Large corporate business question and answer guide

No. In October last year, we said we would extend the pledge period to allow us to make a fuller assessment of the situation. Since then, we've seen that claims have been slower to catch up than we expected and this has been the key driver in us determining that now is the right time to be making these COVID-19 Pledge payments, whilst also being fully aware of the current pressures on household finances.

We'll continue to monitor the situation and will review the position at the end of the year to see if a further payment is due in 2023. In line with our commitment about payments made in 2023, we'll add a 20% enhancement to any second payment.

No, we're not. Since we made our statement to the market in October 2020, it’s become clear that we aren't seeing claims catch up as expected, so we'll continue to monitor the situation. We've decided the best thing for our customers is to pay them now. That's the reason we re-evaluated our decision to delay the pledge payment.

In addition, we'll also review the position at the end of the year to establish whether a further payment is due in 2023. In line with our commitment around any payments made in 2023, we will add a 20% enhancement to any second payment.

We believe we are not profiting from the pandemic. We have projected claims to 31 December 2022 and will return any shortfall in expected claims to customers. We asked Grant Thornton UK LLP to independently review our decision to bring our pledge payments forward. They made the following statement:

“We have independently reviewed Aviva Health UK Limited’s proposed approach to fulfilling its COVID-19 Pledge to Consumer, SME and Large Corporate customers and have considered whether the proposed approach delivers on the commitments made to its customers in the COVID-19 Pledge, and is reasonable, fair and in line with its regulatory obligations. We recognise that finding the right balance between fairness and simplicity is challenging, and there is no single approach that will fully satisfy all stakeholders. We are satisfied that Aviva Health UK Limited’s approach to fulfilling the COVID-19 Pledge achieves a reasonable balance between the varying interests of customers.”

We have no plans to do this. However, if there are further changes, we will assess customers' ability to make claims and decide how to act then.

Your broker will be in touch with you over the coming months to let you know if and when we will be making a pledge payment to your business. Fully insured or fully insured corporate excess customers may be eligible for a COVID-19 Pledge payment if you paid a premium between 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2021 and claimed less than expected.

We are offering you a choice of three options:

1. An immediate return of funds
2. Reduce your single rate at your next renewal
3. A charity donation

If you choose an immediate return of funds, we will repay the pledge amount in the same way you paid your most recent premium. We have to do it this way to comply with anti-money laundering regulations. So, if you paid by direct debit, we will make a BACS refund to the bank account we hold for you and if you paid by cheque, we will pay you by cheque. If we can't pay you by direct debit for any reason, we will send you a cheque. This may take slightly longer. If you paid directly into our back account, you will need to give us your bank details. These must be the same bank details used to pay the premiums.

If you choose a reduction in your renewal price, we will adjust the single rate for the pledge amount once we have finished all other price negotiations. We can do this for September 2022 renewals onwards as long as you tell us you want to take this option by 31 July 2022.

If you choose to donate to charity, we will bundle your payment with all others who choose this option and donate your payment to the British Red Cross. As this is no longer a return of your premium, it won't include the Insurance Premium Tax amount.

If you decide not to renew your policy, we will send you your pledge payment by direct debit or cheque, as outlined in option 1 above.

We’ve monitored the claims experience for each of our client segments across personal and group health insurance. Where claims have been lower than planned, we have created a reserve from which we will pay the pledge payment and any claims which catch up by 31 December 2022. 

We’ve calculated the pledge payment based on our best view of lower than expected claims by 31 December 2022. If there is still a balance on the reserve at the end of 2022, we will make a second pledge payment and apply a 20% goodwill enhancement.

Grant Thornton UK LLP has independently reviewed our proposed approach and is satisfied it delivers on the commitments we made in the COVID-19 Pledge, achieves a reasonable balance between the varying interests of customers and is in line with our regulatory obligations.

We’ve assessed each scheme individually by completing a thorough review of how portfolio and individual customer claims have been affected over the period. 

