Beagle Street's critical illness plan offers 23 conditions including children's cover up to £25,000. The definitions abide strictly by the ABI model wordings and aims to be a low-cost simple, direct to consumer plan.
Alan Lakey, founder of critical illness comparison website CIExpert and partner principal at Highclere Financial Services, said: "Its aim is to show as the lowest cost on the various comparison sites. The questions for advisers is whether that constitutes good value for money, as arguably it offers a policy at a cost otherwise outside of some clients budget.
"It appears to have twin methods of achieving its low cost position; firstly, it has cautious underwriting which appears to follow the preferred life route, essentially you may find that clients with any existing conditions or family history may not be considered. Secondly, it has a basic 22-condition plan with additional children's cover of up to £25,000 per child."
Lakey compared it against other market leaders including Friends Life, Aviva, LV= and Ageas, that cover 48, 44, 44 and 42 conditions respectively.
He said: "The cover is less comprehensive than the better plans which use superior and wider claims language. Naturally the Beagle Street plan is less likely to result in a claim for the conditions where the wording is inferior.
"Beagle Street will appeal to the casual purchaser who merely looks at cost and cannot or does not want to make a distinction between plans."
