Bright Grey was a UK-based insurance provider founded in 2003 by The Royal Group.
It was important to note that with critical illness cover alone, the insured person had to survive for more than 14 days after diagnosis of a covered illness.
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Bright Grey was a UK-based insurance provider founded in 2003 by The Royal Group. It offered various insurance services to its clients, including life cover, critical illness cover, income protection, payment cover, and combinations of these policies. The company categorized its insurance services into two main groups: personal protection and lifestyle protection.
Bright Grey’s personal protection included five main options: life cover, critical illness cover, life or critical illness cover, income protection cover for sickness, and payment protection cover for sickness. Life cover paid out if the insured person died or was diagnosed with a terminal illness more than 12 months before the end of the policy term. Customers could choose what type of sum assured benefit could be received: fixed, decreasing, increasing lump sum, or monthly level income or monthly increasing income. The policy term could range from 1 to 40 years. Customers could choose between single or joint life insurance.
Critical illness cover paid out if the insured person was diagnosed with one of the covered illnesses or if they became totally and permanently disabled. The policy covered illnesses such as cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, kidney or liver failure, blindness, and many others. A total of 39 illnesses were covered. It was important to carefully review the policy details to understand the coverage before taking out the insurance. The policy term for this option ranged from 5 to 40 years.
It was important to note that with critical illness cover alone, the insured person had to survive for more than 14 days after diagnosis of a covered illness. If death occurred within 14 days of diagnosis, only £100 was paid to the insured person’s dependents. Therefore, life or critical illness cover might have been a more comprehensive option as it combined the benefits of both life and critical illness policies. It provided a payout if the insured person died, was diagnosed with a terminal illness (more than one year before the policy term ended), contracted a covered critical illness, or became totally and permanently disabled. The policy term could range from 1 to 40 years.
Furthermore, critical illness cover and life or critical illness cover policies included total permanent disability and children’s critical illness cover benefits. Total permanent disability benefit paid out if the insured person became unable to perform certain work or daily living tasks. For individuals under 65, they had to be unable to perform at least two of the following tasks: walking, lifting, using a pen, pencil, or keyboard, vision, speech, or hearing. For individuals over 65 at the time of claim, the policy paid out if they were unable to perform at least three of the following daily living tasks: washing, transferring, dressing, feeding, mobility, or continence.
Children’s critical illness benefit was automatically included. It covered children from 30 days old up to the age of 18. Customers could claim up to 50% of the sum assured agreed in the life insurance contract, with a maximum benefit of £20,000.
The final two options were income protection cover and payment protection cover. Income protection cover paid out if the insured person was unable to perform at least two of the following six tasks: walking, lifting, using a pen, pencil, or keyboard, vision, speech, or hearing. The same definition of incapacity applied to individuals under 65 who took out payment protection cover. For individuals over 65 who chose payment protection cover and made a claim, they had to be unable to perform three of the six daily living tasks: washing, transferring, dressing, feeding, mobility, or continence. Furthermore, both income protection and payment protection policies required a deferred period to be chosen before payments began. Customers could choose a deferred period of 4, 13, 26, or 52 weeks. The policy term for these covers ranged from 5 to 40 years.
For income protection cover, the maximum claimable monthly benefit was 50% of monthly earnings. However, this benefit was capped at £12,500 per month. If the insured person was not working, they could claim a maximum monthly benefit of £1,400. The policy continued to pay out until the insured person was able to work again, no longer met Bright Grey’s definition of incapacity, the policy term ended, or the insured person died.
The primary aim of this plan was to protect the financial situation of family members if the insured person died or was diagnosed with a critical illness. Customers could choose from two options: life cover and life or critical illness cover. Life cover paid out if the insured person died or was diagnosed with a terminal illness more than 12 months before the end of the policy term. This policy did not pay out if the insured person was diagnosed with a terminal illness within the last 12 months of the policy term or committed suicide within the first 12 months of the cover.
Life or critical illness cover paid out if the insured person died or was diagnosed with a terminal or critical illness. A condition was that terminal illness had to be diagnosed more than one year before the policy term ended. Furthermore, the policy did not pay out if the insured person committed suicide within the first 12 months of the cover, or if the critical illness was caused by: alcohol or drug abuse, self-inflicted injury, participation in a criminal act, or war.
For both lifestyle protection policies, the sum assured could be either increasing or decreasing. If customers chose increasing cover, the sum assured would increase annually in line with the Retail Price Index (RPI). However, this annual increase was capped between 2% and 10%. If customers chose decreasing cover, the sum assured would decrease monthly in line with a mortgage repayment schedule with a fixed annual interest rate of 7%.
