Yes, you can often increase term life insurance coverage, but the route depends on what your policy already contains: a guaranteed insurability option that lets you raise the cover after a life event without new health questions, yearly increases you chose at the start, a second policy, or a fresh application with fresh health questions.
To find out which of these your own policy allows, ask an FCA-authorised broker: the short form on this page books a free call-back, and your policy's options can be talked through then.
How can you increase the amount of cover on an existing life insurance policy?
There are four usual ways, and a policy may offer only some of them:
- A guaranteed insurability option. Some policies let you raise cover after named life events without answering health questions again.
- Increasing cover chosen at the start. The sum rises each year by an index, and the premium rises with it.
- Asking the insurer to change the amount. The insurer will normally want up-to-date health information first.
- Taking a second policy alongside the first, which is what people usually mean by a "top-up".
In the insurer documents quoted below, only the first two raise cover without fresh health questions, and your policy schedule shows which you have.
What is a guaranteed insurability option, and what does evidence of insurability mean?
Insurability is whether an insurer will accept you, and on what terms. Evidence of it is the answers, records or tests it relies on. A guaranteed insurability option, sometimes called a guaranteed increase option, swaps that evidence for a list of qualifying events.
Legal & General's policy terms (October 2026) put it this way: "If certain life events happen, you may be able to increase your amount of cover without having to complete a full application again." Vitality's plan summary (February 2025, archived April 2025) draws the contrast: adding or increasing cover normally means new medical evidence, unless you hold Guaranteed Insurability options.
The option is not given to everyone. Aviva's Life Insurance+ conditions (February 2026) say "This benefit isn’t available to everyone", and the schedule shows whether it is included. LV= tells a buyer before the policy starts if medical history or circumstances rule it out. Vitality adds its version automatically, but only where it took on every person covered at standard rates and attached no special exclusions. A policy bought with a health loading or exclusion may therefore have no option at all.
If you took out cover years ago and cannot tell whether it carries the option, the broker can go through your schedule with you on the free call-back.
Which life events count, and what are the time limits, ages and caps?
The table sets out four insurers' own terms: four documents, not the market.
| Insurer and document | Events listed | Time to act | Age limit | Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Legal & General, policy terms (October 2026) | Marriage or civil partnership; divorce or dissolution; birth of a child; legal adoption; pay rise from a promotion or new job; larger mortgage from a move or major home improvements | Tell L&G within six months | Policy must have started before the 55th birthday; none after it | Lower of 100% of original cover or £200,000 in total; pay and mortgage events have their own limits |
| Aviva, Life Insurance+ conditions (February 2026) | Marriage or civil partnership; divorce; separation; becoming a parent; a bigger mortgage; at least 20% rise in salary; higher rent; a rise in inheritance tax liability | New policy within 180 days; usable from six months after the start | New policy before the eldest person covered turns 55 | Level or decreasing cover: lower of £200,000 or the original amount, across all uses |
| Zurich, Life Protection key features (February 2025) | A significant life event, for example a house move, marriage or a child | Within 90 days | 54 or younger | Lower of original sum assured or £200,000 |
| LV=, Life Protection conditions (March 2026) | Higher mortgage; higher rent; marriage; divorce; birth or adoption of a child; basic salary rise of at least 10% | Within three months | 54 or under | Up to £150,000 and no more than 50% of the scheduled cover each time; £200,000 in total |
Zurich calls its version a Milestone benefit and says a policy may include it, so it too depends on the policy. For a baby or adoption the events above raise the parent's own cover; they are not a way of insuring the child. The option also closes in some circumstances: on L&G's and LV='s terms once a terminal illness has been diagnosed, and on Aviva's while you are eligible to claim any benefit.
Royal London's adviser page (undated, read October 2026) lists marriage, divorce, children, rent, mortgage and pay events for its advised plan and says clients can increase "within certain limits without providing any medical evidence"; its limits sit in the plan details.
Whether a planned event would fit the wording of a policy you hold or are considering is something to put to the broker once you have left your number in the form.
What happens to the premium and to the policy when you use the option?
The extra cover costs more, and it often arrives as a separate policy. LV= says that whenever its option is used the premium "will go up because your amount of cover will have increased", priced on age and smoking status at that point. Vitality works out the new premium from your age and its rates on the day you ask. Using the option removes the health questions; it does not freeze the price at what you paid when you were younger.
How that works out for your own numbers is something a broker can explain without charge on the call-back.
Legal & General's terms say it sets up an additional policy, which would "mean you can't increase your cover on the new policy without further medical evidence". That policy ends at the 65th birthday, or one year after the original expiry date if that comes first, and takes the premiums and terms in force when it is issued. Aviva's conditions likewise make the extra cover an additional policy on current rates, ending before the eldest person covered turns 70. Where L&G cannot give you what you ask for under the option, it says it will offer a reasonable alternative.
