Welcome to nicsfight.org
NicsFight are campaigning to get Friends Life insurance to pay on a critical illness policy that Nic Hughes took out with them in 2009. Nic died of cancer in October 2012, but Friends Life have refused to honour the policy they granted him.
Over 50,000 people have signed a petition to lobby Friends Life to pay Nic’s family what they are owed. It is a growing and strengthening campaign of people from all sections of society who are disgusted at the way Nic’s family have been treated.
Tens of millions have read tweets in support from Stephen Fry, Margaret Atwood, Miranda Hart, Russell Brand, Boy George, Ian Botham, Alistair Campbell and countless others. Many more have read articles in the press and online.
We are now calling on people to take very simple actions to put greater pressure on Friends Life to do the right thing. Please please get involved, and let’s make this a brilliant Christmas for the Hughes family.
Follow the growth of the campaign via our NicsFight Storify page.
Read more about nicsfight
Friends Life began in 1823 with a group of Quaker business men coming together out of concern for the welfare of a family of a teacher who had died. They have since been bought by a hedge fund, Resolution – a Guernsey-based investment vehicle. Nic was a teacher, and it is clear that Friends Life have strayed very far from their founding principles.
They are trying to wriggle out of paying by claiming that Nic had not fully disclosed symptoms on his application. Nic has always disputed this. He fully disclosed the Ulcerative Colitis that he had suffered for many years, and considered the disputed ‘pins and needles’ commonly associated with this condition covered by this disclosure.
Nic’s doctors fully support his claim. They wrote to friends life, saying they thought it:
‘cruel and highly distasteful that that two irrelevant details from his medical history have been used as some sort of pretext to deny him a payment on his Critical Illness Policy.’
The Observer picked up on the story and ran a detailed piece in early December. Since then, millions of people have heard about the campaign through supportive tweets from Stephen Fry, Russell Brand, Miranda Hart, Margaret Atwood and countless others.
The petition gathered over 45,000 signatures in its first 3 days, and continues to grow. There is huge pressure on Friends Life, who we know are listening. Our hope is simply that they act quickly to support Nic’s widow and twins, rather than prolong the terrible distress that they have been through any further.
Press Coverage
Channel 4 News piece can be viewed here.
Daily Mail: ‘Family of cancer victim refused life insurance payout because he didn’t disclose PINS AND NEEDLES’
The Observer: ‘Stephen Fry and Miranda Hart join petition for life insurer to back down’
The Observer: ‘Life insurance: missing details that could leave your family penniless‘
Daily Mail | ThisIsMoney.co.uk: ‘Friends Life under pressure to pay out for father who died fighting for £100k from his life and critical illness policy’
Alastair Campbell Blog: ‘The battle between a cancer victim’s family and an insurance company’
Daily Mail | Jan Moir editorial: ‘Vulture insurers will do anything they can to wriggle out of a claim‘
MoneysWorthUK | IFA’s focused on health issues ‘Why we are supporting NicsFight‘
East Anglian Daily Times ‘Support growing for insurance payout bid‘
How you can help:
- Please download the Nics Fight Christmas Card and email it to Friends Life. Their email address is tellmemore@friendslife.co.uk
- Print the Christmas card (Royal Mail can’t be filtered by IT departments!) and post to:One New Change, London, EC4M 9EF (or look up your local office here)
It would double the impact if you could telephone them on 0845 641 7825 to politely explain what you have done.
- Sign the petition and join tens of thousands of other people who have come out in support of Nic and his family.
- Like our Facebook page.
- Send an email to all your contacts asking them to join the campaign.
- Please share this website, the Christmas card and the petition on your social networks, websites and blogs.
Thank you for your support
Clearly, this has been a terribly distressing time for the Hughes family. They are deeply moved by the huge waves of support that have been shown. They are so grateful that so many people have enquired about making donations, but want people to know that they are 100% focused on getting justice. THANK YOU.
