Vitality - serious illness cover
A clear guide to Serious Illness Cover from Vitality: how it works, how it differs from typical critical illness policies, and the full list of every condition on the 1X, 2X and 3X variants, grouped by body system. Prepared by your adviser - Albion Financial Advice.
This guide is a summary, not a binding document. Only the original Vitality documents (Plan Provisions, Key Features, Cover Overview and the Conditions Covered list) and your personalised Plan Schedule are binding.
Before you start - important information
This guide is a summary prepared by Albion Financial Advice to help you understand Vitality's cover. It is not a contract or a legally binding document. In the event of any difference, doubt or claim, the original Vitality documents always apply: the Plan Provisions, the Key Features and the Serious Illness Cover - Conditions Covered list, together with your personalised Plan Schedule. Together they form the contract. The definitions, severity thresholds, payout percentages and exclusions set out there are decisive. The condition list applies to plans taken out from 28 February 2023; for older plans check your documents. Always check the originals, and contact us with any questions.
Message us on WhatsApp or leave your details and an FCA-regulated adviser will call you back. Friendly, independent advice with no obligation.
Serious Illness Cover in brief
How would a serious illness affect your life and your ability to work? How would you cover everyday expenses? That's where Serious Illness Cover from Vitality helps. On diagnosis it pays a tax-free amount, giving you choice and support at the hardest moment. What sets this cover apart: the payout is matched to the impact the illness has on your life, which lets Vitality cover many conditions traditional policies don't - and pay out when you need it most.
Why Vitality - how it helps
A better chance of a payout
Because the benefit reflects the impact on your life, the cover includes conditions other policies don't usually cover - including those detected at an earlier stage. Vitality covers more conditions than any other insurer.
You can claim more than once
The plan is designed to last as long as possible. If a condition worsens or a new one appears, you can claim again - until the cover amount is used up. 1 in 5 cancers are recurrences.
Protection later in life
Dementia and FrailCare Cover protects against conditions common later in life (including Alzheimer's disease, dementia and Parkinson's disease). The number of people with dementia is set to double to 1.6 million by 2040.
Payouts matched to severity
For fully developed conditions we pay 100% of cover, and for less advanced ones a proportion (from 5% to 100%, depending on the variant and the impact). You don't have to wait for the condition to become critical.
Why it matters
It's easy to assume a serious illness won't happen to us - yet it can happen to anyone, and at the least expected moment. A few Vitality facts about Serious Illness Cover payouts:
Serious Illness Cover protects against serious illnesses and advanced, life-threatening conditions - unlike typical critical illness plans, which only cover the most severe conditions. Vitality covers every heart attack, every stroke and more types of cancer than any other insurer.
Three levels of cover - 1X, 2X and 3X
There are three variants to choose from. The higher the level, the more conditions covered, the lower the partial-payout threshold, and the greater the total amount you can receive over the life of the plan.
- payouts from 25% to 100% of cover,
- 62 conditions paid in full,
- 19 conditions unique to Vitality,
- pays earlier for less severe conditions.
- payouts from 15% to 100% of cover,
- 74 conditions paid in full,
- 35 conditions unique to Vitality,
- 100% payouts for more conditions than typical plans.
- payouts from 5% to 100% of cover,
- 74 conditions paid in full,
- 60 conditions unique to Vitality,
- covers every condition available on the market.
Over the life of the plan you can claim, in total, up to three times your chosen amount (for a new condition or the worsening of an existing one). Example: with £200,000 of cover you could receive up to £600,000 in total. The maximum single payout is 100% of cover. That's what distinguishes Vitality from plans that end after the first full payout.
Message us on WhatsApp or leave your details and an FCA-regulated adviser will call you back. Friendly, independent advice with no obligation.
Benefits included as standard
Dementia and FrailCare Cover
Unique to Vitality. When your Serious Illness Cover term ends, just keep paying your premiums and your remaining cover automatically converts to protect against later-life conditions (e.g. dementia). It pays by severity - and can pay more than once as a condition worsens.
Waiting List Benefit
We pay a benefit for 24 conditions requiring surgery as soon as you're placed on the NHS waiting list for the procedure - so you're paid earlier. Vitality covers more NHS waiting-list conditions than any other insurer.
Pregnancy complication cover
If you, your spouse or your civil partner suffers a complication during pregnancy, we pay a one-off £5,000 - with no impact on your remaining cover amount.
Child Serious Illness Cover
The widest children's cover on the market. Available on all Personal Protection Plans - it pays a one-off amount if one of your children becomes seriously ill. You can choose from £25,000 to £100,000 and claim up to three times the original amount.
