The UK Ministry of Defence has launched an innovative new life insurance scheme exclusively for the armed forces, in partnership with insurer Sterling Life.
Typically, service personnel can find great difficulty in obtaining affordable and guaranteed life insurance that covers war and terrorism risks. To remedy this, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) and Sterling Life have developed a guaranteed life assurance scheme, Service Life Insurance (SLI), which has been designed specifically for the needs of service personnel.
SLI offers war and terrorism cover, including chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear warfare when on UK military duties; guaranteed acceptance, even when on operations or under orders to deploy; a guaranteed cover for up to 25 years, while premium rates are also guaranteed not increase for the life of the policy, as well as non-smoker discounts.
Adam Ingram, armed forces minister, said: The Service Life Insurance Scheme is designed to complement and reinforce our existing schemes. It gives our personnel the option to take out life insurance cover that is tailor made to reflect the unique nature of what they do. Cover is available to each and every serviceman or woman across every unit, ship and regiment at every stage of their career. Whatever their job, wherever they are.
According to the BBC, between 10,000 and 15,000 armed forces personnel are expected to take out policies during the first year of the scheme.