For financial broker use only. Group Income Protection Protecting what matters Retirement Investment Insurance
Contents Protecting the things that matter 2 Why Group Income Protection from Aviva is great for your customers business 3 Why Group Income Protection is great for your customers employees 4 Rehabilitation and claims service built around your customers needs 6 Your questions answered 7 Aviva - a great choice 10 1
Protecting the things that matter Unfortunately when people are off work for long periods, due to illness or injury, the effects can be far reaching for their workplace. 2 Employees don t want to worry about their finances when recovering from an illness or injury. Yet there remains a need to make sure an employer s business is running smoothly and costs aren t doubling to pay an absent employee and their replacement. Fortunately, Group Income Protection can help overcome both of these problems. About our Group Income Protection Our Group Income Protection is designed to provide practical rehabilitation services and financial support should an employee be absent long term. Created to fit around the needs of your customers, it offers: Cover for up to 75% of normal earnings an employee can be covered for up to 75% of their usual salary when absent from work due to long-term illness or injury up to a maximum of e400,000 income benefit. Pension Contribution Benefit any employee and employer mandatory contributions being paid into approved schemes can be insured for up to 100,000. Choice of deferred periods your customer can decide when the benefit payment is to begin: after 13, 26 or 52 weeks. This allows them to dovetail the benefit with other existing sick pay arrangements that are in place and the longer the deferred period the lower the premiums. Free cover limits All schemes are normally offered a free cover limit, which means that if the income benefit required for an employee is below this limit, no medical evidence is needed. This normally means that most employees covered will not be subject to medical underwriting. Once-only underwriting this applies to members with benefits above the free cover limit and means that medical underwriting will normally only take place once regardless of any subsequent increases in benefit. Access to Best Doctors second opinion service for all insured members, along with marketing support for your customer to promote within their workplace. Tele-interviewing where medical underwriting is required this enables essential medical information to be captured by a specialist telephone interviewer which in most cases leads to a quicker underwriting decision and reduces the need for further information. Choice of benefit payment term your customer can choose to pay benefits up to a policy cease age, or, they can opt for a limited benefit term of two, three, four or five years. This means that claims will only be paid for the limited term chosen. It gives your customer more choice in controlling the cost of their scheme. Lump sum option allows the choice of a benefit payment term, after which if your customer s employee is still unable to work and eligible for benefit, they will receive a lump sum payment. This can, for example, be used to help fund an employee s early retirement. Early notification our focus is on supporting early notification of any potential claim, as our experience shows the earlier an absence is notified, the more effective the outcome for both the employee and the employer. Dedicated case managers we have specialist Case Managers assigned to each individual claim, to support employees throughout the entire process. External support and resources From Physiotherapists to Psychiatric networks, we work with a number of partners to provide appropriate support and treatment to help prevent employees being absent from work long term. Our main partnership is with Spectrum Health who are Ireland s largest provider* of private allied health services with 31 clinics nationwide. This is a summary of the benefits available for this policy. For further information please refer to our Group Protection - Income Protection Technical Guide on www.avivabroker.ie/lifeandpensions *Based on being the largest private allied healthcare with 31 clinics as at August 2017: source Spectrum Health August 2017. Best Doctors is not a regulated financial service. Best Doctors and the star-in cross logo are registered trademarks of Best Doctors.Inc. in the United States and other countries. used with permission.
