Breathing Space Showcase Page
Intermediary website
Contact details
Protect Showcase
Breathing Space
Fracture Cover
Value Added Services
Childrens Critical Illness
Claims
Underwriting
Who are British Friendly?
British Friendly was founded in 1902 and are specialists in Income Protection. With over a decade of experience supporting members, you can be sure that your clients are in safe hands. And, as a mutual, they have no shareholders so are run solely for the benefit of their members.
British Friendly’s Protect and Breathing Space Income Protection offering provides solutions for a range of clients, including the self-employed and the traditionally harder to insure such as manual workers, key workers and those who find it difficult to prove a regular income. Fracture Cover can also be added to your client’s new policy for a guaranteed £4 per month, to ensure they get the cover they need at an affordable price.
Children’s Critical Illness Cover is another optional benefit, available to add to new Protect or Breathing Space policies for an additional cost, and will pay a lump sum in the event of your client’s child being diagnosed with one of the listed conditions.
With Income Protection protecting your client’s financial wellbeing, British Friendly offer a range of added-value benefits to protect their physical and mental wellbeing too. Thanks to British Friendly’s discretionary programmes, Mutual Benefits and BF Care, your clients can access health and wellbeing services at no extra cost, whether they claim on their policy or not.
Key Features
Breathing Space isn’t linked to your client’s level of income, making it ideal for those with irregular incomes.
No financial underwriting at application or claim stage. We only need evidence that your client has been working and earning an income before they needed to claim.
Age-costed guaranteed premiums for price flexibility.
Choose a monthly benefit of £541 up to a maximum of £1,250 per month, for 1 or 2 years per claim.
1, 4, 8, 13, 26 or 52 week deferred period options.
No evidence of minimum hours worked required.
Your client may be able to increase their cover, following 5 different life changes, without having to answer any further medical questions. Maximum benefit and certain limitations apply.
Your client can pause their premiums and cover for up to six months at a time if they need to take a break from paying their premiums without the worry of losing their cover.
Your client can add Children’s Critical Illness Cover for an additional cost. Your client can choose between £1,000 to £25,000 to suit their needs. This provides financial protection in the event their child is diagnosed with one of 78 critical
Your client can add Fracture Cover for an additional £4 per month. This provides financial protection in the event of one of 18 specific fractures.
Product Profile
Terms & Conditions
Fracture Cover
Add Fracture Cover to your client’s new Protect policy for just £4 extra per month. This offers a lump sum payment of up to £6,000 in the event of a fracture of one of 18 specific fractures. This extra payment can help your client with any additional costs that may arise from breaking a bone, such as taxis to and from the hospital, pet or childcare, or any lifestyle changes.
Your client can remove Fracture Cover at any time, but once removed it cannot be re-added.
up to £6,000
18 specific fractures
Find out more
Children’s Critical Illness Cover
Add Children’s Critical Illness Cover to your client’s new Breathing Space policy for an additional cost. They can choose from £1,000 to £25,000 of cover, so they’ll only ever pay for the cover they need. That means they can worry less about any additional costs that arise from caring for a seriously ill child and focus on the things that really matter.
Provides cover in the event their child is diagnosed with one of 78 critical illness conditions.
Your client can add Children’s Critical Illness Cover to new Breathing Space policies at application, during pregnancy, or within 6 months of birth, adoption, becoming a step-parent, becoming a legal guardian for, or being granted parental responsibility for a child.
Your client can remove Children’s Critical Illness Cover at any time, but once removed it cannot be re-added.
78 conditions
Pay for cover they need
Value-Added Services
Client’s covered by a BFS Protect or Breathing Space policy also have access to a range of value-added support services and benefits alongside their Income Protection policy. These are included at no extra cost and mostly available to use at any time, regardless of whether the client is claiming on the core policy benefit and provide significant extra financial and wellbeing support.
When your client takes out a British Friendly policy, they’ll get access to a range of health and wellbeing services at no extra cost. They’re available to use at any time and offer your clients significant value above and beyond their Income Protection policy.
