The insurer has updated its residency requirements and the length of time an applicant needs to have been registered with a UK doctor.
The changes do not apply to its income protection offering, where existing criteria remain and all applicants must be UK residents.
Hilary Banks, chief commercial officer at Guardian, said: “As a challenger brand, we’re always listening to adviser feedback. Our advice partners consistently tell us they love our award-winning products and want to recommend us to even more of their clients. One thing that was holding them back was our previous residency criteria, which was a barrier for clients who had recently moved to the UK.
“We’ve now made a change, making our protection more inclusive and accessible to more people.”
Paul Shearman, proposition director at Openwork, added: “We welcome this seemingly small, but important, change by Guardian, which makes it easier for clients who’ve moved to the UK to apply for their life and critical illness cover. In our view, this approach to residency is fairer and more inclusive.
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“It also gives advisers with clients who’ve moved here within the last two years a better range of covers to choose from for their protection recommendations.”
Guardian’s new criteria will be applied to any new quotes or applications. Advisers with clients who did not meet the old criteria will be able to reapply.
Earlier this year, the firm reported that it had paid over £21m in claims payouts in 2024.