Why Group Income Protection from Aviva can be great for your customer s business In today s economic climate, ensuring a business has adequate protection, whilst looking after cost base, is paramount. Our Group Income Protection not only provides replacement income, but can also help employees get back to work quicker through rehabilitation services: Accessibility - we want our Group Income Protection scheme to be accessible to all so we offer a range of options for your customer to provide a valuable benefit to their employees including our Group IP Essential option. This, along with all other options for our Group Income Protection schemes are available with just 3 insured members or more. Regardless of the level of cover chosen, or how many employees your customer has our support services such as early intervention, rehabilitation and Best Doctors is available to all employees once they join the policy. Where possible, claims are handled over the phone and all claimants will have a dedicated case manager who will work with them throughout their claim. Our range of early intervention services provide additional support to those off work, and are designed to help prevent or reduce a longer-term claim. Getting employees back to work helps them and helps to reduce long-term absence costs for your customer. We will pay proportionate benefits if an employee makes a phased return to work to ensure they don t experience a drop in monthly income for example if an employee initially returns on a part time basis. The extensive range of rehabilitation services available to claimants ensures they have access to the treatments available to get them back on their feet, for example our Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) services for stress related conditions through our partnership with Spectrum Health. Dedicated wellbeing services that help to promote good working practice in the workplace thereby helping employees stay healthy and helping to mitigate risk for your customer. We can put you in touch with some of our specialist wellbeing partners to support your training needs covering a range of topics from resilience through to managing musculoskeletal conditions in the workplace. The cost of these services are not covered as part of your policy and will be subject to an additional charge based on the specific requirement of your customer. Flexibility to tailor Aviva has the scale to support tailored offerings for large customers to suit the needs of your customer to include aspects like specific reporting requirements or site visit. These will be reviewed on a case by case basis and may incur an additional charge depending on the service required. Helps retention and hiring offering Group Income Protection also helps your customers to demonstrate commitment to their workforce and secure the best staff. Our research told us that 89% of Irish workers considered Income Protection a crucial benefit. In fact, they rated it as the most attractive benefit that their employer could provide.* We ll even provide some marketing materials to help your customer promote the benefit in their workplace if they need them.. * Source - RedC research undertaken for Aviva (survey of 631 Irish full & part time workers, July 2017) 3
Why Group Income Protection can be great for your customer s employees For employees, our Group Income Protection also has manyadvantages including: Peace of mind that it helps to protect them financially in the event of long-term illness or injury which prevents them from working. Expert guidance and support our dedicated, specialist rehabilitation and claims teams work to understand the issues that employees are facing and can provide real support at what can be a very diffi cult time. Free cover limits all our schemes normally offer a free cover limit, below which medical underwriting is not usually required. Tax efficient Under current tax laws, Group Income Protection, in most circumstances, does not count as a benefit in kind. This is based on our current understanding of tax rules and legislation and is subject to change. Best Doctors Access to Best Doctors second opinion service for no extra cost. Benefits Matter! 77% of employees think that companies need to offer benefits other than salary in order to attract and keep the best people. Your family s health. Your peace of mind. Best Doctors second opinion service provides access to over 53,000 leading consultants worldwide. They offer second opinions on diagnoses and treatments for almost any condition. If faced with a health problem, most of us want to have a clear understanding of what s wrong. Best Doctors second opinion service ensures that insured members of an Aviva Group Income Protection scheme are getting the best available medical advice. This service is provided at no extra cost. The service is available for all insured members of Aviva Group Income Protection schemes and their immediate family members. This covers their spouse or partner, children and theirs and their spouse/partner s parents. It can be used as many times as they like and covers most things from migraines to heart conditions. It is completely independent of any claim that relates to the Group Income Protection scheme and no information, medical records and diagnosis is passed to Aviva from Best Doctors when accessing the service for a second opinion. For more information on Best Doctors please visit www.avivabroker.ie. Protection for families in the event of illness or death is clearly a priority, with a huge 89% of them considering Income Protection a crucial benefit. In fact, Irish workers rate Income Protection as the most attractive benefit that their employer could provide making it the Number One most-wanted employee benefit. That s more popular than private health insurance, a pension or profit sharing scheme. Best Doctors is not a regulated financial service and is a non-contractual service so can be withdrawn at any time. Best Doctors and the star-in cross logo are registered trademarks of Best Doctors.Inc. in the United States and other countries. Used with permission. Source: RedC research undertaken for Aviva (survey of 631 Irish full and part time workers, July 2017) 4
