British Friendly Mutual Benefits initiatives
A year after the launch of its Mutual Benefits programme, British Friendly has added three new benefits including Health MOTs at no extra cost, power of attorney at no extra cost and discounted travel insurance.
Mutual Benefits is available to both new and existing members and offers a range of everyday, practical benefits designed to enhance members' lifestyles and complement their income protection cover.
The first new benefit, Health MOTs, follows a successful trial. The Health MOT is carried out by Square Health and provides a comprehensive health check carried out in the member's home or at their place of work, and complements other healthcare services provided by Square Health which are already available to British Friendly members. The check can help to identify whether the member is at higher risk for certain conditions such as heart disease, kidney disease, diabetes, stroke, dementia and certain cancers. Health MOTs provide an important assessment on health essentials, so members can make short or long-term wellbeing improvements.
Second, British Friendly is extending the services it provides through Epoq’s Legal for Life portal, to include online powers of attorney. This will allow members to draw up their own lasting power of attorney online, at no extra cost, a process that would usually cost over £400 through a lawyer. This is in addition to the online will writing service, also available at no extra cost, that was introduced last year.
Third, British Friendly members can now get either multi or single trip travel insurance through Staysure, who specialise in providing cover for people with pre-existing medical conditions. British Friendly members receive a 15% discount on their travel insurance (subject to terms and conditions). British Friendly says this was the most requested upgrade by its members.
Comment: The concept of ‘club’ type benefits for customers is not new but often their relevance can be tenuous at best. British Friendly’s existing programme avoided that and the three new benefits all have both a practical value and a relevance to IP cover. The savings on setting up lasting powers of attorney alone are significant and may encourage more people to set them up. Increasingly, they are seen as just as important as a will and, frankly, too few people have either.
Plus points: Three new customer benefits; That add to the existing benefits; All have some relevance to protection insurance.
Not so plus points: Not every customer will want every benefit – but then they are optional anyway.
Website: wwwbritishfriendly.com.
Rating (max 10): Innovation: 8. Overall: 8. Gold
Tags: IP; British Friendly