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Forces sweethearts

If you have a family member in the Royal Navy, RAF or army, find support from other Mumsnetters here.

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Original poster

Life insurance

27 replies

rippatiggerboo · 25/08/2009 15:59

Heres a good one am sure.

DH is looking to join in sept (as am sure some of you have already read lol) and currently we have 2 policies. One for 100k for the mortgage and one for 400k to cover bringing up our daughter to age 21 (mostly this is if both of us dies so mum can bring her up and the house can be kept as an investment for her)

Anyway, they cost us about £34 in total a month. Any idea what the cost of life insurance is when in the forces? Is there a dispensation like "if they die while on tour there is no payout"? I cant seem to find an online quotes option so I can see what an increase would be. (I expect it would increase) I could posibly drop the 400k but currently thats actually the cheaper policy! lol.

OP posts:

jcscot · 25/08/2009 16:58

Most "civvie" policies do not pay out for death in service. However, there are Forces-sepcific schemes run by various companies as well as the government-sponsored scheme (PAX).

Off the top of my head, Sterling Life offer a Forces insurance plan, as do Close Brothers (which is underwritten by Scottish Widows). I'm sure there are more.

Another thing to consider is illness/injury insurance.

Here are a couple of companies that might help:

www.the-insurance-surgery.co.uk/occupation/armed_forces/insurance.php

www. forcesfinancial.com/insurance/insurance_life.asp

www.abacuscover.co.uk/

madwomanintheattic · 25/08/2009 22:30

what she said ^^

but (as ever) read the small print lol. pax is a bit weird - dh got blown up and they wouldn't pay out as skull fracture and brain bleed etc didn't figure on their list of injuries... (if he'd broken his ankle playing hockey they would have paid out no problem... )

so, make sure you know what you want, and what you need. usually life cover is life cover with forces schemes, but if you are looking for anything else.... make sure he only plays hockey rather than goes to work, eh? it's not too big a deal - he'll still have his wages coming in if he is injured or whatever, but there are some anomalies that will still catch you out lol.

jcscot · 26/08/2009 09:06

Absolutely - we used to haave a Life/injury insurance through JBI and - lo and behold - when my husband was sent to Afghanistan immediately after 9/11 it was invalid due to the small print that stated that active service in the Armed Forces negated the insurance.

We queried what "active service" meant when this policy was supposedly a Forces life insurance deal and were told that it was a flexible clause and it depended on circumstances eg: Northern Ireland didn't count as active service but Afghanistan did.

We changed our insurance provider immediately (we're insured through Close Brothers).

So, don't touch JBI with a bargepole.

Original poster

rippatiggerboo · 26/08/2009 09:53

Great that if he is injured he still gets paid. (that sounds so bad doesnt it lol) Cheers girls, I will check all of these out. It may be cheaper to cover him through them and keep these policies just for me. hum, will have to look at that.

How much does it cost per month? Am looking for basic life cover (so only if he dies) Am trying to forward budget now as work looks VERY dodgy so am trying to figure out how we will/would get on.

Cheers girls.

OP posts:

FourArms · 26/08/2009 10:00

Don't cancel them without thinking carefully - life insurance gets more expensive the older you are when you take it out. We took ours out v.young, and they're only £11 per month (for both of us).

You could probably get by without a policy which covers active service for the first year or so whilst he's in training, and by then his wage will have gone up a bit.

LadyOfWaffle · 26/08/2009 11:14

rippatigger- you are asking all the questions for me I am thinking of taking out Bupa too, I wonder if it's worth it?

Original poster

rippatiggerboo · 26/08/2009 11:39

I always think with things like bupa it all depends on the NHS service in your area. Ours is fab, seen same day docs, specialists are 1 month to see etc. But if the service in your area is crummy, it may be worth it. (plus were not ill enough to warrent the cost lol)

OP posts:

jcscot · 26/08/2009 15:10

My husband's life insurance cost us £45 per month. There's no injury/illness cover and I'm not on the policy either.

I'm afraid that insurance for the Forces is generally higher. Home and contents insurance (you need specialist cover if you rent a quarter) is higher and you'll need kit insurance too.

FourArms · 26/08/2009 15:37

We have kit and contents insurance with NAAFI/Forces Financial. I close my eyes when I get the renewal statement... it's horrific. Then when it comes to holiday insurance.....

Original poster

rippatiggerboo · 26/08/2009 16:00

Oh good lord! I was expecting it to be higher but cripes. Plus I hadnt thought of kit insurance! I had noticed it but sometimes you cant tell what is NEEDED and what would be a nice idea if we had more money. Dont have to worry too much about contence, he'll be in the cheapest accom they do while all the good stuff is at home. (tho I did say he could have a PSPgo & laptop for his nights off lol)

Sugar, looks like this career move is gonna cost more then I thought.

OP posts:

jcscot · 26/08/2009 17:16

Four Arms - our monthly rates for home/contents/kit (With TowerRobinson) were £60 per mth. We moved into our own home and our buildings/contents is £27 per mth (through normal civvie insurers). Mind you, we still have to have kit insurance (£16 per mth, I think).

There's also indemnity insurance - we were advised to take it out after Crown Immunity was removed (£50 per mth) although we didn't opt for it. I suppose we're reliant on my husband not making any stupid decisions!

Holiday insurance is expensive but worth it - we were booked for a fortnight in Kenya and had to cancel due to a short-notice deployment and we got all of it back.

LadyOfWaffle · 26/08/2009 17:19

Sorry, what's indemnity insurance?

jcscot · 26/08/2009 17:23

"...he'll be in the cheapest accom they do..."