We’ve based the scheme’s pledge payments on its claims’ performance relative to its proportionate insurance claims fund over the eligibility period of 1 March 2020 to 31 March 2021.

A scheme will get a pro-rata payment if they were not active for the whole of the period and even if it no longer holds a policy with Aviva. Schemes that have claimed more than expected over this period will not get a payment. This is because their claims performance will have been broadly in line with expectations over that time. Where relevant, the pledge payment will include a refund of insurance premium tax at the applicable rate.

Grant Thornton UK LLP has independently reviewed our proposed approach and is satisfied it delivers on the commitments we made in the COVID-19 Pledge, achieves a reasonable balance between the varying interests of customers and is in line with our regulatory obligations.

If you choose an immediate return of funds, we will pay that as soon as possible after you provide us with your bank details.

We’ll pay using the payment method you used to pay your most recent premium. If you paid by direct debit, we'll make a BACS refund to the account we hold for you. If you paid by cheque, we'll pay by cheque. If you paid us directly into our bank account, we will ask you to send us your bank details. Because of anti-money laundering, these must be the same bank details you used to pay your most recent premium.

Employee tax rules are complex, so the company receiving the pledge payment will need to assess their own circumstances and seek appropriate tax advice. However, an important consideration is that under the Optional Renumeration Arrangements legislation, refunds to the employer for that part of a premium funded by salary sacrifice will not reduce the P11D reportable value as it would for employer fully-funded cases. If any refund is passed as cash to the member, this will need to be processed through payroll by the employer as taxable employment income.

No, there is no minimum payment. We will pay all pledge amounts, no matter how small.

Yes, you can ask us to donate your payment to the British Red Cross. As this isn't a return of premium, it won't include the Insurance Premium Tax amount.

No, any future pricing variation will be in line with our normal assessment of our future claims experience. We're making the pledge payment from a reserve we have held for this purpose.

If you had a policy during the eligibility period of 1 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, you may get a COVID-19 Pledge payment even if you no longer hold a policy with us.

Yes, you are. If you had a policy during the eligibility period of 1 March 2020 and 31 March 2021, you may get a COVID-19 Pledge payment if your scheme's claims were lower than expected during the relevant period.

You are only eligible for a COVID-19 Pledge payment if you held your policy with us between 1 March 2020 and 31 March 2021.

Your broker or Aviva account manager will be in touch with you soon to outline your choices.

Our original COVID-19 pledge stated we believed the period of disruption would be over 2020 and 2021. After this, we would assess our claims experience and make sure we returned any difference in claims costs to customers.

As the pandemic continued in the latter part of 2021 with new variants with an unknown impact at the time, we extended the timeframe of the pledge to the end of 2022. Although we still expect to see further delayed claims coming through in 2022, an extensive review of our claims experience has concluded that a payment earlier in 2022 delivers the best outcome for customers.

We will continue to monitor claims delayed as a result of the pandemic until the end of the pledge period on 31 December 2022. We remain committed to returning any difference in excess claims costs through a further payment in 2023 if necessary. Any such payment will include a 20% goodwill enhancement.

Payments to large corporate clients will depend on their own scheme’s claims experience, so will implicitly reflect their location.

We don't expect restrictions on the scale seen during 2020/2021. Services are now available for customers seeking treatment. If further restrictions happen, we will assess customers' ability to make claims and decide how to act then.

We will assess any future disruption on its own merits.

Yes, it will. If your claims experience was broadly in line with expectations, you will not get a pledge payment.

No, the COVID-19 Pledge was for private health insurance customers only to cover reduced access to medical treatment, which led to the reduced usage of PMI policies.

Under anti-money-laundering regulations, we have to pay the money back to the source it came from. Because of this, we’ll pay you using the payment method you used to pay your most recent premium unless you choose to use the pledge amount to reduce your renewal premium. Alternatively, you could choose to use the pledge to reduce your renewal premium or donate it to charity.