Canada Life insurance in the UK is mainly workplace protection: group life, income protection and critical illness policies that an employer buys for staff, usually through an adviser. If you searched for a policy in your own name, the two individual whole of life plans on Canada Life's estate-planning pages both say they are closed to new business. Below are the group limits, how quotes and claims work, and what Canada Life publishes about claims and complaints.

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Can you buy Canada Life protection for yourself?

Canada Life's workplace protection page (read 20 October 2026) lists three products: Group Life Insurance, Group Income Protection and Group Critical Illness. In each case the employer is the policyholder. Canada Life's adviser page adds a general point: “Most Canada Life products are designed to be sold to people who have received independent financial advice.”

The two individual plans on its estate-planning pages are whole of life policies, described as ways to cover an inheritance tax liability, for business protection or for a family's financial security. Each page carries the same notice, read on 20 October 2026: the plan “is now closed to new business”, and existing customers will see no change. Those pages do not say whether Canada Life takes new applications for any other individual cover, so ask an adviser or broker which insurers currently accept the cover you want. Insurers compared includes Legal & General, Aviva and Royal London.

An employee may hold Canada Life cover without having chosen it. Your scheme booklet or employer says whether it does; death in service insurance explains what employer life cover usually looks like.

What do the three group covers pay?

Canada Life's introductory guides for employers give the limits below. They are the group life guide (GRP1367, August 2026), the group critical illness guide (GRP1358, April 2026) and the group income protection guide (GRP1373, August 2025).

CoverWhat it paysLimits the guide states
Group Life InsuranceA payment to the trustees if an employee dies while working for the employer, which Canada Life describes as tax-free. The trustees then pay the beneficiaries.Fixed amounts, or a multiple of salary up to 10 times. Cease age flexible up to 75. Redundancy cover for a maximum of two years.
Group Income ProtectionA percentage of salary, paid to the employer for payroll, once the deferred period has passed.Most employers choose 50% or 75% of salary. Deferred periods from 13 to 52 weeks. Cease age flexible up to 70. State benefits are deducted.
Group Critical IllnessA lump sum paid direct to the employee on a covered diagnosis or procedure.Total benefit limited to £500,000. Cease age flexible up to 70. A survival period, typically 14 days.

Canada Life's own pages disagree on group size for life cover: the Group Life web page says “five or more employees, available for two lives or more for online policies”, while the August 2026 guide says “two or more employees”. An adviser can confirm which applies. On group income protection, the guide says the length of time a claim is paid can run to the policy's maximum age or a set period “such as two or five years”.

Group life policies must be written under a discretionary trust, and Canada Life's tax-free description carries a footnote: it applies to inheritance tax on lump sums paid via the trust, rests on its current understanding of the rules and may change. What a trust does is in our trust guide.

Which illnesses does Canada Life's group critical illness cover list?

Canada Life's April 2026 group critical illness guide says every policy covers at least 12 core illnesses: cancer, cardiac arrest, coronary artery bypass grafts, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, dementia including Alzheimer’s disease, heart attack, kidney failure, major organ transplant, motor neurone disease, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and stroke. Its web page says an employer can add a further 26 illnesses, Total Permanent Disability, a second or later cancer or child-specific illnesses. Cover for partners is optional, and the guide limits it to “£150,000 or the employee’s benefit if that’s lower”.

The guide says children are covered for free with every policy: if under 18 (22 if in full-time education) they are covered for 25% of the employee’s benefit, up to a maximum of £25,000. A list of names is not a definition: the wording of each illness is in the employer's policy documents (see the critical illness guide and group critical illness).

Most employees can be covered without medical underwriting, because Canada Life applies a pre-existing conditions exclusion, which the guide defines as any illness a member has “suffered from, or currently has, before joining a critical illness policy”. If you are insured through work and have a past diagnosis, ask what that exclusion means for you. A broker reached through the form here can talk through how a policy of your own would sit beside workplace cover.

What do the two closed whole of life plans say about premiums?

