How we support clients who experience pregnancy complications
Talking to a new client who is planning a family in the future? There are more benefits than ever to talk about. We know that 20% of people say that having a child/children is a key driver for purchasing critical illness cover.1 And the HSBC Life UK policy includes cover for children’s critical illness, should they become seriously ill with a named condition.
But as an adviser you don’t need to only focus on clients who already have children. New clients who are planning a family can benefit too.
We recently enhanced our critical illness cover to include pregnancy complications and loss. When deciding how to enhance our cover, we looked at some of the most common pregnancy complications and how we could help provide financial support at these difficult moments. Our CI Plus policy will pay £5,000, which could help clients with a range of needs such as childcare for older children in the family, a break to recuperate or a service or memorial to mark a loss.
It could also help clients take extra time off work unpaid, particularly until the Employment Rights Bill2 is fully in place, which will entitle people to bereavement leave if they lose an unborn child at any stage of pregnancy.
Pregnancy loss and complications in the UK
Being pregnant is a joyous time, but unfortunately from time to time, complications can occur.
The pregnancy and baby charity, Tommy’s, reported that in 2023 there were 132 babies born prematurely every day. There were seven babies stillborn every day in 2023, which is 2,612 babies across the year.3
Around 1 in 90 pregnancies is ectopic4, and every year there are around 11,000 hospital admissions for losses due to ectopic pregnancies.5
There are other rarer conditions that can occur during pregnancy, including eclampsia (fits) that affects around 1 in 4,000 pregnancies in the UK6 and the rare blood clotting disorder disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).7
The changes we’ve made to our cover
Pregnancy can be an incredibly worrying time for some expectant parents, and it’s clear that many would appreciate extra support. Our customer testing found that 68% of people surveyed felt it was important or very important this enhancement was included in our critical illness cover.8
We know that behind every claim is a parent or parents who are going through an extremely challenging time. Our warm and empathetic claims team are at the end of the phone, with one dedicated claims handler so your client never has to explain themselves twice.
While the wording we need to use in our policy documents is very medical, rest assured that our team are kind human beings who are dedicated to making the claims experience as simple and stress-free as it can be.
We’ll pay out £5,000 on seven different types of complication following a definite diagnosis by consultant obstetrician:
- disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC) – a rare blood clotting disorder,
- eclampsia (excluding pre-eclampsia) – a type of convulsion or fit (involuntary contraction of the muscles) that pregnant women can experience (but excluding pre-eclampsia),
- ectopic pregnancy with surgery to remove a fallopian tube – when a fertilised egg implants itself outside of the womb, usually in one of the fallopian tubes – with surgery to remove a fallopian tube,
- foetal death in utero after at least 20 weeks’ gestation,
- hydatidiform mole – a problem with a fertilised egg, which means a baby and a placenta do not develop the way they should and would not survive,
- placental abruption – where the placenta starts to come away from the wall of the womb (but excluding placenta praevia where the cervix is completely covered by the placenta), or
- stillbirth after at least 24 weeks gestation.
Once your new client has been with HSBC Life UK for nine months or more, they are eligible to make a claim. Clients can claim for themselves or their partner.**
Mental health support
Research shows that pregnancy loss and complications can have a significant impact on mental health for parents.9 You’re always welcome to remind your clients that they have access to eight mental health consultations a year via the HSBC Life Online Health Services.* These can be shared between a client and their partner. They take place online at a time to suit your client, from the comfort of their own home.
Other services in the HSBC Health app include a second medical opinion – clients are allocated two a year and, again, these can be shared with the client’s partner.
You can also signpost clients to Tommy’s, SANDS, The Miscarriage Association.
For full terms and conditions, including a list of exclusions, please refer to the new CI policy booklet.
To support your client conversations around pregnancy complications we’ve created a customer facing sales aid.
* HSBC Life Online Health Services do not form part of your client’s insurance policy and HSBC Life have the right to change or remove these additional health services at any time. Such a decision will not affect your client’s insurance cover with HSBC Life in any way.
** Partner: Someone the policyholder is married to or in a civil partnership with, or someone they have been living with for a minimum of two years as if they were married or in a civil partnership.
- Critical Thinking Report 2024, CI Expert
- Parliament.uk https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3737
- Tommy’s, 2023 https://www.tommys.org/baby-loss-support/pregnancy-loss-statistics
- NHS https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/ectopic-pregnancy/
- Gov.uk https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-response-to-the-independent-pregnancy-loss-review/government-response-to-the-independent-pregnancy-loss-review-care-and-support-when-baby-loss-occurs-before-24-weeks-gestation
- Eclampsia, Tommy’s https://www.tommys.org/pregnancy-information/pregnancy-complications/pre-eclampsia-information-and-support
- NHS https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/pre-eclampsia/complications/ Customer testing carried out in 2025
- The Miscarriage Association https://www.miscarriageassociation.org.uk/your-feelings/your-mental-health/