Caring for our customers
As a business, our purpose has always been to offer services and products that support you when you need it most. This, together with the safety of our staff, remains our primary focus during this difficult time.
We are ensuring that Agent hub and OLPC have all the most up to date information for you. This will be the quickest way for you to find any information you need.
If you can’t find the answer to your question online, then our phone lines are open. However - we apologise that your wait time may be longer than usual. And we please ask you not to call us unless you cannot progress your case via our user systems.
As a business, our purpose has always been to offer services and products that support our customers when they need it most.
This remains our primary focus and we wanted to share some details around our approach to claims at this time.
Due to the impact of Covid-19 we are having to change the way we work for a while and ask you not to call us unless you cannot progress your case via our user systems.
We have fewer staff than usual taking calls at the moment and are working as fast as we can to increase this number through equipping them to work from home.
In parallel, we have taken measures to ensure that we are able to support you via our online systems including OLPC and Adviser Centre. We are still very much open for business and want to support you as fast and effectively as we can and we really appreciate your understanding and patience at this challenging time.
We have unfortunately had to close our MUTAL phone line, Live Chat function and amended the opening hours of our call centres. We are now open between the hours of 9am – 5pm Monday to Friday.
We will continue to work every day to support you and your customers.
We’ve made some improvements to the way we work, making it quicker and easier for you to protect your customers.
Download our handy quick guide on 8 steps to making it easier to do business and our full self serve guide to see how we’ve streamlined our application process – from starting a policy to amending one.
Quick guide 8 ways we're making it easier to do business
Self Serve Guide Self Serve Guide
We also have lots of information & tools, including short videos, about the case tracking functions in Agent Hub.
Removal
In light of the potential issues that Coronavirus (COVID-19) could present, Legal & General has temporarily removed Immediate Cover on our life cover products including Critical Illness Cover with effect from Friday 20th March 2020 until further notice.
Update
People may be off work due to self-isolation without necessarily experiencing symptoms. Our product terms state that individuals would need to have a medical condition to qualify under the income protection (IP) Terms and Conditions (T&C's). However, we will consider the medically advised 2 week period of self-isolation as counting towards any work absence, should a diagnosis of COVID-19 be subsequently confirmed.
Update
From the 3rd of April 2020 new questions will be added to our application in light of the continued progress of COVID-19.
Depending on your clients situation their application will be postponed as follows;
If the above doesn't apply to your client they’ll be able to continue with the application as normal.
Applications submitted before 3rd April don't need to be resubmitted. Any application that's requoted after 3rd April will be asked the new COVID-19 related questions.
Outlining our position
Due to current restrictions on physical distancing, the doctors and nurses who usually offer screenings, medical evaluations and tests cannot complete these at the moment.
These screenings are primarily required as part of our underwriting approach if a customer should wish to have a higher financial amount of cover. We thought it would be helpful to share this link which shows how much cover we can offer customers without a screening or medical being required.
We recommend customers have a conversation with their financial adviser to determine what level of cover is appropriate for them at this time. If customers want cover for which we need a screening or examination, we will be happy to save their application until physical distancing restrictions are lifted by government.
Customers impacted by any such delays will be informed of expected timescales by our partners who provide the screening services. While we appreciate that delays may be disappointing, it is vital that we prioritise the health and safety of our colleagues and partner organisations.
Please note: we are currently working hard to make contact with intermediaries regarding each application that may be affected by this. We would request that you wait for contact from us before amending applications. We thank you for your understanding as we work through the pipeline and we will be in contact as soon as possible.
While writing, we are pleased to advise that we are still receiving a good volume of health reports from your customers’ GPs and that our underwriters are working at home and processing your applications with the usual speed and efficiency.
We continue to receive reports back from GPs within a timescale we would expect, and are continuing to explore alternative ways in which we can help you, and your customers during this uncertain time.
Recently we advised that we will be replacing face to face Medical Screenings with GP reports where possible. We want to reassure you that we have a team of underwriters working through our pipeline applying this to cases that are within the required criteria. Supporting you in protecting your customers sooner.
Full guidance to the required criteria can be found here
Keeping you updated
If we have transferred your application to a GP report. There is no action needed from you and your case is being progressed. Please check The Agent Hub for the most up to date position on your pipeline cases.
