Pension Life Cover. For what s important to you

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1 For what s important to you

2 Contents Protection Cover from Aviva 1 Pension Life Cover 3 Personal Pension Protection Plan 4 Executive Pension Protection Plan 5 Pension life cover - Premiums 6 Pension life cover - Extra Benefits 8 Best Doctors 10 The Conversion option 11 Further information 12 Why choose Aviva? Around the world, Aviva provides around 34 million customers with life assurance, savings and investment products*. Aviva is Ireland s leading composite insurer for life, pensions, general and health insurance products*. Our aim is to provide an efficient and professional service through a range of channels such as Financial Brokers, financial institutions and our website We combine strong life assurance, general insurance and asset management businesses under one powerful brand. We are committed to serving our customers well in order to build a stronger, sustainable business which makes a positive contribution to society. *Source: Aviva annual accounts, March 2015.

3 Protection Cover from Aviva Protection is the most important part of financial planning. It is the practical way to ensure that, if the worst were to happen, your family would have enough money to maintain their lifestyle. Aviva offers a wide range of protection plans, enabling customers to choose an arrangement that matches their needs and circumstances. Mortgage Protection Cover is essential for anyone buying their home. This decreasing life cover can be used to secure your mortgage with the bank. Life Cover can be used to provide family protection or to ensure the financial survival of your business in the event of the death of a director or key employee. You choose how long you will need your cover for, which can be from 2 to 50 years. Specified Illness Cover will give you peace of mind. It provides a lump sum payment if you are diagnosed and proven to have one of the specified illnesses defined in the policy, provided you survive for 14 days after the specified illness event. Please see the Specified Illness Definitions Guide for full details of illnesses covered. Pension Life Cover, which provides life assurance cover to run alongside your pension, is the product described in this brochure. You must be a resident of the Republic of Ireland at the time your policy starts. Cover is underwritten by Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited. 1

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5 Pension Life Cover Pension Life Cover from Aviva has been carefully designed to operate alongside your pension arrangement, such as a Personal Pension or an Executive Pension, to provide a high level of financial security for your family in a low-cost and tax-efficient way. You are obviously aware of the need to plan your personal finances carefully, because you are already saving up to provide yourself with an income when you retire. However, it is also important to ensure that, if you were to die before retirement, your family would receive enough money to maintain their standard of living. Most of us believe that we will live to a ripe old age but the fact is, people die, leaving families and loved ones to manage on their own. You never know what s around the corner so arranging financial protection for your family should be high on your list of priorities. Pension Life Cover is a highly affordable Plan that is designed to provide life assurance protection for the amount you need for the period up to your chosen retirement age with income tax relief on the premiums. A summary of the benefits If you die before the specified retirement age under your pension arrangement, Pension Life Cover will provide a cash sum for your dependants: You can arrange whatever amount of life cover you wish and your Financial Broker will be pleased to help you calculate an appropriate amount of cover for your family s needs. The Plan provides pure life assurance with no savings element. You have the option to increase your cover by 3% every year (indexation) without the need to provide evidence of good health - a valuable benefit, ensuring your level of cover is protected from the effect of inflation (see page 6). Your premiums may qualify for income tax relief (see page 4 or 5). There are favourable terms for non-smokers. If you choose to add a conversion option to your policy at outset, then, at any time before your policy expires and regardless of your state of health at the time you may convert the Plan into a new policy that will provide you with life assurance for a longer period of time or for the rest of your life (subject to conditions, see page 11). Your plan automatically includes a valuable extra benefit called Best Doctors. This is a service which can provide an expert medical review should you be diagnosed with a serious or chronic medical condition (see page 10 of this brochure for details). 3

