Scottish Provident won't pay out £240,000 in life insurance until policy holder proves he has less than 12 months to live

By Larisa Brown

PUBLISHED: 18:00 EST, 26 June 2012 | UPDATED: 03:48 EST, 27 June 2012


Motor neurone sufferer Michael Onyett

Forced to stay at work: Motor neurone sufferer Michael Onyett

Last summer Michael Onyett was given news every person dreads to hear.

He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, an incurable illness that causes muscles to slowly waste away.

The father of two could have weeks left to live — or months or even years. One of the horrors of this condition is that doctors can never be sure.

But this uncertainty has allowed insurer Scottish Provident to wriggle out of paying Mr Onyett £240,000 on two life insurance policies with terminal illness benefit.

And despite paying more than £30,000 in premiums, he may never be entitled to this money unless he can get a doctor to say he has less than 12 months to live before May 2015.

If he dies after that date, his family won’t get anything.

His wife Debbie, 60, a former export worker, who has been married to her husband for 40 years, says: ‘I’m watching my husband die and there’s nothing I can do to help him.

‘His muscles will all slowly go, he won’t be able to swallow food — then, ultimately, the disease will hit his heart. We don’t know how long he has: it could be six months or it could be a year.

‘We thought as he had a terminal illness we would be able to claim our insurance money. We were never told otherwise. All the time you are  paying into it and you don’t know it won’t cover you.

‘It’s heartbreaking that I’m watching him die while having to fight with an insurance company.’

Mr and Mrs Onyett took out the Self Assurance term and mortgage policies with Scottish Provident in August 2002 after consulting a friend who was a financial adviser.

They pay £83 a month into one and £177 into the other. Should either of them die or be diagnosed with a terminal illness, they were told the policies would pay out up to £240,000.

 

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Last summer, Mr Onyett went to see the doctor after he had started to slur his speech.

He was diagnosed with motor neurone disease — the same incurable illness scientist Stephen Hawking has.

He was told people with his condition were likely to live for only two years at best.

Since then Mr Onyett’s condition has worsened: his speech is slurred, he finds it difficult to swallow and he frequently chokes.

Despite this, he has been forced to keep working as a carpenter in order to pay off the £320,000 mortgage on the couple’s £500,000 thatched farmhouse in Essex.

Mr and Mrs Onyett believed that the diagnosis would at least allow them to claim on the policies they had loyally paid into. This would allow him to quit work and spend his last days with his beloved wife.

But Scottish Provident has refused the claim by triggering a clause in the policy. This says terminal illness payouts can only be made to someone with less than 12 months to live.

The Onyetts say this was buried in the small print and was not included in any paperwork they were given when they took out the policy.

Scottish Provident insists it was included in two documents — one 25 pages long and the other 24 pages — which the couple should have been given by their financial adviser.

Money Mail asked the broker, Trevor Oakley from PBF Financial of Basildon, Essex, whether he had gone through the documents with the Onyetts.

He says: ‘Do I go through them? No, not really — not aware of going through 28 pages of a life insurance policy. People get given stuff and they have a look at it. If they want it, they take it.

‘I don’t know what the terms and conditions are under terminal illness. I have no idea at all.’

The independent complaints body the Financial Ombudsman Service says any significant clauses in insurance policies should be highlighted by the person selling the policy at the time the cover is taken out.

Penny O’Nions, an independent financial adviser from The Onion Group, says: ‘In my opinion, the broker is duty-bound to point out this extremely important and fundamental element to the clients, and the insurers have a lack of transparency in their literature.’

More than two million people paid into new life insurance policies in 2010. Most of these are sold with a bonus of terminal illness cover.

A spokesman for Scottish Provident says: ‘The policy documents, issued when the policy was taken, state that we will pay a terminal illness claim if it is in the opinion of the medical specialist that life expectancy is less than  12 months.’

 
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I pay £90 a month into a similar scheme, originally set up to protect my mortgage. As that is virtually paid off and after reading this, it is probably time to give it up? Insurance Companies are amongst the worst example of business, that the general public have to deal with IMHO?