Mutual Benefits
Health Check
▪ Access to an annual Health Check at a discounted rate, providing a comprehensive picture of their current health.
▪ Ordered via the mobile app, the client will be sent a home testing kit, including a ‘pin-prick’ blood sampler and everything else needed. Once completed this can be sent to a lab for processing, with the results presented on the app and any necessary follow-up guidance given.
▪ Available for the policy holder, their partner/spouse, or children between the ages of 18-23 (who are in full time education and living with the client).
Digital GP Appointments
▪ Provides quick and convenient access to practising GPs for a wide range of health concerns.
▪ Clients can book unlimited consultations, available 24/7, 365 days a year.
▪ The service can issue private prescription notes, with sick notes provided at the clinician’s discretion (a charge may apply).
▪ Available for the policy holder, their partner/spouse, or children under the age of 23 (who are in full time education and living with the client).
Physiotherapy
▪ Offers access to a network of qualified physiotherapists for digital consultations and treatment.
▪ Clients can book up to 6 video sessions per year.
▪ The service can be accessed through the app, where physiotherapists can upload exercise-based treatment plans.
▪ Available for the policy holder, their partner/spouse, or children under the age of 23 (who are in full time education and living with the client).
Mental Health Support
▪ Provides access to counselling services for a variety of life challenges, including managing stress, coping with grief, and improving relationships.
▪ Clients can book up to 6 video or phone sessions per year.
▪ Counselling is provided by professionally registered, qualified counsellors.
▪ Available for the policy holder, their partner/spouse, or children between the ages of 16-23 (who are in full time education and living with the client).
Second Medical Opinion
▪ Provides access to specialists for added peace of mind and guidance following a diagnosis.
▪ Clients can book up to 2 video or phone consultations per year.
▪ Following an initial GP consultation, clients are matched with a specialist for an independent and expert review of their case.
▪ Available for the policy holder, their partner/spouse, or children under the age of 23 (who are in full time education and living with the client).
BF Care
BF Care is a discretionary package of five benefits, providing up to £2,000 in additional financial support to your clients during life changing events. These benefits are provided at no extra cost.
Find out more
Claims
The high number of musculoskeletal conditions that British Friendly pay claims for confirms the importance of Income Protection in the age-costed market. In 2023 alone it remained the top reasons for claim, taking 54.95% of all claim requests. This particularly serves manual workers that the insurer typically covers. In total, in 2023 almost £5,000,000 was paid out between 999 claims.
In 2023 the top reasons for claim were musculoskeletal, chest/lung/nose/throat conditions, surgery (not covered in other categories), mental illness, and Cancer.
The best way to highlight the value of these added-value benefits is through British Friendly’s real life claim stories. We encourage advisers to share these with their clients too, to highlight just how important Income Protection can be, and the unexpected ways insurers can support them during difficult times.
Underwriting
British Friendly pride themselves on their flexible and inclusive approach to underwriting and always try to offer fair cover to your client, whatever their situation. Their underwriting team is highly skilled and knowledgeable and assess each client on a personal basis. If your client does receive any exclusions on their policy, British Friendly try to make these reviewable where possible.
British Friendly’s dedicated Underwriting webpage offers a number of easy to access documents to make your job easy, including their BMI Guide, Occupation Guide, Hazardous Pursuits Guide, Type 2 Diabetes pre-sale form and Data Capture Form.
Or, if there’s something that you’d like to talk to them about before submitting an application, you can contact their pre-sales email for help and advice.
Discover more here
Support
Looking to register with British Friendly?
You can learn more about British Friendly’s registration process here or complete their online registration form here.
Adviser Support
Products – Discover British Friendly’s product offering
Value-Added services – Find out more about Mutual Benefits and BF Care
Adviser Toolkit – Access a range of sales tools, support material and suitability wording.
Quote and Apply – Visit to start your quote and application journey
Contact British Friendly – Got a question? We’re here to help.
Protection Guru has worked with British Friendly to create a concise objective analysis of their product range. British Friendly have had input to the design of this page and contributed to the cost of this construction maintenance, however Protection Guru have maintained editorial control over the content to ensure objectivity.