One more condition travels with an increase on Zurich's policy: its key features restart the suicide exclusion, so no claim is paid for death by suicide or intentional self-inflicted injury "within 12 months of the start date or the date you increase your cover".
What if your policy has no option, or you need more than the cap?
Royal London's direct life insurance terms (no printed date; read October 2026) are blunt: "You can’t increase your Life Cover or Serious Illness Benefit at any time. However you may be able to take out further Life Cover policies with Royal London." So on that product the way to more cover is a second policy, and the maximum payout across all Royal London life policies depends on your age when a policy starts.
A second policy is allowed in principle; see whether you can hold two life insurance policies for what insurers ask when you already hold cover. Legal & General's changing-policy guide (October 2025) describes the choice as taking out "a new ‘top-up’ policy with another company" or replacing the existing policy altogether. The second route is a switch; see how to switch life insurance companies before cancelling anything.
Asking your own insurer to change the amount is a third path. LV= says it can change an amount "at any time" outside the option, but "we can’t guarantee we’ll be able to make these changes", and it needs up-to-date health and lifestyle information first. Legal & General's terms say you fill in an amendment form asking about health, medical history, residency and leisure activities, and "If you answer `yes' to any of the questions, you'll need to fill out a full application", which might include a medical and lifestyle assessment.
That is re-underwriting: the insurer looks at you as you are now, so the terms on the extra cover can differ from your first policy. The questions are covered in the medical questions insurers ask.
Where one insurer's option has run out, a broker can compare how the insurers it works with would treat a new application. How much more cover to ask for is a separate matter, covered in how much life cover you might need.
Does life insurance cover increase each year on its own?
Only if increasing cover was chosen when the policy was bought. A level policy, one of the types of life policy, keeps the same sum for the whole term. On Legal & General's increasing option the sum rises on each policy anniversary in line with the Retail Prices Index: no rise if the index change is under 1%, and a rise capped at 10% a year. Premiums follow, at the index change multiplied by 1.5 and up to a maximum increase of 15% a year.
Unlike a top-up after a life event, it happens whether or not your life has changed; increasing term life insurance is explained in full on its own page. A premium that rises for other reasons is explained in why premiums can rise. For extending the term rather than the sum, see renewable term cover.
Frequently asked questions
Can I increase my life insurance cover without a medical?
Sometimes. After a qualifying event, a guaranteed insurability option can raise cover without new health questions, within the insurer's time limit, age limit and cap. Other requests usually bring health questions; see cover without a medical.
Can you top up an existing life insurance policy to increase your cover?
Usually a top-up is a second, separate policy with its own premium. Royal London's direct terms, for one, rule out raising an existing policy but allow a further one.
How do I increase my life insurance after having a baby or getting married?
If your policy carries the option, you tell the insurer within its time limit and send the evidence it asks for. Aviva's conditions, for example, ask for a marriage or civil partnership certificate, or a birth or adoption certificate.
Is there a guaranteed insurability option on income protection?
Some plans have one. Vitality's plan summary lists Income Protection Cover among the covers its Guaranteed Insurability options can increase, subject to its conditions. Other insurers' income protection terms differ, and income protection without medical questions covers that side.
Can I add a child to my life insurance policy?
The options above raise your own cover when a child is born or adopted; they do not make the child a person covered. Whether a particular insurer offers cover on a child, and on what terms, is something the broker can explain for free when they call you back.
If more cover is on your mind, the enquiry form is the simplest next step: once you send a few details, a broker authorised by the FCA rings to go over what your policy and the wider options allow.
Sources
- Legal and General Assurance Society Limited, Life Insurance Policy Terms and Conditions (QGI12849 - 2026/10), read 21 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Legal & General, Changing your life insurance policy (published October 2025), read 21 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com/changing-life-insurance-policy
- Legal & General, How are life insurance premiums calculated? (15 May 2026), read 21 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com/how-are-premiums-calculated
- Aviva, Life Insurance+ Policy Conditions (AL50002 02/2026), read 21 October 2026. static.aviva.io (AL50002)
- Aviva, Policy Summary of Life Insurance+ (AL50001 02/2026), read 21 October 2026. static.aviva.io (AL50001)
- Zurich Assurance Ltd, Key features of the Zurich Life Protection policy (NP720500009 02/25), read 21 October 2026. zurich.co.uk
- LV= (Liverpool Victoria Financial Services Limited), Life Protection policy conditions (48926-2026, March 2026), read 21 October 2026. lv.com
- Vitality, Personal Protection Plan Summary (VLTD182053WF_02/25_J8476, February 2025; adviser literature, archived April 2025), read 21 October 2026. web.archive.org (Vitality)
- Royal London, Terms & conditions: Life insurance with optional Serious Illness Benefits (no printed date), read 21 October 2026. royallondon.com
- Royal London for advisers, Life cover: product details (undated web page), read 21 October 2026. adviser.royallondon.com