Optional extras - tailor the plan to you
To get exactly the protection you want, you can extend the plan with optional extras:
Accident and Fracture Cover
Market-leading cover for fractures, accidents and emergency surgery. After a valid claim it helps you get back on your feet - with up to six physiotherapy sessions.
Waiver of Premium on Incapacity
If you can't work because of illness or injury, you don't have to pay your life insurance premiums during that time - and the cover continues.
Indexation
Protects the amount against inflation, so at the point of claim it's worth what it is today. It also comes with an initial premium discount - cheaper cover from the start.
Optimiser
The best available premium - up to 30% lower than standard. Vitality rewards looking after your health with further discounts and rewards in the Vitality programme.
Depending on your monthly premium, for an extra charge (from £5.50 a month per adult) you can unlock Vitality Plus - an extended set of discounts and rewards. Details and terms are in the Vitality documents.
The full list of conditions covered
Below is the full list of conditions covered by Serious Illness Cover, grouped by body system and level (1X, 2X, 3X) - exactly as in the original Vitality document. Only the original names and definitions are binding. Each condition is subject to the severity criteria and payout percentage set in the plan (from 5% to 100%, depending on the variant).
All the categories listed contain conditions with defined severities. On the 2X and 3X variants, some conditions are automatically paid in full (100% of cover). The detailed thresholds and payout percentages for each condition are set out in the Plan Provisions document.
These commonly encountered conditions are covered by most typical critical illness plans - and, of course, by Vitality Serious Illness Cover too.
- Alzheimer's disease
- Aorta graft surgery
- Aplastic anaemia
- Bacterial meningitis
- Benign brain tumour
- Benign spinal tumour
- Blindness
- Cancer
- Carcinoma in situ of the breast
- Cardiomyopathy
- Coma
- Coronary artery bypass grafts
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Deafness
- Encephalitis
- Heart attack
- Heart valve replacement or repair
- HIV infection
- Kidney failure
- Liver failure
- Loss of hands or feet
- Loss of speech
- Low grade prostate cancer
- Major organ transplant
- Motor neurone disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Open heart surgery
- Paralysis of limbs
- Parkinson's disease
- Pneumonectomy
- Dementia
- Progressive supranuclear palsy
- Pulmonary artery surgery
- Severe lung disease
- Stroke
- Systemic lupus erythematosus
- Terminal Illness
- Third degree burns
- Total permanent disability
- Traumatic head injury
All the categories below contain conditions with defined severities. With the 2X and 3X variants, some of them are automatically paid in full.
- Advanced chronic lymphocytic leukaemia
- Advanced Hodgkin's disease
- Advanced non-Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Cancer - excluding less advanced cases
- Carcinoma in-situ of the oesophagus
- Low-grade prostate cancer
- Lumpectomy for carcinoma in-situ of the breast
- Mastectomy for carcinoma in-situ of the breast
- Moderately severe aplastic anaemia
- Multiple myeloma
- Myelodysplasia
- Severe aplastic anaemia
- Giant cell arteritis
- Polyarteritis nodosa
- Polymyositis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Systemic lupus erythematosis
- Systemic sclerosis / scleroderma
- Wegener's granulomatosis
- Deafness - permanent and irreversible
- Significant hearing loss in both ears
- Blindness - permanent and irreversible
- Central blindness
- Severe visual impairment
- Significant visual impairment
- Bowel ischemia - requiring surgery
- Chronic pancreatitis
- Fulminant hepatic necrosis
- Permanent faecal incontinence
- Sclerosing cholangitis
- Severe cirrhosis of the liver
- Severe gastrointestinal disease
- Severe inflammatory Crohn's disease
- Total colectomy
- Any other cardiac condition with reduced ejection fraction
- Aorta graft surgery
- By-pass graft surgery to 3 or more coronary arteries
- Cardiomyopathy with reduced ejection fraction
- Congestive heart failure
- Coronary artery by-pass grafts
- Endovascular repair of an aortic aneurysm
- Heart attack
- Heart valve replacement or repair
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
- Severe peripheral vascular disease
- Permanent defibrillator insertion due to cardiac arrest
- Severe vascular disease affecting multiple systems
- Surgical repair of a structural lesion of the heart or septal defect
- Accidental HIV infection
- Major organ transplant
- Intensive care for 10 days continuous duration
- Less extensive third degree burns - 15%
- Less extensive third degree burns - 10%
