PruHealth has announced five-year exclusive deals with Virgin Active, Cannons and LA Fitness, whereby members of those gyms can collect points towards discounts on their health insurance policies.

The partnerships are part of PruHealth’s Vitality scheme, a points-collection system whereby policyholders are rewarded for engaging in healthy activities.

These fall into five key areas: exercise; education; cessation of smoking; screening; and nutrition.

Vitality points can be earned by, for example, attending the gym – points are awarded for each visit – or downloading healthy eating menus from the PruHealth website.

Based on the number of Vitality points accrued, and whether they have made any claims, policyholders can earn 25, 50, 75 or even 100 per cent of the cost of their current year's cover off their renewal premium.

LA Fitness is the latest partner to be announced, alongside a renewed agreement with Cannons.

The third deal, with VirginActive, extends the partnership previously agreed with Holmes Place, which was acquired by VirginActive in September last year.

Dave Priestley, director of sales at PruHealth, says: “More and more people are opting for healthy lifestyles, of which exercise is a key part. These gym deals are designed to encourage that choice.”

PruHealth was launched in October 2004 as a joint venture between Prudential and Discovery Holdings from South Africa.

In a sample of its individual customers, one third said they had changed their behaviour for the better as a result of the Vitality reward scheme.