Mutual bonus

Feel the mutual difference

Being a mutual

Being a mutual means we're owned by our 1.3m members.

We know that when it comes to us and our members, we're better together. And, when we do well, we're able to give eligible members something extra.

We call this the mutual bonus and it’s our way of rewarding eligible members for their investment in the establishment and growth of our trading businesses.
We currently do this by increasing the value of their policies by a percentage. In recent years, this has been between 0.2% and 1.0% (depending on the type of policy). Our question and answer section below includes a summary of mutual bonus declarations to date.
Since we introduced the mutual bonus in 2011 we’ve given a total of £210m back to eligible members.

It works like this

Each year the LV= Board considers whether or not to declare a mutual bonus and how much to give. They look at our overall performance and capital position as well as other factors. And the LV= Board consult with the With-Profits Actuary and With-Profits Committee before making a decision.

If we can give our eligible members a mutual bonus, we'll apply it to their LV= with-profits policy, as long as the policy has been in place for 12 months. The amount will be a set percentage of the policy's value on the date the bonus is applied.

For those members who are awarded a mutual bonus, this will be paid either when their policy matures, is cashed in or pays out on a death claim. However, for our eligible annuity members, they'll receive an increase in their regular income.

More information

The mutual bonus is not guaranteed to be paid each year and the amount can vary.

The decision to give a mutual bonus is at the sole discretion of the LV= Board, and is currently only offered to certain eligible with-profits members.

The LV= Board frequently review the member benefits and who is entitled to take advantage of these, including the mutual bonus.

In certain circumstances, for example in the event of extreme market conditions, we might need to take back previously declared mutual bonuses to safeguard LV=.

Your mutual bonus questions answered

Mutual bonus frequently asked questions

The 2019 mutual bonus was £27 million

Our performance in 2019 meant we could award a discretionary mutual bonus of £27m (2018: £26m). We applied the mutual bonus by uplifting the payouts of LV= with-profits policies as follows:

Policy group	Uplift % 2019	Uplift % 2018
LV= conventional with-profits policies and with-profits annuities	1.0%	1.0%
LV= accumulating and unitised with-profits policies except Flexible Guarantee policies	1.0%	1.0%
Flexible Guarantee Bonds Series 1 and 2 / Flexi Guarantee Plan / Flexible Guarantee Funds Series 1	0.5%	0.5%
Flexible Guarantee Bonds Series 3 / Flexible Guarantee Funds Series 2	0.2%	0.2%*

Policy group	Uplift % 2019	Uplift % 2018
LV= conventional with-profits policies and with-profits annuities	1.0%	1.0%
LV= accumulating and unitised with-profits policies except Flexible Guarantee policies	1.0%	1.0%
Flexible Guarantee Bonds Series 1 and 2 / Flexi Guarantee Plan / Flexible Guarantee Funds Series 1	0.5%	0.5%
Flexible Guarantee Bonds Series 3 / Flexible Guarantee Funds Series 2	0.2%	0.2%*