- Loss of a single hand or foot
- Loss of a single limb
- Loss of hands or feet - permanent physical severance
- Loss of use of a whole hand
- Necrotising fasciitis
- Surgical re-attachment of an amputated limb
- Third degree burns - 20%
- Cauda equina
- Total permanent disability - own occupation
- TPD - permanent failure of functional activity
- Persistent confusional state
- Total lack of social interaction
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
- Cor pulmonale
- Fibrotic lung disease
- Home oxygen therapy
- Pulmonary arterial hypertension
- Removal of one lobe of the lungs
- Removal of two or more lobes of the lungs
- Alzheimer's disease
- Bacterial meningitis
- Bilateral hemianopia
- Brain and spinal tumours
- Brain injury due to anoxia or hypoxia
- Coma
- Craniotomy
- Craniotomy to treat a cerebral AVM
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Dementia
- Devic's disease
- Drainage of brain abscess by craniotomy
- Encephalitis
- Functional surgery for movement disorders
- Guillain-Barré syndrome
- Loss of manual dexterity
- Loss of muscle power - inability to grip
- Loss of speech
- Motor neurone disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Muscular dystrophy
- Neurological diseases
- Paralysis of a limb
- Paralysis of limbs
- Parkinson's disease
- Parkinson's plus syndromes
- Persistent vegetative state
- Progressive supra-nuclear palsy
- Shunt insertion for hydrocephalus
- Spinal stroke
- Stroke
- Surgery for drug resistant epilepsy
- Syringomyelia or syringobulbia
- Traumatic brain injury
- Acute renal dialysis
- Chronic renal impairment
- Cystectomy
- Kidney failure - requiring dialysis
- Nephrectomy
- Partial cystectomy
- Severe chronic renal impairment
With the 2X or 3X variant, you're additionally covered for the conditions below (as well as everything listed earlier).
- Borderline ovarian cancer
- Carcinoma in-situ - treated with surgery
- Desmoid type fibromatosis
- Myelodysplasia - low risk
- Diabetes insipidus
- Insulin dependent diabetes mellitus - Type I
- Sheehan's syndrome
- Thyrotoxic crisis
- Blindness in one eye
- Central retinal occlusion
- Surgical removal of one eye
- Tunnel vision
- Loss of use of more than one third of the tongue
- Partial hepatectomy
- Portal vein thrombosis
- Angioplasty / PTCA - with specified treatment
- Balloon valvuloplasty
- Coronary angioplasty - with specified treatment
- Femoral artery aneurysm repair
- Iliac artery aneurysm repair
- Keyhole coronary artery bypass surgery
- Pericardectomy
- Surgery to correct carotid artery stenosis
- Le Fort III reconstruction
- Less extensive third degree burns - 5%
- Severe sepsis
- Pleurectomy
- Pulmonary embolus
- Surgical drainage of a lung abscess
- Surgical drainage of empyema
- Endovascular treatment of a cerebral AVM
- Myasthenia gravis
- Spinal aneurysm or AVM
- Surgical repair of depressed skull fracture
- Bilateral orchidectomy
- Partial nephrectomy
- Surgical repair of a kidney
The widest variant, 3X, additionally covers all the conditions below (on top of everything listed earlier).
- Carcinoma in-situ
- Non-melanoma skin cancer of specified severity
- Giant cell arteritis
- Pemphigus vulgaris
- Polyarteritis nodosa
- Polymyositis
- Rheumatoid arthritis
- Systemic lupus erythematosis
- Systemic sclerosis / scleroderma
- Wegener's granulomatosis
- Radical mastoid surgery
- Acromegaly
- Addison's disease
- Adrenalectomy
- Conn's syndrome
- Cushing's syndrome
- Insulinoma
- Pheochromocytoma
- Radiotherapy to the pituitary gland
- Simmond's disease
- Surgical removal of the pituitary gland
- Corneal transplant
- Surgical repair of a detached retina
- Moderately severe inflammatory bowel disease
- Permanent rectal fistula
- Surgical repair of a tracheal-oesophageal fistula
- Chronic inflammatory hepatitis
- Cirrhosis of the liver
- Angioplasty / PTCA
- Angioplasty to correct carotid artery stenosis
- Cardioversion for cardiac arrhythmia
- Emergency IV anti-arrhythmic therapy
- Infective endocarditis
- Permanent defibrillator insertion
- Permanent pacemaker insertion
- Surgery for cardiac arrhythmia
- Surgical repair of an atrial or ventricular septal defect
- Amputation of two or more fingers or thumbs
- Fibrotic lung disease
- Mechanical ventilatory support for near drowning
- Alzheimer's disease
- Bacterial meningitis
- Brain and spinal tumours
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
- Dementia
- Encephalitis
- Parkinson's disease
- Progressive supra-nuclear palsy
- Stereotactic brain surgery
- Traumatic brain injury - with clinical symptoms
- Bladder fistula
We pay a benefit for 24 conditions requiring surgery as soon as you're placed on the NHS waiting list for the procedure - so you receive your payout earlier. Vitality covers more NHS waiting-list conditions than any other insurer.
