LV= reduces IP non-medical limits and evidence requirements

LV= says the changes aim to help ease access to protection and alleviate growing pressures on the NHS due to the surge in coronavirus cases.

As part of the changes, LV= has removed the requirement for automatic medical telephone interviews and won’t be replacing these with additional evidence requirements.

It has also significantly increased limits for paramedical screening reports and cotinine levels for clients up to age 41 and 47-51, as well as reducing general practitioner’s report limits for clients aged 57-60.

Limits for personal sick pay remain unchanged, except for adding screening reports instead of a medical tele-interview, which LV= says is likely to affect only a handful of cases a month.

Debbie Kennedy, protection director at LV=, said: “Through the pandemic, we’ve constantly reviewed our approach and practices and have made a number of positive changes for consumers, existing policyholders and advisers. The need to protect income has never been more relevant, so we must be more flexible in these turbulent times.

"With Covid-19 continuing to impact our everyday lives and place further strain on our NHS, we’re actively seeking to responsibly push the boundaries to make protection easier to access and apply for. We expect that this latest change to our non-medical limits will increase our straight through acceptance rates for income protection, with more than 70% of cases accepted with no further evidence required.”