Underwriting

With our underwriting, we give you the best of both worlds:

  • The world’s no.1 underwriting engine, with instant decisions 66% of the time.
  • Underwriters you can call, anytime you want to discuss a case.

How are we different?

Click on one of our icons below to find out more.

Mental Health

Type 1 Diabetes

Type 2 Diabetes

Working at heights

Higher BMI

Hazardous pursuits

ADHD and Autism

HIV

Price discounts

Oil rigs

Mental Health

We take a compassionate approach to mental health and we’re understanding when someone has past struggles, as we know they can improve over time.

What we need to know:

– We’ll speak directly with your client and, if necessary, we’ll review GP reports or specialist information

The information we need includes:

– Diagnosis details
– The cause, if it’s known
– Symptoms, how long they’ve had them, and any time taken off work
– Treatment history, including therapy and medication
– History of suicidal thoughts, self-harm, alcohol, or substance misuse.

What we consider:

– Your clients who have recovered or manage their condition well are often insurable

Impact on price or insurance:

Depending on the information provided, we’ll make one of three decisions:

– Standard Insurance – Often the price won’t change if they manage their condition well
– Extra Cost – We might increase the price for more complex cases.
– Exclusion – We might apply an exclusion but if your client’s condition is excluded, the price will be reduced by 10%.

Type 1 Diabetes

In some cases, we can offer cover for people with Type 1 diabetes.

What we need to know:

– If your client is managing their condition well and following their treatment plan
– If they’ve had any complications or other serious health conditions
– If they have a HbA1C level within a healthy range, with a full history available
– If they have normal blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, and other diabetes related test results
– Whether they smoke or misuse alcohol or drugs
– If they’re aged between 30 and 55
– If they’ve been diagnosed for at least 2 years.

Impact on price or insurance

The earliest we can start paying a claim is 13 weeks after your client becomes too unwell to work and the maximum age they can be insured to is 60.

The cost of the insurance will be higher than our standard rates, typically 75% to 150% more. The price depends on your client’s age, how long they’ve had the condition, and how well it’s managed. If your client would prefer to exclude diabetes from their insurance, let us know.

Type 2 Diabetes

We’re often able to insure people with Type 2 Diabetes.

What we need to know:

– If your client is managing their diabetes well and following their treatment plan
– If they’ve had any complications or other serious health conditions
– If they have a HbA1C level within a healthy range, with a full history available
– If they have normal blood pressure, cholesterol, BMI, and other test results
– Whether they smoke or misuse alcohol or drugs
– If they’re aged between 30 and 59
– If they’ve been diagnosed for at least 6 months

Impact on price or insurance

The earliest we can start paying a claim is 4 weeks after your client becomes too unwell to work and the maximum age they can be insured to is 65.

The cost of insurance will be higher than our standard rates, typically 75% to 150% more. The price depends on your client’s age, how long they’ve had the condition, and how well it’s managed. If your client would prefer to exclude diabetes from their insurance, let us know.

Working at heights

If your client works at heights, we’re happy to consider their application for insurance, even if they work over 50ft.

What we need to know:

– The maximum height they work at, and how often
– Details of their job duties.

Impact on price or insurance:

– Often we can offer them insurance at our normal price
– In rare cases, we may not be able to insure some high-risk jobs. Please contact us in advance and we can let you know.

Higher Body Mass Index (BMI)

We’re open to providing insurance for clients with higher BMIs.

What we need to know:

– Height and weight measurements
– Blood pressure readings
– Cholesterol levels and smoking habits
– If they’re pre-diabetic or diabetic
– Information on any gastric surgery or family history of heart disease or diabetes.

Impact on price or insurance:

– Prices may range from 25% to 150% higher than our standard rates
– For more details take a look at our BMI tables in our helpful Underwriting Guide.

Hazardous pursuits

We recognise that higher risk hobbies shouldn’t be a barrier to insurance, which is why we consider activities like:

– Skydiving
– Mountain biking
– Horse riding
– Climbing
– Diving

What we need to know:

– A list of the hobbies your client does now or plans to do in the next 12 months
– How often they do them
– If they take part in competitions for these activities
– Details of any injuries linked to their hobby from the past five years

Specific information we’ll need for these activities:

– Diving: What’s the maximum depth and type of diving they do?
– Mountaineering: What’s the location, maximum height climbed, and do they climb solo?
– Skiing: Do they regularly ski off-piste?

Impact on price or insurance:

When someone applies for insurance, we consider the hobbies they take part in, and the level of risk involved. We may also look at how soon they want their payments to start if they become too unwell to work (1, 4, 8, 13, 26, or 52 weeks) and how long they want their insurance to last (1 year, 2 years, or until an end age they choose).

Depending on this information, we’ll make one of three decisions:

– Standard Insurance – Their hobby is included, and there’s no change to their price.
– Extra Cost – The risk is a bit higher, so their price will go up. Your client can choose to exclude their hobby from their insurance to avoid the extra cost.
– Exclusion – Some hobbies are too risky for us to insure at all.

If their hobby isn’t listed, don’t worry! Contact our Underwriting Team and we’ll see what we can do.

ADHD and Autism

You’ll be pleased to know that we don’t take a blanket approach to ADHD and autism.

What we need to know:

– Their circumstances (we’ll speak to them directly to understand this)
– To see any specialist reports.

What we consider:

– How your client manages their condition
– How they follow professional advice they’ve been given
– Their employment stability and whether the condition impacts their work.

Impact on price or insurance:

– Often we can offer them insurance at our normal price
– In some cases, we may exclude ADHD or Autism from their insurance.

HIV

If you’ve got a client with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) we may be able to insure them.

