Healthcare insurance for officers’ families
We’re always happy to answer questions you may have about Lady Grover’s Fund membership and the health insurance we provide.
Here you’ll find a selection of questions and answers that we’ve already helped our customers with.
Membership begins with an officer of HM Forces or the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, serving or retired, who has completed at least one week of commissioned service. Their membership entitles them to claim within the rules against expenses which have occurred as a result of the illness of one of their dependants. Those for whom they can claim are known as Beneficiaries.
If a Member predeceases their spouse, the widow or widower can become a Member in their own right for life and can claim for the expense of their own illness. In order to qualify for this form of membership, the widow or widower must apply to join within two years of the death of their Member spouse.
The divorced spouse of a Member has the same rights to Benefit as a widow or widower. A widow or widower or divorced spouse of an officer who was not a Member can become a Member provided that at the date of application for membership they had not reached the age of 55 or remarried.
A Beneficiary is a Member’s dependant who is covered by the Member’s membership of Lady Grover’s Fund. It is the illness of a Beneficiary which can spark a claim. Spouses and children (including adopted children and step children) under the age of 21 are the most commonly occurring type of Beneficiary. Dependant parents or step-parents of Members can also be Beneficiaries, providing they are under 65 years old when the member joins, or subsequently become dependent prior to attaining age 65.
Unmarried daughters or sons of members over 18 years of age can be Beneficiaries, providing that written proof can be obtained from the family doctor to the effect that they are resident with and actively caring for, their parents.
If you believe that your membership entitles you to claim for someone else’s illness other than a spouse and children under 21, please get in touch with the Membership Team to enquire. We will then record that person as an eligible beneficiary.
Dependancy is interpreted by the Rules of Lady Grover’s Fund as one who is normally supported financially by the member or makes their permanent home with the member.
Spouse is defined to include civil partners and cohabitees. A divorced spouse is construed accordingly.
If you marry or remarry, you should inform the Membership Secretary. You may only continue as a Member at the discretion of the Committee.
No, there is no age limit for joining Lady Grover’s Fund as a Member, or for remaining a Member, but please refer to the question below about the age limit for Beneficiaries.
Beneficiaries must be under 65 when the member joins (or when they become dependent in the case of parents) in order for the member to be able to claim benefit for their illness.
Children of members remain Beneficiaries until they are 18 years old. If they are in permanent education or vocational training, they remain covered until they are 21.
A Member can claim for their own illness only if they became a member by being widowed or divorced from a Member.
Yes, they can. Each pays a full subscription and is thus a member, so their spouse is covered. Their children can be covered under only one of the parents’ memberships.
Yes please. If a Member predeceases their spouse, the widow or widower can become a Member in their own right for life and can claim for the expense of their own illness. In order to qualify for this membership, the widow or widower must apply to join within two years of the death of their spouse.
If a Beneficiary predeceases their spouse and there are no other dependants, then the Member can no longer benefit from Lady Grover’s Fund and is therefore encouraged to resign. If they remarry thereafter they can re-join the Fund providing that their spouse is under the age of 65 when they re-join.
Yes please. The divorced spouse of a Member can become a member in their own right for life and can claim for the expense of their own illness. In order to qualify for this membership, the divorced spouse must apply to join within two years of their divorce provided that at the date of application for membership they had not reached the age of 55 or remarried.
We like you to discuss your claim before submitting it. It is not mandatory to do so, but a discussion with the Team will ensure that your expectations and ours coincide. The Team can advise you on what you can claim for and what is inadmissible. There are advantages to discussing your claim and care plan with the Team. You will avoid being disappointed by not receiving as much as you thought you were entitled to. You will receive advice on what you can claim for and what you need to produce by way of evidence for your expenditure.
If you don’t contact us before you claim, we certainly won’t disallow your claim for that reason, but it helps both you and us if you do. We certainly don’t want to delay your putting the care in place, so don’t delay because you haven’t got hold of us, but do get in touch as soon as you can.
We do require a medical opinion on what is the nature of your illness/injury and what sort and duration of care you will need. If you have a stay in hospital following illness, injury or an operation, we would like to have your consultant’s signature on the claim form at paragraph 3. We know that that is not always possible, but in that case your hospital discharge letter/documents will be sufficient as these are prepared in collaboration with your consultant. For cases of minor injury or illness when you don’t go to a hospital, your GP’s signature will suffice.
We do not pay claims related to pregnancy, or for chronic or recurrent conditions.
We will, however, use our discretion to consider a claim for the first instance of a chronic condition. The Committee reserves the right to amend its practice in this regard.
Home Help is domestic help in the household. In this we include house-cleaning, washing up, cooking, making beds, lawn mowing, shopping or taking you shopping (we will pay for the time spent, but not mileage) and dog walking if you are unable to do that yourself. For Home Help you can claim up to £196 a week (£28 a day if you use it 7 days a week). You can claim up to a maximum of £2352 in any twelve month period. Although this is the equivalent of 12 weeks of Home Help, you can claim for a period of up to 15 weeks in any twelve month period.
Home Nursing covers more personal care at home and must be undertaken by a qualified nurse or carer. Included in this is personal care such as helping you get up and dress, getting in and out of a shower or bath, undressing and putting you to bed. If you require a change of dressings or similar nursing care, this will come under Home Nursing. For Home Nursing you can claim up to £346.50 per week for up to 8 weeks.
For Home Help and Home Nursing we will provide you with an easy chart on which you can keep track of the time and expense of the work done for you; this will act as a receipt when you make your claim. Most carers and nurses will provide you with a formal receipt – if they do it would be that receipt that we need rather than our form.
We will do our best to explain the reasons our decision to you. There is a Complaints Procedure for you to follow if you remain unhappy.
Similarly to a building society, a friendly society, often known as a mutual, has traditionally been founded on behalf of a group of people who pay a relatively small amount of money over a long period in order to be able to provide protection in time of need. They are one of the oldest types of insurance and financial services in the world. Although they offer similar services to an insurance company, their profits belong, not to shareholders, but to the members of the society. Lady Grover’s Fund is not a charity, but is run entirely for the benefit of its members.