Group Critical Illness
How our Group Critical Illness cover can help
If an employee is diagnosed with a specified critical illness, or they have an operation that we cover, we'll pay them a tax-free lump sum. That way, they don't have to worry about their finances on top of their health, and can use the money as they wish.
We automatically cover your employees' children and help if they're diagnosed with a specified critical illness or one of the child-specific conditions covered in our policy.
Child cover included
We automatically cover your employee's children, providing help if they're diagnosed with a specified critical illness, including child-specific conditions.
Focus on wellbeing
Our wide range of wellbeing services and Wellbeing Training can help you create a healthier, happier workforce.
Spouse / Partner cover available
If you choose to offer Aviva Flex-pertise™ your employees can add critical illness cover for their spouse or partner.
Why choose us?
Our Group Critical Illness cover can help your employees during difficult times.
Wide range of conditions covered
You decide what type of cover and the level of benefit you want to provide your employees. With standard and extended options, we offer cover for a wide range of serious conditions.
We also offer ongoing cancer cover as standard, meaning we'll support your employees if it's their second or subsequent diagnosis of cancer as defined under the policy.
Child cover comes as standard
As well as covering children for the conditions which cover the employee, we also cover children for:
- Cerebral palsy
- Cystic fibrosis
- Down’s syndrome
- Edwards’ syndrome
- Hydrocephalus – treated by surgery
- Muscular dystrophy
- Osteogenesis Imperfecta
- Patau syndrome
- Spina bifida
Intensive care benefit and cover for a loss of independent existence are also included.
More about the cover and your options
There are plenty of ways we can help you and your employees in the event of an illness.
What's included
What's not included
You can find more details on the cover included in our technical guide (PDF 480KB).
Wellbeing services
Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace
We can help your insured employees stay healthy with the Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace app provided by Square Health. It gives them the guidance they need to help detect, manage and prevent physical and mental health problems.
Expert legal services
Free and discounted legal services provided by Red Apple Law, to give employees some peace of mind, knowing they've got life's essentials in order and to help them plan ahead.
Aviva Line Manager Toolkit: Mental Health
Video modules and materials to help line managers spot the warning signs of poor mental health, identify reasonable adjustments and manage professional boundaries.
Mental health guidance for employees
A suite of bite-sized videos, articles and advice to help employees manage mental ill health, stress and anxiety.
Get Active
Helps insured employees stay fit and healthy with discounts for online workouts and more than 3,000 health and fitness clubs nationwide. It also offers a variety of discounted products and services, including those which can help with the daily living adjustments a cancer diagnosis can bring.
RedArc
RedArc is a nurse advice and support service available to insured employees who make a claim through Group Critical Illness cover. The service offers employees and their families long-term practical and emotional support over the telephone from a dedicated Personal Nurse. It's completely confidential.
Stress Helpline
Provided by Care first, the Stress Helpline offers insured employees over the age of 16 the chance to talk in confidence to trained counsellors about issues they feel are causing them stress.
The helpline can be a good place for employees who need help with personal or work-related stress issues. Talking and sharing can be the first step in helping to work through problems and resolve them, aiming to achieve the best outcome for employees and employers.
Wellbeing Library
An online library of useful content, hints and tips. Includes guides and tools to help with all kinds of situations from family and relationships, money or work, to mental or physical health conditions.
Cancer Care Support
Everyone's cancer journey is unique, which can be challenging for an employer when it comes to supporting employees who are living with cancer.
To help you understand more about managing cancer in the workplace, we've worked with Macmillan Cancer Support to put together a guide that highlights different areas you need to think about. It covers topics from understanding cancer to how it may affect someone at work, from talking about cancer in the workplace to supporting employees caring for others with cancer, and much more.
Wellbeing services are non-contractual benefits which Aviva can change or withdraw at any time. Terms apply to some wellbeing services.
To be eligible for wellbeing services employees must be permanent residents of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. Red Apple Law legal services are available to use in England, Scotland, and Wales. There is varied or limited service availability in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. For full details please visit our dedicated Wellbeing services page.
Support your employees and business with Aviva Group Protection
Help retain employees, access expert support, and improve productivity, with our Group Protection’s practical and financial benefits. Aviva’s got it covered.
How financial support helped Emma
See how the financial benefit available could support people like Emma, who was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Transcript for video Emma's story
I went for the results, and the consultant’s first words when I sat down in the office were, “I’m really sorry. It’s not good news.”
I'm Emma, I'm a children's nurse. I’m currently working in education. I have grown-up children 23 and 25, and I'm currently undergoing treatments for lobular breast cancer. I had some lumps in my breast. I had an operation to remove what they thought was three fibroadenomas. They'd removed the fibroadenomas, but they'd found invasive lobular carcinoma.
That was a big shock because I really wasn't expecting that. My second operation was planned. It was quite an extensive operation, but unfortunately, when I got the results of that one, they'd found five different tumours, quite a lot more cancer than they had expected. They'd also found that it was in my sentinel lymph nodes. I had to have a mastectomy and they checked some more lymph nodes, again, not expecting them to be positive, but there were a couple that were positive.
I started chemo, and then I'll still need some radiotherapy and I’ll need some hormone therapy, probably more long-term. This was all quite a lot because originally, I was told I'd need about eight weeks off work. I looked at my critical illness insurance. Your head is in a spin with everything going on, but that was the one thing that looked positive.
There's not very many positives about being diagnosed with breast cancer, and there's so many worries that you have, but actually, this was something that I could do actively. The claim process was really easy. When the claim was paid, it was a lot of relief. I was very lucky, and I get good sick benefit, I get six months full pay, six months half pay, but I realized that I would probably be going to half pay.
Chronic illnesses take a long time. You need the cover, to cover you while you're ill.
Critical Illness cover is available through Aviva Group Protection and Aviva Individual Protection.
Aviva Group Critical Illness provides financial cover if an insured employee is diagnosed with a critical illness or undergoes an operation covered by the policy. Our cancer definition covers instances of cancer, excluding less advanced cancers. The policy also includes cover for second and subsequent cancer as standard. An employer also has the option to include access to a cancer drugs fund as part of the policy. Your financial adviser or employer can provide more information on how the cover works, the definitions and when it would pay out.
How to apply
If you'd like to apply for Group Critical Illness cover, please speak to your financial adviser. An adviser may charge for their services.
If you do not have a financial adviser you can find one by visiting www.unbiased.co.uk.
Or, simply get in touch with your Aviva Group Protection account manager if you have one.
Please note, we are currently unable to offer direct quotes for Group Critical Illness cover. If you have any further questions, we'll be happy to help.
Making a claim
Our claims process is simple. To make a claim, go to our claims webpage.
On it you'll find:
- Information on how to make a claim
- Frequently asked questions
- Our latest claims report
- Customer stories
Looking for something else?
We offer a range of flexible insurance options to support your employees and business needs.
Group Life
Financial support for loved ones if an employee dies in service, as well as access to everyday health and wellbeing services and legal support.
Group Income Protection
We can support employees on long-term absence due to illness or injury, and our clinical intervention is designed to help them make a safe, timely return to work.
Aviva Flex-pertise™
Aviva Flex-pertise™ is our flexible benefits package, which gives your employees greater flexibility and control over the cover they receive.