What we need to know:

– If they can provide the test results and medical history, we need
– If they have an undetectable viral load
– If they have a CD4 count above 500
– Whether they’ve been on anti-retroviral medication for at least 12 months
– Whether they smoke heavily, and have used substances or illegal drugs for the last 5 years (we may consider occasional cannabis use in the past)
– Whether they’ve had Hepatitis B or C or infections, or sexually transmitted infections, after being diagnosed with HIV
– Whether they have other serious illnesses, conditions or complications from HIV that we’d be concerned about.

Impact on price or insurance:

When we have what we need and we’re happy we can insure your client, the cost of their insurance will likely be between 50% & 75% higher than our normal price. If your client would prefer an exclusion, let us know.

Price discounts

Mental illness and back conditions are the most common causes of claims. So, if we find we’re not able to cover these, we’ll reduce your client’s price.
Currently we’re reducing prices by 10% for each of these areas if they’re excluded.

Oil rigs jobs

We are one of the few providers offering insurance to clients working on oil rigs. We welcome applications from a range of roles, including:

– Engineer
– Floorman
– Foreman
– Mechanic & Rig Mechanic
– Electrician
– Surveyor
– Valveman

What we need to know:

– Job duties, including the heights your client works at and the machinery they use
– Specific risks with their role.

Impact on price or insurance:

While we can usually insure most of the jobs we’ve listed above, we may not be able to insure some high-risk positions. Please contact us to check in advance.

We also give you

If for any reason, you think we’ve made an unfair decision, you can challenge us.

If you’ve got some more information about your client, we’d be happy to talk with you about it, and see if it makes a difference. We can’t guarantee to change our decision, but we do guarantee we’ll listen and be fair and reasonable.

One frustration during Underwriting is the need for a GP report which can slow everything down.

The great news is that we have no automatic medical limits. So, we only get additional information based on what your client tells us about themselves.

Having said that, if we do need to get a GP report for another reason, we use a company that averages 12 days to get the GP report back to us. So, no more waiting for months on end.

Our Underwriting team are always looking to find ways to improve the service they offer you and your clients. So, they’ve come up with a list of promises around how they’ll do this, on top of everything else we’ve covered. Here they are!

  • We’ll keep you informed about your clients application, every step of the way.
  • We’ll help you with applications where you need it.
  • We’ll always call your client to gain medical information we need, and only contact a medical professional if it’s absolutely necessary.
  • If we decide to offer non-standard cover or we decline or postpone cover, we’ll call your client to explain the exact reasons why.
  • We’ll offer your client a choice of an exclusion or rating where possible.
  • If you’ve got better terms elsewhere, tell us, we’ll review ours to see if we can match them.
  • We’re happy to review and potentially remove an exclusion we’ve applied, if your client provides us with the information we need to do this in the future.
  • If you disagree with our underwriting decision, you can call us and challenge it. We’ll listen with an open mind.

Download our Underwriting guide

Underwriting Guide

Underwriting FAQs

Most of our applications get an instant decision – about 66% in fact! If an application needs to be reviewed by an Underwriter, they’ll try to take a look within 7 working hours.

Absolutely! Our Underwriters are happy to help with pre-sales queries. You can give us a call on 01452 782 760 (option 2) for an instant answer, or email us at [email protected], and we’ll usually reply within 24 hours. 

So they can give you the best guidance, it’s handy to have the following details ready: 

  • The client’s job 
  • The client’s age 
  • Exact diagnosis and underlying cause 
  • Date condition started, duration, and details of any time off work 
  • Details about medication your client takes and the results of any recent medical tests 
  • The client’s preferred time period between becoming too unwell to work and the insurance payments starting. 

Just a heads-up: we’ll still need a completed application and full underwriting review to confirm our decision. 

Sometimes, yes, but we try to keep it simple! We aim to gather most of the details through a friendly chat with your client. We’re happy to accept photographic copies of any medical reports or test results your client might have access to and are happy to share.   

When we do need to contact a GP, we’ll only ask for what’s absolutely necessary – no full reports unless it’s really needed. 

On average, it takes about 12 working days for GPs to send back the information we request. 

You sure can! Just head to Medi2data and pop in your client’s details (full name, date of birth, and your member number). You’ll get real-time updates, and no registration is needed. 

Our Underwriters are happy to chat with you and explain why they’ve made their decision. If you think we’re missing something and want to share any extra information give us a call on 01452 782760 (option 2) or email [email protected]. 

Yes, whenever possible, we’ll give your client the option to choose. Here’s how it works: 

If we can offer a choice, we’ll let your client know what the price increase would be. If they’d prefer, we can apply an exclusion instead. For some medical conditions, this choice might not be available, but we’ll always explain why. 

Our decisions are valid for 13 weeks. To accept an offer, just call us on 01452 782760 (option 1) or email [email protected], and we’ll handle the rest. 

As soon as the insurance is up and running, we’ll email the welcome pack to both you and your client. It’ll include everything you need – insurance details, pricing, direct debit information, any exclusions, and info about ongoing support for members.

It’s simple! If there are more than 10 working days left in the month, we’ll take a partial payment to cover the rest of that month. After that, the full payment will be collected on the date your client has chosen. 

If there are fewer than 10 working days left, no payment will be taken that month – the first full payment will be collected on your client’s chosen date the following month. 

If your client’s situation changes, don’t worry – you only need to let us know about any changes up until the date your plan goes on-risk (or becomes live). After that, there’s nothing more for you to do. 

We’re here to help

If you can’t find what you need in our underwriting guide, FAQs, or you need an update, you can call our friendly team.

Pre-sales Underwriting

To ask how a client’s medical history or lifestyle would affect their application.

Call us on 01452 782 760 – option 2

Or email us [email protected]

Underwriting Support

If you want an update on an application that’s not gone live yet.

Call us on 01452 782 760 – option 1

Or email us [email protected]