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I have had relatives who have had this illness and my heart goes out to Mr Oynett and his family. The illness unfortunately can persist for a very long time and therefore it is not possible to say that Mr Oynett will survive for 12 months or not. My reletive survived for 16 years. This would normally be covered under a critical illness policy. The terminal illness clause was put into place on lfe policies to help families sort out their affairs prior to the imminent death of a loved one. I'm afraid that the DM is just trying to create headlines and I feel creating more heartache for the family, by raising false hopes. It would be much better if it looked at dealing with the care issues for MND sufferers and how at the latter stages they can have a dignified death

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Why do papers like this persist in writing such drivel. All insurers have this clause in their contracts it's standard and in most circumstances the medical people confirm that the client has less than 12 months to live with diseases like cancer.Motor Neurone is a horrible disease but is often a slow killer so does not conform to the policy conditiond, I am sorry for this client but it's the same for.Funny the Mail never tells you about the thousands of cases paid out without quibble ,often when the policy has been in force only a few months or even weeks!But good news never sold newspapers did it?I have worked in the Industry for nearly 30 years and it's stupid nasty articles like this that do so much harm and result in people not taking out insurance that can so often be a life saver for someone's family...oh and it would stop the state having to pay even more in benefits!

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Why do they sell they will get nothing when he dies? Utter rubbish. This is a life insurance policy which has an additional (free) benefit that means the proceeds are accelerated if the client has 12 months or less to live. This is NOT the same as a critical illness plan. The policy, if still in force at the time of death, will pay the sum assured at that stage.FACT. Don't print inflammatory, misleading articles, which are hugely irresponsible. Understand the facts, rather than make up a story out of untruths.

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Broker should advise, he didn't. It's not good enough that broker takes commission and then sails off into the sunset. He owes a duty of care towards his client, the unfortunate dying man. Insurer is entitled to rely on policy conditions. If it is a life policy, then unless he dies within the policy term, they are correct in not making a payout. If this was in ireland, we would report broker to regulator. Is there a regulator in UK?

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The sensationalism of the journalist is quite staggering, as is the total ignorance on the part of some of the green arrowers here. Scottish Provident have done nothing wrong. End of. As someone who deals with financial services complaints all day I never fail to be astonished and dismayed by the "blame" culture, ignorance and apathy demonstrated by customers. The policy simply doesn't cover it. They should have taken out another sort of plan if they wanted illness cover and read the print (which won't be that small). This isn't the main purpose of the policy but a nice add on that the insurance company has added to deal with usually a more definite scenario. He will be able to claim at some stage anyway, so it's not money lost. I have worked in the insurance industry for 30 years in a number of different organisations and we always look to ensure that the claim is covered -not to avoid it. But this isn't covered, it's as simple as that. It wouldn't be right if it WAS paid.

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Well, well, well will Scottish Provident ever learn? I've read the comments with interest and as someone who has been campaigning against Scot Prov since 2009 this comes as no shock to me. I spent 3 months in hospital and yet they refused my claim. For the next 2.5 years I fought them icluding the FOS 3 times and after losing their appeal were forced to pay me up. The policy they sold me was flawed and in fact was impossible to ever get a payout on. For nearly 3 years I have campaigned against Scot Prov and cases brought to light involve them refusing a payout on a terminally ill man, cancer refused for a policyholder who forgot to tell them she had an ear infection 6 years prior. They have also worked with their underwriters to block genuine claims. We have even featured in this paper twice. scotprovsaysno seems very fitting...

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so please don't call people ignorant when you don't know the facts about people's lives! - Linny, Preston, Lancashire, 27/6/2012 - I am perfectly willing to believe that you have had bad experiences with insurance companies, however, anyone who thinks this insurance company has done anything wrong is ignorant.

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Is it suggested that the company is in breach of the policy's terms?

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I saw my dear Mother suffering through this Despicable disease,under going all the horrible stages with dignity. I would not wish this on any person and those that cause any additional stress at this time should be ashamed.May him and his family enjoy the time they have as this shall never leave them.The money will not matter to the corporation but may give some quality of life for the remainder of the mans time.Anybody with a sense of dignity should consider their future investment with this lecherious company and not deal with them and TELL THEM WHY.

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