- Aorta graft surgery
- By-pass graft surgery to 3+ coronary arteries
- Coronary artery by-pass grafts
- Heart valve replacement or repair
- Severe peripheral vascular disease
- Surgical repair of a septal defect
- Surgical repair of a structural abnormality of the heart
- Brain and spinal tumours
- Craniotomy to treat a cerebral AVM
- Endovascular treatment of a cerebral AVM
- Syringomyelia or syringobulbia
- Pulmonary arterial hypertension
- Removal of one lobe of the lungs
- Removal of two or more lobes of the lungs
- Femoral artery aneurysm repair
- Iliac artery aneurysm repair
- Keyhole coronary artery bypass surgery
- Pericardectomy
- Bilateral orchidectomy
- Permanent defibrillator insertion
- Permanent pacemaker insertion
- Stereotactic brain surgery
- Surgical repair of a tracheo-oesophageal fistula
If you or your spouse or civil partner suffers a complication during pregnancy, we pay £5,000. The complications covered:
- Disseminated intravascular coagulation
- Eclampsia - excludes preeclampsia
- Ectopic pregnancy
- Foetal death in utero
- Hydatidiform mole
- Placental abruption
- Still birth
Available on all Personal Protection Plans. It pays a one-off amount if one of your children suffers a serious illness. You can choose up to £100,000 of extra cover for the costs of your child's medical care, time off work, travel or care for siblings, and you can claim up to three times the original amount. Children are covered for the same condition groups as the adult on the chosen variant (1X, 2X or 3X); the full definitions and age terms are in the Vitality documents.
Frequently asked questions
How does Serious Illness Cover differ from a typical critical illness policy?
Typical plans usually only pay for the most severe, fully developed conditions. Vitality matches the payout to the impact on your life, so it also covers earlier and less severe states - and pays a percentage for them.
What do the 1X, 2X and 3X variants mean?
They're three levels of scope. The higher the level, the more conditions, the lower the partial-payout threshold (3X from 5%) and the greater the total amount available over the plan.
Can I claim several times?
Yes. You can receive up to three times the cover amount in total over the life of the plan - for a new condition or the worsening of an existing one. A single payout is at most 100% of cover.
What happens when the cover term ends?
If you keep paying your premiums, your remaining cover automatically converts to Dementia and FrailCare Cover, protecting you against later-life conditions.
Serious Illness Cover benefits are usually paid free of UK tax. A policy written in an appropriate trust doesn't normally form part of the estate for inheritance tax purposes. Tax rules may change. For tax implications in your country of residence, consult a tax adviser.
VitalityLife is covered by the FSCS. You may be entitled to compensation should the insurer be unable to meet its obligations. Details: www.fscs.org.uk, tel. 0800 678 1100.
This guide helps you understand the scope of cover, but it doesn't replace the original Vitality documents. The full, binding definitions, severity thresholds, payout percentages and exclusions are in the Plan Provisions and the Serious Illness Cover - Conditions Covered documents.
We're with you for the whole life of your policy - especially when the hardest moments come.
If your policy was arranged with the help of Albion Financial Advice - with any of our advisers - we guarantee to help you with your claim and pursue the payout from the insurer for as long as that policy lasts. It doesn't matter which adviser helped you arrange it, or whether they still work with us. Your claim will always be handled by Albion Financial Advice Services Ltd. Whatever happens, you won't face it alone: we'll manage your claim from notification through to payout, at no extra charge.
Message us on WhatsApp or leave your details and an FCA-regulated adviser will call you back. Friendly, independent advice with no obligation.
Questions about your Vitality cover? We'll help.
We'll explain the scope, help you choose the variant (1X, 2X or 3X), the amount and the options, and manage any claim with you. No obligation.
This document is a summary prepared by Albion Financial Advice for information purposes. It is not a binding document or a contract. Only the original Vitality documents are binding: the Plan Provisions, the Key Features and the Serious Illness Cover - Conditions Covered list, together with your Plan Schedule, which prevail in the event of any discrepancy. The condition list applies to plans taken out from 28 February 2023.
Tax residence. Tax treatment of benefits depends on your country of tax residence. For tax implications in Poland or another country, please consult a tax adviser in your country of residence.
The insurer is VitalityLife (Vitality Corporate Services Limited, regulated by the FCA); Albion Financial Advice is an independent adviser and is not part of Vitality. If you have any questions or need to claim, contact us - we'll help at no extra charge.
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