These proposals will give us the foundations to build on our strong heritage and brand so we can create an even better mutual for the future, and where being a member has more meaningful benefits.

LV= in its current form is a Friendly Society, governed by the Friendly Societies Act. Many of the Act’s provisions are out of date and it restricts our ability to manage the business as effectively as we’d like to, and in the best interest of our members. In order to gain more flexibility and freedom for our future, and the future of our members, we want to make some changes.

I want to reassure you that we don’t have any plans to change our mutual status, something we’re proud of, and committed to. We’ll remain a mutual for as long as it’s right for our members, so we can continue to deliver value for them and you.

1. Firstly, we want to convert to a company limited by guarantee. This will mean that we would be governed by the Companies Act, rather than the Friendly Societies Act, giving us better opportunities to compete in today’s marketplace.
2. Secondly, we want to make a change to our constitution to clarify who is a member of LV=. We were founded in 1843, and over the years we have lost contact with some historic member, for instance, they may have moved or even passed away. Therefore we want to amend our constitution to clarify when we would stop considering them as members.

What this means for your clients

This has minimal impact on your clients who are LV= members. They will receive a voting pack from the 21 March 2019 with details of our proposals, and can contact our specialist team if they have any queries. We will be holding a vote among LV= members at a Special General Meeting on 22 May 2019.

Who are LV= members as it stands?

We currently class all personal Protection policy holders as LV= members, therefore if you have clients that have a Life, Term, or Income Protection policy with us, they’ll be an LV= member, and able to express a view on our proposals. Under our Rules, to be able to vote, a member must be over 18 and have held a member qualifying product for a full 12 months, as at the date of the Special General Meeting.

Find out more

As a focused Life insurer, we enable people to protect their income throughout their working life, and maximise it when it stops. Financial advisers, like you, are our core distribution channel and we look forward to continuing to work with you in the future as we seek to realise our ambitions within the protection market.