6 Personal Pension Protection Plan 4 Personal Pension Protection Plan is a life assurance policy that provides a lump sum on your death, which you set up for a specific term and which has a guaranteed premium. If you die before the end of the term a death benefit is paid to your estate. The life cover The premium for your life cover is guaranteed from the outset. You simply have to keep your premium payments up to date. You should note that, as soon as you retire and you have started to take your benefits from your personal pension plan, your Personal Pension Protection Plan cannot continue to provide you with cover and you must cease the policy with us. However, as described under Conversion option on page 10, the Plan can include a valuable option for you to convert to another policy that will cover your life for longer. If you don t select this option at outset or you don t exercise this conversion option, your life assurance cover will stop at the end of the original policy term. Eligibility for Personal Pension Protection Plan Personal Pension Protection Plan from Aviva is available to the self-employed and those in nonpensionable employment who are aged at least 18. It is not available to anyone who is provided with pension benefits by his or her employer. Personal Pension Protection Plan can be written on a single life basis only. You must be no older than 72 when the Plan starts, unless you selected the conversion option, in which case you must be no older than 59. Aviva reserves the right to decline the conversion option, should you be ineligible for cover at standard rates under this Plan. Tax relief on premiums Premiums may qualify for income tax relief at the highest rate of tax you pay provided that, when added to your pension contributions, the combined amount you are paying does not exceed the maximum amount that the Revenue will allow you for tax relief purposes. If you are in non-pensionable employment, your net relevant earnings can be broadly defined as your total earnings, less any mortgage interest relief that you claim. If you are self-employed, your net relevant earnings can be broadly defined as total earnings from self-employment, less your allowable business expenses, losses and capital allowances. Please note, if you exercise a conversion option, the premiums payable to your new policy may not be eligible for tax relief. When you take out your policy, Aviva will send you a Retirement Annuity Certificate with your policy document. This is the form that the Revenue require in order to grant you income tax relief as it will state the premiums that you have agreed to pay to the Plan. It is your responsibility to claim tax relief. If you cease to be tax resident in Ireland, you will no longer be eligible to claim tax relief. At retirement Under Revenue regulations you can only have this policy until the maximum retirement age of 75. If you retire before this, your life cover has to stop when you retire. This policy only provides protection for your family in the event of your death. Providing for a pension is a separate but essential issue. For further information you should speak to your Financial Broker.

7 Executive Pension Protection Plan Executive Pension Life Cover is a life assurance policy, which your company sets up for a specific term and has a guaranteed premium. It provides a lump sum payable on death, which will be paid to the trustees of your pension plan. The trustees will pay it to your dependants or your estate as they decide. The life cover Executive Pension Protection Plan provides you with life assurance cover up to your chosen retirement age. Your company simply has to keep their premium payments up to date. You should note that, as soon as you retire and you have started to take your benefits from your executive pension plan, your Executive Pension Protection Plan cannot continue to provide you with cover and you must cease the policy with us. However, it is possible to avail of a conversion option, which enables you to continue your life assurance after you have retired (please see page 10). Executive Pension Life Cover does not acquire a cash-in or maturity value. The charge for your life cover is guaranteed from the outset. Eligibility for Executive Pension Life Cover Executive Pension Life Cover is available to anyone who is taxed in Ireland under Schedule E (PAYE) or to any person currently in a company pension plan who is aged at least 18. Executive Pension Life Cover can be written on a single life basis only. You must be no older than 67 when the Plan starts, unless you selected the conversion option, in which case you must be no older than 59. Aviva reserves the right to decline the conversion option, should you be ineligible for cover at standard rates under this Plan. Tax relief on premiums Your company can claim full tax relief, at the appropriate rate of corporation tax, on premiums paid to Executive Pension Life Cover. The premiums that your company pays to the plan will be added to their pension contributions for tax relief purposes. Normally your own portion of the premium should be deducted from your salary to give you an immediate tax relief. When an Executive Pension Life Cover policy is issued we apply to the Revenue for approval of the plan. Leaving Service Under Revenue regulations you can only have this policy until age 70. If you retire or otherwise leave service before this, your life cover must stop. This policy only provides protection for your family in the event of your death. Providing for a pension is a separate but essential issue. For further information you should speak to your Financial Broker. 5

8 Pension Life Cover - Premiums The cost of your Pension Life Cover will depend on: The amount of life cover that you require. The length of time that you wish your plan to run. Your age Whether you are a smoker or a non-smoker. Your current state of health. All the charges are automatically included in the premiums. Optional indexation of premiums protecting your Cover from the effects of inflation With Pension Life Cover, you have the option to increase your benefits by 3% each year, on the anniversary date of your policy. To meet the cost of these increases in your cover, your premiums will increase on each anniversary by 4%. If you wish to select this valuable feature at the outset of your plan, just tick the box on the application form. Indexation can continue until the policy anniversary prior to your 75th birthday (70th for Executive Pension Protection Plan) or before if the policy ceases. You can also decline this automatic increase on any anniversary date. You must notify us in writing within 10 days of the date on which your cover would otherwise have increased. If you decline the increases in two successive policy years, your policy will no longer be eligible for subsequent increases. If your application is accepted on special terms, indexation of premiums may be declined. 6

