IPTM8165 | Significant variation of a qualifying policy: tests for whether policy after variation qualifies: general test: ICTA88/SCH15/PARA18

Where a qualifying policy is significantly varied, the policy must be tested again to see whether it remains qualifying.

Significant variations: similar rules to those that apply on a substitution

The rules that must be applied on a significant variation are a modified version of the rules that apply where a qualifying policy is substituted for another policy, as described at IPTM8120 to IPTM8130.

The modifications are merely to ensure that the rules make sense when applied to a varied policy rather than a substitution and the tests are effectively the same.

The necessary modifications necessary are given in ICTA88/SCH15/PARA18. They are that:

• references to ‘old’ and ‘new’ policy must be read as meaning the ‘policy immediately before and after the significant variation’

• references to the ‘making of the insurance’ must be read as meaning the ‘taking effect of the variation’, and

• references to the term of the policy must be read as meaning the ‘term of the policy from the date of the variation’.

IPTM8170 explains how the rules described at IPTM8120 to IPTM8130 apply in practice when there has been a significant variation of a qualifying policy.