If a medical screening is still required we’ll let you know via email what alternative options you have and what the next steps are, offering support where we can.
Find out more Outlining our position on medical screening
If a customer is suffering from financial hardship, we would always encourage them to contact us or their financial adviser to explore their options and how we might support them. As part of our response to the impact of COVID-19, we are clarifying and enhancing the payment grace period that all Retail Protection customers have access to. This grace period means that if a customer were to miss or cancel their payment, they will remain covered by their policy for 60 days from the first missed premium (this is the day in the month that the premium is collected from the customer’s account (not their policy anniversary date), subject to their policy’s terms and conditions.
Within 60 days, if regular payments are restarted and the missing premiums are paid*, there will be no change to the customer’s cover or their usual premiums, and no need for them to provide new information regarding health or lifestyle.
Alternatively customer may be able to take a Payment Holiday**. A Payment Holiday lets customer take a three month break from paying their monthly premiums. They’ll remain covered by their policy, subject to their policy terms and conditions, and we’ll collect the three months’ premiums due when the payment holiday ends. If a customer chooses to take a Payment Holiday, when it ends the 60 day grace period will not apply.
We would advise customers who may find themselves in financial hardship to contact their financial adviser, or visit our website to explore how they might maintain their cover. Due to the impact of COVID-19, our contact centres are currently receiving a high volume of calls, and there may be delays in answering customer calls. The quickest and most efficient way of getting the information customers may need will be via our website.
*Customers can choose to repay the missed premiums by debit card or by credit card, or by asking us to collect them in their next Direct Debit payment.
**Eligibility criteria applies
Find out more 60day grace period for payments
Introduction
As the impact of Covid-19 evolves, so too will our process. We are working hard to identify new and innovative solutions to ensure we are supporting our customers through the most challenging times of their lives and enabling more people to have access to vital protection cover.
As part of this work, we have listened to our trusted partners and customers and introduced a new digital approach for our existing customers to place their policies in trust. Our trust forms are required to be physically signed and witnessed and we recognise that this is simply not possible, or safe, for many people at this time.
We have provided an alternative digital solution where trusts may be established without requiring a witness signature.
This will give intermediaries another excellent opportunity to contact customers whose policies are not currently in trust to offer guidance and support when many may be in need of valuable financial advice at this challenging time.
How will it work?
We have created a simple form which can be completed and emailed back to us at trusts@landg.com with no need for a physical signature. This new form is designed to be used with existing single life, family protection policies (excluding TELIP plans). For customers with email access, this will be the quickest and most efficient method of submission.
For those customers who don’t have an email, we can email you a version that can be signed by the customer and sent back to us. You can contact your account manager who will be happy to email this version of the form to you. Unfortunately, due to the impact of Covid-19, we are experiencing some delays in processing posted forms. We would ask for your patience and understanding at this challenging time as our teams work hard to process all information received as quickly as possible.
More information and frequently asked questions can be found below:
Digital Trust FAQ Digital Trust FAQ
Digital Discretionary Trust Guide Digital Discretionary Trust Guide
Digital Discretionary Trust Form (Email version) Digital Discretionary Trust Form (Email version)
Trustee's letter (email and paper version) Trustee's letter (email & paper version)
If a customer is suffering from financial hardship, we would always encourage them to contact us or you, as their financial adviser, to explore their options and how we might support them. As part of our response to the impact of COVID-19, customers may be able to take a Payment Holiday*. A Payment Holiday lets customers take a three month break from paying their monthly premiums provided their payments are up to date or provided they’ve only missed one payment. Customers will remain covered by their policy during this period, subject to their policy terms and conditions.
We’ll collect the three months premium due when the payment holiday ends. Their regular monthly premiums will automatically restart at the end of the three months. We’ll collect the amount owed around the same time as their next monthly premium. This may show as one payment or two separate payments within a few days of each other, on their bank statements. If the customer prefers, they can contact us at least 16 days in advance and pay the 3 months’ premiums using their credit or debit card.
This website is designed to give professional financial advisers information and tools that they can use to help control and develop their business and should not be relied upon by private investors or any other persons.