9 Premium payments Premiums may be paid monthly or annually in advance. Monthly premiums must be paid by direct debit; annual premiums may be paid by direct debit or cheque. If you subsequently wish to change from paying monthly to paying yearly or vice versa you may do so on any anniversary date. Personal Pension Protection Plan You must pay the premiums yourself; your employer cannot pay them. Executive Pension Protection Plan The premiums can be paid by you or your employer. Your employer must pay at least part of the cost. The person paying the premium benefits from the tax relief on the premiums paid. All premiums should be paid promptly although we will allow up to 30 days of grace to cover the late payment of a premium. If a premium is delayed any longer, the plan will lapse and your life cover will stop. If you do not die during the period of cover, the plan will stop and no benefit will be payable. If you stop paying the premiums early, your cover will cease and the plan will have no cash-in value. Minimum premium The minimum premium is 20 per month or 200 per annum. 7

10 Pension Life Cover - Extra Benefits Accidental death benefit We will provide you with free accidental death cover while your application for Pension Life Cover is being considered. Accidental death means a death occurring before age 65 and within 12 months of an accident due to accidental bodily injury arising solely and directly from external violent, visible and accidental causes, totally independent of any physical or mental illness or infirmity. Your accidental death cover will start on the day we receive your fully completed application and continue until the earliest of three dates: 1. The end of 3 months, or 2. The date that the cover provided by your plan comes into effect, or 3. The date you are informed that your application has not been accepted at ordinary rates. Should death occur within 12 months of an accident that occurred while Accidental Death Benefit was in place, the full amount of life assurance cover for which you have applied will be paid out, up to a maximum of E150,000. Accidental Death Benefit will not be paid if death is caused directly or indirectly by any of the following: Self inflicted injury including suicide or attempted suicide, Engaging in a hazardous pursuit, War (whether declared or not, riot or civil commotion), Taking alcohol or drugs (unless they are prescribed by a registered doctor in the Republic of Ireland), Committing, attempting or provoking an assault or criminal offence, Taking part or attempting to take part in any aerial flight other than as a fare paying passenger on a licensed airline, Death in a country outside the EU, Engaging in a hazardous occupation, An assault on the covered person, which is not reported to the police, Disease, bodily or mental infirmity or medical or surgical treatment of these or where the covered person acts against medical advice. Notification of death must be received by Aviva within 12 months of the date of death. 8

11 Non-smoker discount Medical statistics show that, as a group, non-smokers live longer than smokers. Recognising this, we offer a substantial discount if the person to be insured hasn t smoked any form of tobacco during the last 12 months. Medical evidence You will be asked to complete an application form, giving us details of your medical history. According to the answers you give and the amount of life cover that you have requested, we might need further information. In some circumstances, we may ask you to attend a medical examination at our expense. All the questions on the application form must be answered fully and accurately. If you are not sure whether or not to give us any information about your past or present health, you should do so. If you don t tell us about something important, it could mean that we don t pay a claim. Non-assignability Because Pension Life Cover is written under pensions legislation (which is why the premiums will qualify for income tax relief), it may not be assigned to a third party. Also, it may not be used as security for a loan. Reinstatement If your Pension Life Cover lapses, you may reinstate it at any time within the following 6 months. However, this will be at our discretion and will be subject to you providing us with satisfactory evidence of your ongoing good health - and paying all the outstanding premiums, plus any late payment charge. How your family can claim If you die, your family or any legal representative acting for them should notify us in writing as soon as possible. Some formalities will be necessary, including the production of the policy document. However, these requirements will be kept to a minimum - and we will act promptly to make sure that payment is made as soon as possible. Replacing an existing policy If you are thinking of starting Pension Life Cover to replace an existing policy, please take special care to satisfy yourself that this policy meets your needs. In particular, you should ensure that you are fully aware of the financial consequences of replacing an existing policy. If you are in any doubt about this, please speak to your Financial Broker. 9

