal approach to managing claims. We are very aware that we are dealing with vulnerable people. And we’re proud of our consistently high claims payment track record. We’ve paid an average of 94% of claims over the last 18 years. We’re even more proud that we could support people with health and wellness support, when they needed it most.

Making a claim – step one

Your client will first need to complete a claims enquiry form on our member website here To help us give the best support possible, your client will have to provide the following information in the ‘Comments’ section.

ƒ Their British Friendly policy number

ƒ Details of their illness or injury

ƒ Date of first absence from work due to their illness or injury and how long they’ve been off work

ƒ How long they expect to be off work (if known)

ƒ Preferred time of day for us to contact them – morning or afternoon

If you’re contacting us on behalf of a member, please explain your relationship and provide your contact details.

Making a claim – step two

Our Claims Team will reach out to your client via telephone to discuss their claim. However, if they prefer not to discuss their claim over the phone, they can let us know, and we will send them a claim form for completion instead. During the discussion we may request supporting documents to help us assess the claim, including:

ƒ A medical certificate (if they’re claiming for more than 7 days)

ƒ Proof of income before they. became too ill or injured to work.

Making

a

claim – step three

We will assess the evidence and confirm whether we will be able to accept your client’s claim. We may need extra medical evidence to support the claim. This might come from a number of different sources, including:

ƒ their doctor or treating specialist

ƒ their employer

ƒ a nurse telephone assessment

ƒ independent medical examination arranged by us or from other third parties.

If your client has any medical documents, they can send to us we will be happy to use these to support the claim.

Making a claim – step four

ƒ If we accept your client’s claim, we will pay their weekly or monthly benefit payment into their bank account

ƒ We will do this until they recover, or their benefit period ends

Our Top Tips

Promoting Income Protection and CPD content

We have produced a range of tools and aids to help you engage your clients in the Income Protection conversation

Our Adviser Toolkit

Our online Adviser Toolkit gives you easy to use content to help bring Income Protection to life for your clients. Explore our Adviser Toolkit here.

Our Value-Added Services Webpage

This is where to find detailed information about the value-added services your clients can access when they become a British Friendly member. We include sales aids, guides and tools to help support you when recommending British Friendly. Explore our Value-Added Services Webpage here.

Key Sales Tools

What is Income Protection? (PDF)

A client-facing explanation of what Income Protection is and why it’s so important. Great for sharing at an initial meeting. Click here to view.

Why British Friendly (PDF)

An ‘at a glance’ guide to our products which highlights key selling points. Click here to view.

Paul’s Story (video)

When Paul woke up with a back problem that prevented him from working, he was grateful he hadn’t acted on his impulse to cancel his Income Protection policy. As the months wore on, not only were we here to support him financially, but also with his recovery, thanks to our Mutual Benefits programme. Here’s what he had to say.

BMI Guide

We’ve created a BMI guide to help you understand our typical stance on different BMI levels and how age impacts them. View our BMI guide here

Occupation Guide

A guide to how we treat different occupations, helping you to manage client expectations. View the guide here.

Protect Non-medical Limits Guide

This outlines the medical evidence we will need by age and benefit amount. View our guide here.

Or for tailored CPD support why not book a webinar with your National Account Manager? E-mail sales@britishfriendly.com or call us on 01234 348 007 to request a webinar.

Congratulations!

Thank you for taking the time to complete our induction programme. We hope it’s helped you discover what British Friendly has to offer you and your clients.

Feel free to keep hold of this document and have another look if you ever need a refresh.

Please stay in touch and don’t hesitate to contact us if there’s anything at all we can help you with.

E-mail: sales@britishfriendly.com

Phone: 01234 348 007

Yours in partnership, The British Friendly Team

British Friendly Society Limited

Registered Office: 45 Bromham Road, Bedford MK40 2AA

Telephone: 01234 348 007

Email: sales@britishfriendly.com

Web: advisers.britishfriendly.com

British Friendly Society Limited is incorporated under the Friendly Societies Act 1992. Registered Office: 45 Bromham Road, Bedford MK40 2AA. Registered No. 392F. It is a member of the Association of Financial Mutuals. British Friendly Society Limited is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority Ref: 110013.

Document Reference: MKT000472-001

Version: 1