Aviva remove underwriting restrictions as pandemic eases
Aviva have announced that they will be easing their underwriting stance in two areas from today due to “progress now being made with the vaccination programme and declining COVID-19 infections in the UK”. The changes will mainly affect those with chonic medical conditions who will now hopefully find it slightly easier to obtain terms.
The first change is the removal of COVID-19 “underwriting criteria” on individual protection applications that affected people at the higher end of the rating spectrum (often above +200 extra mortality) or had chronic conditions such as respiratory disease, diabetes or a previous diagnosis of ischaemic heart disease. The removal of this criteria is expected to result in Aviva offering terms to an additional 2% of applications that would have been declined or postponed previously.
The second change is an update to Aviva’s automated underwriting rules engine which will be applied from 24th May 2021. As part of the rules changes in respect of COVID-19, Aviva will be increasing the maximum rating that can be offered terms automatically. Again, Aviva expect that as a result of this change an additional 2% of applications will be offer immediate terms via the online application system.
These changes provide advisers with more positive news from insurers and hopefuly signal an overal easing of underwriting rules which will help reduce the pain advisers have been having in getting higher risk applications in force.