12 Best Doctors - a second medical opinion Best Doctors is provided to you at no extra charge with your plan. It is available to you, your partner/ spouse, your children age 0-18 (or 23 if in full time education), your parents and your spouse s/partner s parents. If you are diagnosed with a serious or chronic medical condition, you will have access to Best Doctors, a leading medical knowledge company that has built up a worldwide database of over 53,000 of the world s top physicians. At your request, Best Doctors can provide you with: a comprehensive review of your diagnosis and treatment without you having to leave home, access to information from the most qualified specialists, plus a Best Doctors Nurse Care Manager who will collate all the information about your condition, submit it to the most appropriate expert and keep you fully informed every step of the way. Please refer to the Best Doctors brochure for more information. Best Doctors is not available for acute, pregnancy related or mental health conditions. The service does not cover the cost of treatment, additional testing or face-to-face consultations. Best Doctors is an independent company and Aviva will not be responsible for any actions taken or not taken as a consequence of recommendations made by Best Doctors. Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited does not guarantee the on-going availability of the Best Doctors service to its policyholders and may, at its sole discretion, withdraw access to the service by giving at least a month s notice. Policyholders will receive written notification if the Best Doctors service is withdrawn. Best Doctors is not a regulated financial service. 10

13 The conversion option The plan includes a valuable option to extend your cover, if you wish, by converting your Pension Life Cover to a new life cover policy. This option will only apply if specifically chosen by you at outset and may be excluded from your policy if you are accepted for cover at special terms. You may exercise your conversion option at any time before your 65th birthday. The plan includes a valuable option to extend your cover, if you wish, by converting your policy to a new life cover plan with Aviva that will provide you with life assurance for a longer period of time. Important Aviva reserves the right to offer alternative cover options for conversion. You may not be eligible to claim tax relief on premiums, on your new policy. You may exercise this option at any time during the original policy term, without needing to supply us with any further medical evidence no matter what your state of health is at the time. This conversion option is subject to the following conditions: (i) (ii) (iii) (iv) (v) The amount of your cover under the new policy cannot be higher than it was under the original plan. The premiums payable to the new plan will be calculated based on your age and on the rates applying at the time of conversion for the plan selected. If any special terms were applied to your original policy, these will also be applied to your new policy on conversion. The new plan will be subject to the standard conditions then applying to that type of life assurance policy. The new plan will not include any further conversion option. The new plan will not include an indexation option. 11

14 Further information Any enquiries or complaints regarding your policy should be, in the first instance, directed to our Pensions Department. We will endeavour to ensure that all matters in relation to your policy are dealt with in a satisfactory manner. In the event that you are dissatisfied on any matter, you have the right to refer your complaint to the Financial Services Ombudsman. Financial Services Ombudsman s Bureau Address: 3rd Floor, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2. Lo-call: Fax: (01) enquiries@financialombudsman.ie Website: Office of the Pensions Ombudsman Address: 4th Floor, Lincoln House, Lincoln Place, Dublin 2. Tel: (01) Fax: (01) info@pensionsombudsman.ie Website: The Pensions Authority Address: Verschoyle House, 28/30 Lower Mount Street, Dublin 2. Lo-call: Tel: (01) Fax: (01) info@pensionsauthority.ie Website: Full details of the remit of the Financial Services Ombudsman s Bureau, the Office of the Pensions Ombudsman or the Pensions Board can be obtained directly from their offices. 12

15 This brochure has been produced by Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited. Great care has been taken to ensure the accuracy of the information it contains. However, the company cannot accept responsibility for its interpretation, nor does it provide legal or tax advice. This brochure is based on Aviva s understanding of current law, tax and Revenue practice January This brochure is not a legal document and, should there be any conflict between the brochure and the policy document, the latter will prevail. Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited, January 2016.

16 Best Doctors is not a regulated financial service. Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited, trading as Aviva Life & Pensions Ireland, is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority in the UK and is regulated by the Central Bank of Ireland for conduct of business rules. Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited, trading as Aviva Life & Pensions Ireland, is also regulated in the UK: by the Prudential Regulation Authority for prudential rules and, to a limited extent, by the Financial Conduct Authority for applicable UK conduct rules. Registered Branch Office in Ireland (No ) at One Park Place, Hatch Street, Dublin 2. Tel (01) Web Registered in England ( ) at 2 Rougier Street, York, YO90 1UU