Wiltshire Friendly offers top-up facility for group IP

22 July 2010 0:00 am | Updated: 22 July 2010 4:58 pm | By Natalie Holt

Wiltshire Friendly Society has developed a group income protection product which allows employees to either top up or extend the level of benefit provided by the group plan.

Companies can choose to put in place a standard group IP plan which covers 75% of gross income to age 70, but can also opt to provide a lower level of cover for one or two years.

If a company chooses the latter option, under Wiltshire Friendly’s employment enhancement scheme employees can choose to top up or extend the level of benefit on offer.

The individual top-up facility is part of Wiltshire Friendly’s updated group IP range, which is being rolled out nationwide to IFAs following a year long pilot with local advisers.

The schemes can provide cover for a minimum of five lives, compared to the industry average of about 10-20 lives.

The plans also offer a deferred period from four weeks, with no premium loadings for gender or smoking. Wiltshire Friendly can also arrange to pay benefit on a weekly basis if necessary.

Chief executive John Sanders says: “We see our entrance into the market as a genuine effort to create more new business for IFAs by giving them access to group schemes where they and employers were previously unable to obtain terms.”

If you enjoyed this article, sign up here to receive daily email updates from Money Marketing and Follow @_moneymarketing