Value-added services: the valuable extras inside your life insurance policy

Value-added services are health, wellbeing and support extras included with many UK life insurance, critical illness and income protection policies, and are usable without making a claim. Common inclusions are a 24/7 remote GP, second medical opinions, a dedicated nurse, counselling and bereavement support. 

Think of them as extras an insurer wraps around the core promise of a protection policy. The policy itself does one job: it pays out a sum of money if you die, become seriously ill or can't work because of an illness or injury, depending on the type of protection cover you've chosen.

Value-added services sit alongside that financial safety net, helping with the practical and emotional fallout that money alone can't fix. It means your protection is more than just a potential monetary payout.

The one caveat to keep in mind is that these services aren't part of your contract. The core financial cover forms part of your insurance contract; these extras generally do not. An insurer can enhance, change or withdraw them at any time.

The exact line-up of value-added services varies from one insurer to another, but there are some common services.

It's also worth knowing that the services available can vary depending on the type of protection policy you have. For example, income protection policies often come with additional services, such as physiotherapy and rehabilitation support, that may not be included with the same insurer's life insurance policies.

Here's what you're most likely to find, and what each one does for you:

• Remote GP access. Lets you book a phone or video appointment with a UK GP, often within hours and frequently around the clock. With NHS appointments increasingly hard to come by, the appeal is obvious: you can get advice, a diagnosis, a private prescription or a referral often the same day, and at a time that suits you. Several insurers now offer this on an unlimited basis for the whole family.
• Second medical opinion. If you or a family member receive a worrying diagnosis, a second-opinion service lets a leading specialist review the case. Sometimes that confirms the original diagnosis and treatment, which brings reassurance; sometimes it suggests a different approach. Either way, it helps you make a big decision with more confidence.
• Dedicated nurse support. Rather than a one-off call, you're assigned a personal nurse who gets to know your situation and supports you for as long as you need. They can explain a diagnosis in plain English, help you weigh up treatment options, point you towards charities and support groups, and be a steady, knowledgeable voice during a frightening time.
• Mental health support and counselling. Depending on the provider, this ranges from app-based tools that help you manage stress, anxiety and sleep through to a set number of one-to-one counselling or therapy sessions with qualified professionals.
• Physiotherapy and musculoskeletal help.  Aches, strains and back problems are among the most common reasons people take time off work. Several insurers offer remote physiotherapy - an assessment by video, a tailored exercise plan and treatment - often without needing a GP referral first.
• Bereavement and probate support. For life insurance in particular, support for those left behind is among the most valuable extras. This can include bereavement counselling for the family, practical guidance on registering a death and arranging a funeral, and help navigating probate and estate admin.
• Health checks. Some insurers include an annual “health MOT” which is typically a simple at-home finger-prick blood test that screens for markers such as cholesterol, diabetes risk and liver health, followed by a report and a chat with a clinician. Some insurers have started charging a fee for this.
• Legal and financial guidance. This can mean free will writing, help putting your policy into trust, or an hour of free legal advice on everyday matters, not just end-of-life ones.
• Rewards and lifestyle discounts. This is a different model altogether, most associated with Vitality. Here the “extra” is a programme that rewards healthy behaviour with discounts and perks such as gym memberships, cashback on healthy food, cinema tickets, even an Apple Watch. It can also reduce your monthly premium.

How often you can use value-added services depends on the specific service. Everyday benefits like a remote GP are often unlimited, while specialist services such as counselling or physiotherapy usually come with an annual allowance. 

However, they can usually be used from the day your policy starts until it ends, without making a claim and without affecting your premium or any future payout.

Here's how it breaks down by service type:

Everyday services are often unlimited. The headline benefit, the remote GP, is offered on an unlimited, 24/7 basis by many insurers, including Aviva, LV=, Guardian, Royal London, The Exeter and Scottish Widows, so you can book an appointment whenever you need to, day or night. A few insurers still apply a cap (historically a handful of appointments a year), so it's worth checking yours.

Specialist services usually come with an allowance. Counselling, physiotherapy and nutrition consultations often come with a set allowance, with the number of sessions varying considerably by insurer and service. Second medical opinions are often limited to one or two consultations each year. Health checks are typically once a year.

Nurse support is open-ended. Where a provider offers a dedicated personal nurse (the RedArc model), the principle is that they support you for as long and as often as you need through a serious illness or bereavement, rather than rationing it by the session.