Just remember that he will get no choice over his accomodation and how much it costs. The price may vary from place to place, depending on the grading (condition) of the accomodation.

I'm not sure how much the charges are, so perhpas someone else more knowledgeable might be able to help.

Saltire · 26/08/2009 17:24

We don't have specialist contents cover for our contents. We do have tennants liability in it though to cover any made up damage that DHE comes up with, but nothing specialist.

jcscot · 26/08/2009 17:26

Sorry, what's indemnity insurance?

Apparently, all officers (and NCOs, I'd imagine) have no lost Crown Immunity so, if someone was injured/killed as a direct result of their orders and those orders were deemed to be irresponsible in that situation, then they individual in the chain of command who delivered the orders could be sued.

It was used in the case of an officer who failed to ascertain that a bridge was suitable for his vehicle to cross. The vehicle landed in the drink and it was an expensive recovery and repair operation - for which he was sued for some of the costs.

jcscot · 26/08/2009 17:28

"We don't have specialist contents cover for our contents. We do have tennants liability in it though to cover any made up damage that DHE comes up with, but nothing specialist."

We tried to get civvie companies to quote for our insurance when we were in quarters but they wouldn't touch it - which left us with the military companies to choose from, all of whom are pretty expensive. It's much cheaper now we're in our own home.

LadyOfWaffle · 26/08/2009 17:30

Goodness me! Do 'they' (RAF etc) give you info on what insurances you could need? I can see it all approaching £200 + a month by the time we insure eachother, kit, contents in MQ and our (rented out) home,mortgage ins., tenants ins., etc. etc. Sorry to hijack your thread rippatigger, this is a real eyeopener!

FourArms · 26/08/2009 17:34

Ours is expensive, but has come up trumps when we've had breakages in transit (moving insurance is included in it for free, otherwise this is 10% of the total cost of the removals, or some other trumped up amount!).

DH is an Officer, so pays for his own kit, hence the importance of having it insured. It's worth about £8K to replace.

Figures for accom vary depending upon whether the training place is operating pay as you dine. Think training establishments don't use it do they? Also if you're married/cohabiting, they don't charge for accom (I think?) or CILOT (charge in lieu of council tax).

jcscot · 26/08/2009 17:38

"I can see it all approaching £200 + a month"

All too easily, I'm afraid. The Army Families Federation (and the Navy/RAF equivalents) are probably the best people to ask about what types of insurance you need.

jcscot · 26/08/2009 17:42

Four Arms, our insurance has been worth it for the same reasons as you - breakages in transit. Equally, my husband's kit would be pretty expensive to replace. I shudder at the thought of having to replace the blues/mess kit/service dress combo.

Speaking as one half of a couple who're doing the unaccompanied service thing - you do get charged for accomodation unless you qualify for INVOLSEP (which takes ages to get through!). Mind you, if you're married unaccompanied or maintain a home away from your duty station, you do get GYH pay which is non-taxable.

Original poster

rippatiggerboo · 26/08/2009 21:56

Thats ok LOW, its an eye opener for me too, I was just worried about an increase of life and now look! lol.

You say an officer pays, what about basic airman? DH is going in at ground level, does the same apply?

INVOLSEP? Whats that mean

He will be married unaccompanied, so whats GYH pay and how is it made up?

OP posts:

hf128219 · 26/08/2009 22:04

Do we need holiday insurance (apart from the bog standard type)? As 'Refund of Nugatory holiday expenses' covers cancelled holidays (up to a certain value) due to short notice deployments?

Involsep - is involuntary separated.

jcscot · 27/08/2009 09:29

INVOLSEP - Involuntary separation (as opposed to VOLSEP - voluntary separation).

If he is posted somewhere (other than on operational tour) where you cannot accompany him, you are classed as INVOLSEP and he won't get charged for his accomodation. AFAIK, time spent in training doesn't count for this, but I could be wrong.

If he's posted somewhere and you do not wish to go there you're classed as VOLSEP and he will get charged for accomodation unless you can show that there are compelling reasons for you to stay where you are and can apply to be INVOLSEP. One example would be that a child is at a significant stage in their education (eg: halfway through GCSEs/A-Levels) therefore, moving them would be detrimental. Another example would be that you (or a child) is receiving a particular drug/treatment that wouldn't be available in the area to which your husband is posted.

In all cases, you have to submit significant paperwork to prove your case and there are no hard nad fast rules - each case is decided on an individual basis.

GYH Pay(Get You Home Pay) - is an allowance that you get when you maintain a home away from your duty station (so long as you don't rent it out) and it's to cover travel to and from that home. You get that regardless of your INVOL/VOLSEP status. It's calculated as a daily amount based on how far you the duty station is from your home.

Saltire · 27/08/2009 10:31

JScot - really? We are with Endsleigh Insurance and they insured us no bother, including the tennants liability side of, thats contents only though, we don't have buildings insurance for our MQ. We pay them £26 a month. We had to claim 2 years ago when DHE made up charges against us when moved out of our last MQ and they paid up no bother

jcscot · 27/08/2009 10:39

Yes - we went through an independent insurance broker (mind you, this was in 2002) and the big insurers wouldn't touch us or came up on a par with or more expensive than the military insurers. The only benefit we found to the whole process was that we had a really good broker who worked hard to get a great life insurance deal but just wasn't able to lower our contents/tenants insurance.

Perhaps things have changed now - we certainly had no problem insuring all my husbands uniform and kit with our contents insurance now we're in our own home (although it is a separate policy IYSWIM).

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