Friends Life has announced enhancements to its Group Income Protection (Group IP) policy.
Changes include the introduction of an increased standard maximum benefit, an increased range of lump sum options and a new product option in response to the Government's changes to the Employment and Support Allowance (ESA).
The maximum benefit under the policy is increasing to £425,000 per year from £350,000. Pension Fund and National Insurance contributions can be insured in addition to the maximum benefit.
Friends Life has also removed the 5% limit on employee pension fund contributions (PFCs). The overall maximum amount of PFCs that Friends Life will include is 40% of salary or £75,000, whichever is lower.
The enhancements also increase flexibility around limited benefit payment periods by offering additional lump sums options.
Policyholders now have the option of a lump sum of two, three, four or five times salary as opposed to the previous limit of one times salary.
Changes have also been made to reflect Government changes to the ESA with Friends Life introducing a simplified option where the ESA is only deducted for 12 months.
The basic benefit payable under this policy will increase by an amount equivalent to the ESA once benefits have been paid for a year.
In addition, Friends Life has improved the standard Actively at Work (AAW) requirements for schemes of between 20 and 99 lives.
For those employees who are not actively at work on the cover commencement day (if they are off ill, for example), cover will now start on the next day they are actively at work, rather than having to wait for five days or having to supply additional evidence of good health.
David Williams, Director of Group Protection at Friends Life, commented: "These enhancements to our Group Income Protection proposition reflect the changing demands of customers and Government reforms to state benefit entitlements."
A new online toolkit to support the existing employee assistance programme (EAP) is also now available. It assists employers wanting to implement the services of the EAP to their employees.