With many insurers these allowances can be shared with your partner and children, so a whole household can get real mileage out of them. In some cases, if you have made a valid claim you can also access value-added services for a short period after the policy ends.

Most insurers deliver their services through a single app. For example, Aviva DigiCare+, The Exeter HealthWise, LV= Doctor Services, Scottish Widows Clinic in a Pocket and Guardian Anytime all work this way. 

You download the app from the App Store or Google Play and register using your policy number or an activation code from your welcome pack. From there you can book appointments, see how many sessions you have left, and keep your records in one place.

Other insurers such as Zurich and Legal & General run their support through a helpline you call when you need it. Either way, you go directly to the service provider.

The biggest barrier to using value-added services is simply not knowing they exist. These services can be forgotten once a policy is set up, so it pays to check your welcome pack, your insurer's app or any annual statement, note what you're entitled to, and save the details somewhere handy for the day you need them.

Who provides the value-added services?

A small number of third parties power much of the market: Square Health sits behind several digital-GP apps, while RedArc provides the dedicated-nurse model used by others.

Other familiar partners include HealthHero, which supplies the 24/7 virtual GP for Royal London and Guardian. Mental wellbeing apps such as Thrive and physiotherapy tools such as TrackActiveMe round out the picture.

One of the more reassuring things about value-added services is that, in most cases, your insurer doesn't deliver them directly. Instead, insurers partner with specialist companies whose entire business is health and support. 

There are two good reasons insurers use third parties to deliver value-added services. The first is expertise: these are dedicated clinicians and support specialists, not generalists. The second is confidentiality. Your medical consultations are generally confidential and aren't shared with your insurer for underwriting or claims purposes, although providers may share limited service-use or administrative information in line with their privacy policies. That separation is deliberate, and it should give you the confidence to use the services freely. 

Comparison of life insurance value-added services by insurer

The table below shows the value-added services offered by the ten leading life insurance providers in myTribe’s 2026 best life insurance review.

These services apply specifically to each provider's life insurance policies. The services available with other protection products, such as income protection or critical illness cover, may differ. 

The clearest dividing line between providers is the remote GP: Aviva, Guardian, The Exeter, Royal London, LV= and Scottish Widows all build around one, while Beagle Street, Legal & General, Vitality and Zurich don’t offer it at all.

Latest figures from insurers show that more customers are starting to use value-added services. Pressure on the NHS and the normalisation of remote healthcare since the pandemic have driven sharp, sustained growth in how often these benefits are used.

Aviva reported that more than 172,800 protection customers registered for its DigiCare+ apps during 2025, taking the total number of people who can tap into them to over 673,000. Digital GP appointments jumped 36% year-on-year to around 61,300, while mental health consultations rose to 23,100 sessions.

The Exeter said downloads of its HealthWise app rose 69% in 2025, with remote GP appointments accounting for around three-quarters of all usage.  Royal London’s latest claims statistics show that GP appointments through its Helping Hand service rose by about a fifth in 2025, while the number of customers turning to its dedicated RedArc nurses grew by 12%. 

There's still a long way to go. Plenty of policyholders remain unaware of what they're entitled to, and that lack of awareness is still the single biggest barrier to take-up. But the direction of travel is clear. Value-added services are shifting from a forgotten footnote into a feature that people use, value and increasingly expect to have as part of their life insurance policy.

How important are value-added services when choosing life insurance?

Value-added services deserve attention but you should never choose a life insurance policy primarily on the strength of them because insurers can change or remove these extras at any time.

Make sure you get the right policy based on your main protection needs first. Then, if you're weighing up two similar policies, the value-added services can make a sensible tiebreaker, especially if there's a benefit such as a digital GP you'd realistically use. Treat these extras as the bonus they are meant to be and don’t forget to use them.

You can read our expert ratings of the UK's best life insurance providers in our guide.

To see which life insurance provider may be best for your situation please complete our form.

Primary sources

Aviva DigiCare+ 

Legal & General Umbrella Benefits / Wellbeing Support 

Royal London Helping Hand 

LV= Doctor Services

Zurich Support Services 

Vitality Rewards and cover

The Exeter HealthWise

Guardian Anytime and HALO

Beagle Street Companions Counselling

Scottish Widows Care