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Rehabilitation and claims service built around your customers needs Our aim is to start actively working with your customers and their employees after four weeks absence. This is because our experience has shown that working with employees at an early stage of absence is more likely to result in a successful return to work. Early intervention Once an employee has been absent from work for four weeks or more, we would encourage your customer to contact us as soon as possible. At this point a dedicated Case Manager is assigned to the individual case and we will discuss with the employer whether we need to provide support to their employee, or whether it is more appropriate to agree a future date at which to review the potential claim. This discussion, after four weeks, is irrespective of the deferred period applicable on the policy, because there are often instances when providing support to an employee at this point can prevent a significant claim. If we feel rehabilitation support is appropriate, we will ask for consent to speak to the employee in order to gain further information. We will liaise with our clinical team for their input on any support we can give and would also seek approval where necessary from the employee s General Practitioner (GP) of any treatment plan. The Case Manager will work together with the rehabilitation and treatment providers, clinical experts and the employee and will remain in contact with them while they are having any treatment. When the employee is fit to return to work, the case manager will work with all parties to put together a return-to-work plan. This could include a gradual phasing of duties, changes to hours or responsibilities, or even retraining requirements. Should this plan include any of these activities, the case manager will be in regular contact throughout the process. In some more complex cases it might be better for your customer and the employee for one of our Case Managers to visit and support the return to work programme face to face. If that is the case then we can arrange this. For more information please see our Group Income Protection Services brochure which explains in detail the services we offer for claims and rehabilitation. An illustrative example of early intervention A 51-year-old male was absent from work for six weeks. He d been showing symptoms of anxiety and depression due to a family bereavement together with the breakdown of his marriage a few years previously. Although his employer s Group Income Protection policy had a 52- week deferred period, they notified us of his absence after six weeks. Through talking to him and his employer, we were able to fund a course of cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) once his GP had provided approval. Following therapy, the man returned to work on a phased basis. Thanks to our help he resumed full-time employment well within the deferred 52- week period and did not need to make a claim. This case study is fictitious and for illustrative purposes only. Introducing our rehabilitation partners Spectrum Heallth We want to put your customer s employees health into safe hands so we have partnered with Spectrum Health to provide rehabilitation services such as physiotherapy, counselling and psychology. Spectrum Health is Ireland s largest provider* of private allied health services with 31 clinics nationwide. They deliver healthcare to 150,000**. As one of the most trusted corporate healthcare providers, with 500 corporate clients and their 100,000** employees currently having access to their services. *Based on being the largest private allied healthcare with 31 clinics as at August 2017: source Spectrum Health August 2017 **Source: Spectrum Health August 2017. Spectrum Health is not a regulated financial service. 6
Your questions answered Could this product be suitable for my customer? This policy is designed to provide a replacement proportion of earnings to the employer after a deferred period has passed for the employer to pay to their employee in the event of a long term illness or injury which prevents the employee from being able to work. The employer is set up as the policyholder, decides the level of cover and pays the premiums. If the employer wishes for employees to pay their own premiums and join on a voluntary basis, or, has less than three employees then this product is not suitable for them. This product may be suitable for employers who already have a Group Income Protection scheme in place and for employers who are looking to introduce something new. How does my customer decide who should be covered? After consulting with your customer, you should agree any age or service requirements they may want their employees to meet before joining the scheme, this is the eligibility basis. Your customer may want to include a fixed probationary period that their employees must serve before joining, or allow entry at different times, for example, monthly or annually. Members will need to be actively at work before they can be covered under the scheme. Does everyone have to have the same benefit level? Not necessarily it s possible to group insured members into categories of employment. Your customer might want certain categories such as directors to have a higher income replacement proportion, or perhaps to have a category for new starters which is based on a lower level of cover (such as our Group Income Protection Essentials product). What benefits are available? You can cover income benefits and pension contribution benefits. Income benefit will be a percentage (subject to a maximum of 75%) of earnings (as defined by the employer). any employee and employer mandatory contributions being paid into approved schemes. This is subject to a maximum of 100,000. What about employees who are based overseas? Any employees based overseas may continue to be covered, provided that their contract of employment is with the Irish company. You must tell us the location and nationality of any members who are working overseas. Face-to-face rehabilitation sessions are not available to employees who are resident overseas, but they will have access to all telephone services. There are additional conditions for members who move overseas whilst in claim. For more information please see the technical guide. What medical evidence will be needed? For schemes with three or more insured members, we may offer a free cover limit, below which medical evidence may not be required. For benefits above the free cover limit or where an employee joins outside any eligibility conditions, we will require medical information. This will be either a medical declaration form or a tele-interview, whichever they prefer. Further evidence may be required after this. Can a scheme be transferred from another provider? Yes. Upon switching, providing there has been no break in cover, we usually allow No Worse Terms to apply. This is where employees switching over will automatically be given the same medical underwriting terms and levels of benefit as they had with the previous insurer, without any further medical evidence being required (subject to the maximum benefit we allow). What happens when someone new joins? If your customer is on a unit rate based premium then they don t have to tell us about any leavers or joiners until the scheme anniversary unless their benefits are over the free cover limit or they are outside of the eligibility conditions set for the scheme. 7
