The changes have been developed in partnership with advisers and shaped by customer needs. These include targeted, event-based support as well as traditional cover, to support people through life events that may not trigger a typical claim but still have a financial and emotional impact.
Its policies now have support for serious child illness, loss and hospitalisation, a three-month post-redundancy grace period and sabbatical cover. It also includes a protected benefit promise up to 10% and a fixed death benefit.
Fi Wynn, head of protection proposition at Royal London, said: “People’s lives and working patterns have changed, and protection needs to evolve with them.
“Our income protection enhancements broaden the role protection can play, going beyond traditional definitions of incapacity. They provide meaningful support for families, even more value for customers, and greater resilience in real-life situations.
“Designed with advisers, these changes are straightforward to explain, easy for clients to understand, and focused on delivering fair, consistent outcomes when it matters most.”
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Jo Miller, Managing Director, Income Protection Task Force, said it was “encouraging” to see an insurer consider life moments that did not “fit neatly into a traditional claim definition”.
She added: “Redundancy, a seriously ill child or a career break are exactly the kinds of situations where people feel financially exposed and often don’t realise that protection can help.
“We believe that when features such as these are included in advice conversations, they encourage growth in the market and develop trust with customers.”
Paul Roberts, propositions and distribution director at CIExpert, said income protection was often viewed through the lens of replacing an adult’s income when they are unable to work.
He added: “Royal London’s child illness and loss benefit challenges that thinking by recognising a reality many families face that a child’s serious illness can be every bit as financially disruptive as a parent’s illness.
“When a child becomes seriously ill, parents need the freedom to focus on their child’s care and recovery, not the added worry of how they will manage financially if they need time away from work.
“Child illness and loss benefit is one of the most significant innovations we have seen in income protection for many years because it reframes the purpose of parental income protection beyond the policyholder and acknowledges the wider impact serious illness can have on a family.
“At a time when the market rightly focuses on customer outcomes, this is a tangible example of a provider listening to the realities of modern family life and designing support around the challenges families actually face.”
