Terms of Business

Please read this document carefully. It sets out who we are, the service we provide, how we are paid and your rights. It is our agreement with you, and it applies from our first conversation. If anything is unclear, ask us.

1Who we are

Private Health Partners Ltd is an insurance intermediary specialising in private medical insurance.

We are authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). Our Firm Reference Number is 1057326. You can check this on the Financial Services Register at register.fca.org.uk, or by calling the FCA on 0800 111 6768.

2Our service

We provide an advised service. We will ask about your needs and circumstances, then recommend a policy that meets them and explain why. We will also tell you anything the recommended policy would not cover that your current cover does.

• Whose products we offer: we recommend from a panel of insurers we work with. We do not search the whole market. Ask us and we will tell you which insurers are on our panel.
• No obligation to any insurer: we are not required to place business with any one insurer.
• Who we act for: when we advise on and arrange your policy, we act on your behalf, not the insurer's.
• Connections with insurers: no insurer holds 10% or more of the voting rights or capital of Private Health Partners Ltd, and we hold no such interest in any insurer.

Once your policy starts, the insurer is responsible for your cover and for paying claims. We will help you with questions about your policy and at renewal while you remain our client.

3How we are paid

We do not charge you a fee for our advice.

• Commission from the insurer: when you take out a policy, the insurer pays us commission. The commission is a percentage of the annual premium you pay. It is already included in your premium, so you do not pay anything extra.
• Renewals: if you renew the policy, the insurer may pay us commission again, calculated the same way.
• The amount: you can ask us at any time how much commission we receive on your policy, and we will tell you.
• No bias: the commission does not affect our recommendation. We do not favour any insurer, and our recommendation is based only on your demands and needs.

4Your responsibilities

The insurer decides whether to cover you, and on what terms, based on the information you give.

• Answer accurately: you must take reasonable care to answer all questions fully and honestly, including questions about your health and medical history, for everyone to be covered.
• If information is wrong or missing: the insurer may reduce or refuse a claim, change your terms, or cancel your policy.
• Check your documents: when you receive your policy documents, check them carefully and tell us straight away if anything is wrong.
• Tell us about changes: let us know if your details change, for example your address or the people covered.
• People covered on your policy: if you ask us to arrange cover for other people, you confirm you have their permission to give us their information, including health information, and to act for them.

5Cancelling

Your policy. By law you have at least 14 days to cancel your policy, counted from the day the policy is taken out or the day you receive its terms and conditions, whichever is later. An insurer may give you longer, but not less. What is refunded if you have already claimed or had treatment is set by the insurer and differs between insurers. We will give you the recommended insurer's own cancellation terms, in writing, before you commit to anything. After that period, you can still cancel under the insurer's terms.

Our service. You can end our service at any time by telling us by phone, email or post. We can end it by giving you 30 days' notice in writing. Ending our service does not cancel your policy, and anything already in progress will be completed unless you tell us otherwise.

6Your information and call recording

We use your personal information, including health information, to advise you, arrange your policy and support you while you are our client. We share it with the insurer you choose and with the service providers who help us run our business, under contract and with proper safeguards. Our Privacy Notice explains this in full, including your rights.

Call recording. We record all calls with you. We use the recordings to evidence the advice we give, check the quality of our service (including with software that uses artificial intelligence), train our advisers and deal with any complaint. A member of our team always makes the final decision; nothing about you is decided by software alone.

How long we keep it. We keep your records and call recordings for as long as you are our client and for six years after, longer if a complaint is open.

7Conflicts of interest

We act in your best interests. If a situation arises where our interests, or those of another client, conflict with yours, we will tell you and explain how we will make sure you are treated fairly before we go ahead.

8Extra support

If your health, circumstances or anything else makes it harder to deal with us, please tell us. We can slow down, explain things in a different way, send information in writing, or speak with someone you trust on your behalf.

9Complaints

If you are unhappy with anything we have done, please tell us:

We will acknowledge your complaint promptly, tell you who is dealing with it, and send you our final response within eight weeks.

If you are not satisfied with our final response, or we have not sent one within eight weeks, you may be able to refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge: financial-ombudsman.org.uk, 0800 023 4567, Exchange Tower, London E14 9SR. Doing so does not affect your legal rights. Our complaints page explains the process in more detail.

10Compensation

We are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). You may be entitled to compensation if we cannot meet our obligations to you. For insurance advising and arranging, the scheme covers 90% of the claim with no upper limit. More information is at fscs.org.uk.

11General

These terms are governed by the law of England and Wales. We will always communicate with you in English. We may update these terms; if we do, we will send you the new version before it applies.

By asking us to advise on or arrange your insurance, you agree to these terms.