Customers on single premium policies are required to inform us immediately about any new joiners or leavers. Employees will need to be actively at work before they can be covered under the scheme. For more information on actively at work, please refer to the Group Income Protection Technical Guide. What happens when someone makes a claim? Our aim is to make the claims process as easy and straightforward as possible. In the first instance we would recommend that your customer phones the claims team to discuss the reason for the absence. We recommend that they tell us about any absences after four weeks. They will have dedicated contacts throughout the claims journey to assist them and help their insured members at what will inevitably be a difficult time for them. Each case will, of course, be different and we can talk through the best and most appropriate course of action. For more information on our claims and rehabilitation services please refer to our Group Income Protection Services brochure. When do benefit payments start? Benefit payments will start after the completion of the deferred period (which can be 13, 26 or 52 weeks) if the insured member continues to satisfy the definition of incapacity, and other factors as defined in our terms and conditions. Payments are made monthly in the currency of the Republic of Ireland and are payable by Electronic Fund Transfer (EFT). How long do benefit payments last? This will depend on whether customers have selected to cover their employees for a limited payment term of two, three, four or five years, or whether they are covered until a fixed cease age (which could include state pension age.) Benefit payments will stop before the end of a limited term or the policy cease age if the insured member recovers and returns to work on a full-time basis. What happens if an employee receives benefit under another policy? If the employee is in receipt of any other regular income, we may need to consider this when calculating the amount of benefit we pay. Examples of other sources of income that may affect the benefit are continuing salary or profit share, pension payments and regular payments from other insurance policies, including loan and mortgage protection benefit. We will not take into account income or pension payments that were being received prior to their incapacity. What happens if an employee s incapacity returns and they are unable to work again? If within 6 months of the last monthly benefit payment, incapacity is caused once again for the same reason, we will consider the further claim without imposing the deferred period again. This is known as a linked claim. What happens if an employee makes more than one claim? An employee can make more than one claim as long as they have not exhausted any limited payment term period, per related condition or, if applicable, received a lump sum payment. No further payments will be made until a further deferred period has been satisfied, unless it is a linked claim as above. Any limited payment term applies to incapacity from one illness or injury. So, where incapacity is from the same cause, we will combine the periods of incapacity and the total will be limited to the payment term insured. Do premiums stay the same each year? The underlying rates are normally guaranteed for three years. For schemes with fewer than 20 lives, any changes in membership will be reflected by an adjustment to the premium based on any changes in benefit and the details of any employees who join or leave the scheme. For schemes of 20 lives or more, any changes in membership will be allowed for by an end-of-year adjustment premium based on the membership at the end of each policy year. 8
What s needed to get a quote and set the policy up? In order to provide a quotation, we ll need to know who your customer is and what they do along with: Full details of eligible employees including: gender; dates of birth; salaries; benefit basis/level eligibility terms; occupations; and work locations. We may also need full details of any: long term absentees; Find out more Find out more Contact your Aviva Broker Consultant See the dedicated Group Protection pages on www.avivabroker.ie Call us on 01898 6222 Email groupipquotes@aviva.com previous underwriting decisions; previous scheme history; previous claims history; and; regular overseas travel completed by employees. If you would like to set up the policy then your customer will need to complete an application form and confirm any details which may have changed since the quote was produced. Every scheme is different so don t worry, we ll let you know exactly everything we need to get your customer s scheme on risk. 9
Aviva - a great choice Choosing any Group Protection product from Aviva is a great decision - and not just because of our flexibility, ease of use and innovative approach. It s important to be confident in the company providing your customer s Group Income Protection scheme. Our people are at the heart of our business, so we understand the effects of long term illness or injury on our business and our people. We are proud that our people are on hand to really help your customer and their people, as well as our product providing financial assistance to them at a time they need it most: Claims - Our claims expertise, case management and rehabilitation partners allow us to deal effectively and empathetically with all the calls we receive. Peace of mind - We want your customers to feel like we re working together to support their employees. Financial support is not all we offer when it comes to peace of mind with our early intervention and rehabilitation services being key in supporting your employees back to their healthy working life wherever possible. Strength - Aviva Life & Pensions Ireland is part of the Aviva Group, which is the 4th largest insurance services provider in Europe (Source: Aviva annual accounts, March 2017). This means that you can rely on our size and strength to be there for you and your employees, when you need us most. Call us on 01 898 6222 Connect with us Facebook.com/avivaireland @avivaireland 10 youtube.com/avivaireland
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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 906464) at One Park Place, Hatch Street, Dublin 2. Tel (01) 898 7000 Web www.aviva.ie Registered in England (3253947) at Wellington Row, York, YO90 1WR. 2.364.08.17