Rebecca Long-Bailey hits back at Aviva's lack of 'human approach' after they refuse to pay out dying man's life insurance

Rebecca Long-Bailey, the former MP for Salford and Eccles and Labour candidate for the seat, has hit back at a life insurance company’s ‘lack of ‘human approach’ towards a dying cancer patient.

The Manchester Evening News has told the stories of two terminally ill men who have been refused pay-out from their life insurance policies. Shaun Pinkney, from Salford, and Mark Brookes, from Walsall in the West Midlands, have both been told that they are unable to claim any money from Aviva because they do not have long enough left on their life insurance policy plans before the expiry dates.

The two men, who have been contributing money towards their life insurance policies for 15 years each, have also been told by Aviva that they cannot have another life insurance policy because of their terminal status.

Salford and Eccles candidate Rebecca Long-Bailey is pursuing Shaun’s case as part of her ‘urgent’ work, which continues for the former MP in her previously held seat even during a general election campaign, after the dissolution of Parliament. Ms Long-Bailey has slammed Aviva for the second time, calling the company’s response to her concerns about Shaun ‘disappointing’, as she says it shows ‘little consideration for the situation that faces’ him.

READ MORE: 'It's immoral': Man, 63, REFUSED life insurance pay-out by Aviva after he's told he's dying

The two men say they have fallen foul of the same small print, which states the terminally ill can only make a claim for an early life insurance payment if they have 18 months or more left on their policy.

In 2013, Aviva stopped selling these types of policies where there is a cut-off for claiming for terminal illnesses 18 months prior to the expiry of the rest of the policy.

Shaun Pinkney was diagnosed with terminal cancer in April 2023 and received a reminder letter from Aviva around a year later, which urged him to renew the plan he'd been paying into for 15 years before it ran out in May 2024. After being prompted to renew, the 53-year-old decided to call Aviva to renew his wife’s policy, but to cash out on his own given his terminal illness.

But Shaun was rejected – with the insurance company pointing to a line in the terms and conditions stating that he could only claim for a terminal illness payment if he had 18 months or more left on his policy.

'It's immoral'

Mark Brookes was only diagnosed with terminal bile duct cancer around eight weeks ago and began researching how to claim money from his Aviva policy. Instead, he found the M.E.N.’s stories about Shaun. After asking Aviva himself about whether he could claim, Mark too was told no because he does not have 18 months left on his insurance policy.

The 63-year-old has been paying £52-a-month for his Aviva life insurance policy since 2009, so has paid almost £9,000 to date. It is due to expire in December this year but, just like Shaun, he cannot renew or get a new life insurance policy because of his terminal status.

Both Shaun and Mark were diagnosed with their terminal conditions after the 18-month deadline on their policies had already passed, with a gap in terminal illness cover that they say has left them exposed.

Aviva says the 'terminal illness benefit allows customers to receive a life insurance payment early, if a medical specialist confirms that they are sadly expected to live for less than 12 months following diagnosis of a terminal condition'.

The M.E.N. understands that in both Shaun and Mark’s cases, Aviva has not changed its decision to refuse their attempts to claim as they do not have a specific prognosis of having 12 months to live. But Aviva has said that they will deny any further life insurance policies on the basis of their general terminal diagnosis.

Grandad-of-six Shaun told the M.E.N. he was hoping to have ‘one last holiday’ with his family. He said: "So, if I'd got terminal cancer six months earlier than when I was diagnosed, they would have paid out?," he said. "I'm getting penalised for getting cancer too late. I could pass away next week. I want this sorted before I die. I'm positive and I try and carry on, but I know this is unbeatable."

Mark called Aviva’s approach ‘immoral’, saying it is reasonable that someone could be diagnosed with a terminal illness in that time, be refused any further life insurance, and be left with no help. He added: “Once they stopped selling these plans, why didn’t they contact me and say ‘you’ve got one of these plans, would you like us to swap you to an updated plan at an extra cost?’” he told the M.E.N.

“Aviva has happily taken my money since 2009. We’ve still got £70,000 of a mortgage left to pay that we thought would be dealt with by a payment that will now be left for my wife to pay.”

Mark will have to pay monthly instalments to see out the life insurance policy, even though he will get no terminal illness benefit.

The company confirmed customers are not warned ahead of the 18 month cut-off on their policy to advise them they may want to change or renew their package as a major element of it times out, saying ‘there is no change to the terms of the policy that were made clear at outset’. Both Mark and Shaun say they were never told about the 2013 decision to stop selling policies like theirs.

“We do launch new products as part of the normal running of our business but it would not be practical to write to all existing customers each time we do this,” said an Aviva spokesperson.

Aviva has said ‘we communicate with our life insurance customers at the start of the policy and around three months before cover is due to end’, and ‘the terms and conditions of the policy remain the same throughout the term’. The company added ‘information about the terms of the policy, including the 18 month clause, was communicated clearly in the documents provided to the customer when they took the policy out’.

'I'm already dying and this is making my health worse'

Salford and Eccles parliamentary candidate, Rebecca Long-Bailey, wrote a letter to the insurance company urging its bosses to reconsider their decision to not pay out in cases like this. In mid-May, she said: "The fact that Aviva stopped selling policies with this stringent deadline over a decade ago indicates that they know they are not practical or fit for purpose."

But Ms Long-Bailey, who was the Salford and Eccles MP from 2015 until the dissolution of Parliament in May ahead of the upcoming election, has railed against Aviva’s response to her letter. The response from Aviva, seen by the M.E.N. reiterated that ‘the exclusion towards the end of cover was communicated clearly at the point of sale and is a prominent feature of the terminal illness benefit. Additionally, there’s no suggestion Mr Pinkney has a life expectancy in the range required for a claim to be valid’.

“To provide fair and consistent outcomes for all customers, it wouldn’t be reasonable to consider a claim which clearly falls within the exclusion, or which does not meet the life expectancy requirements for a valid claim,” Aviva managing director, Fran Bruce, told the Ms Long-Bailey.

In another letter to Aviva dated May 31, Ms Long-Bailey said: “I am treating Mr Pinkney's case as urgent given the terminal diagnosis he received… I am disappointed that the response you have provided appears to show little consideration for the situation that faces Mr Pinkney.

“I note that Mr Pinkney was only able to make a claim if he had 18 months or more left on his policy, however Aviva reminded him about this three months before the cover was due to end. It begs the question as to why Aviva does not update its customers at the point at which their policy will be affected.

“I further note that you state that whilst Aviva now sells policies without the exclusion providing terminal illness cover up to the last day of the policy, it was not the way Mr Pinkney's policy was sold. The fact that this type of policy sold to Mr Pinkney was discontinued 11-years ago does suggest that Aviva recognises it is not fit for purpose. I would urge you to reconsider your approach to Mr Pinkney's case with a more human approach and outline what assistance Aviva can provide which will help allay his concerns.”

All the while, the stress of being left without any options is having an impact on already-terminally ill people. “My health is getting worse I think due to stress,” Shaun told the M.E.N. this week. “I can’t believe they're saying they’ve been with me all the way – I only had contact with them when it needed renewing, they even carried on taking my payments from my bank, I’m really disappointed and upset with it all.”