These pages matter to people who already hold a plan. The CanProtect Whole of Life plan is described as “an offshore whole of life assurance policy designed to pay a lump sum when you die to cover a potential inheritance tax liability”, aimed at high-net-worth individuals. For single life policies the premium is fixed for ten years, then reviewed every five years until a final review after the 84th birthday, and may increase with each review.

The Flexible Life Plan page sets out four cover options and says premiums stay fixed for ten years, after which the cost of cover is reviewed every five years, “with your premium very likely to increase”. Your policy documents hold your review dates; whole of life and inheritance tax guides explain the design.

How does Canada Life say group cover is priced and quoted?

Canada Life's group critical illness page says cost “varies depending on the benefits you choose, and number of employees covered”. Its guides add that pricing for critical illness is reviewed once every two years, and that accounts and an invoice are produced once a year from the employee data the employer sends, payable monthly or annually.

For a quote, an adviser sends Canada Life the employer's details, the benefits wanted, the age at which cover should end and details of each employee (sex, date of birth, salary, occupation, work location and business travel), plus the illnesses to be covered for critical illness. Most employees need no medical information, though it may be asked for where an employee has a particularly high level of cover. The free cover level, the amount covered without medical underwriting, is £20,000 per employee up to a maximum of £1.25m for group life, up to £150,000 for income protection and up to £500,000 for critical illness.

What does Canada Life publish about claims?

Canada Life's group life guide (GRP1367, August 2026) says it supports over 26,500 employers and covers over 2.8 million employees, with £541 million of claims paid in 2025, footnoted “As at 31 December 2025 (Swiss Re Group Watch 2025)”. The April 2026 critical illness guide gives £524 million for 2024, footnoted “As at 31 December 2024 (Swiss Re Group Watch 2025)”, so both totals cite the same Swiss Re publication. They are pound totals across the group business and do not show what share of claims was accepted, how many there were or how long they took.

On the Group Life claims page, Canada Life says it will “aim to give you a decision within five working days” and will pay the trustee's bank account, after which the trustees pay the beneficiaries. For critical illness the payment goes to the employee's account, even for a partner's or child's claim. Income protection claims are paid to the employer, who pays the employee through payroll, and the claim should be made eight weeks before the end of the deferred period. See when an insurer can refuse to pay, claims statistics and how income protection works.

How is Canada Life regulated, and what does it publish on complaints?

The legal statement on Canada Life's website, repeated in the group guides' footers, gives Canada Life Limited's status as authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) and regulated by both the FCA and the PRA; the Financial Services Register shows it today. The closed plans sit elsewhere in the group: the complaints page lists the Flexible Life Plan under Canada Life International, in the Isle of Man, and the CanProtect page's footer describes Canada Life International Limited as authorised and regulated by the Isle of Man Financial Services Authority.

The complaints page gives a separate contact for group policies, including Group Life Insurance, Group Income Protection and Group Critical Illness Cover. Canada Life says it will “always try to reach a conclusion at eight weeks”; if it cannot, it will write with progress and, where appropriate, say the matter may be referred to the Financial Ombudsman Service or another ombudsman. The page also links to a summary of the complaints data it reports to the FCA, which is the firm's own record of what customers complain about.

The Financial Services Compensation Scheme (page read 20 October 2026) lists whole of life assurance, term life and critical illness insurance, and income protection among insurance claims entitled to 100% payment where a policyholder has a valid claim against a failed insurer. For term, critical illness and income protection, that applies if the firm failed on or after 3 July 2015; before then, claims are 90% protected. Whether a particular policy, including a group or offshore one, qualifies is for FSCS or Canada Life to confirm.

Frequently asked questions

What is Canada Life Assurance Company?

A Canada Life document (GRP3048, September 2025) describes Canada Life Assurance Company as a Canadian regulated entity and Canada Life Limited as a 100% owned subsidiary of it. The UK company behind the group policies on this page is Canada Life Limited.

How much does Canada Life life insurance cost each month?

Group cover is priced for each employer's scheme, depending on the benefits and the number of employees covered. For individual cover from any insurer, a figure needs your age, health, smoking status, amount and term, which a broker can put to insurers once you use the form here.

Is Canada Life legitimate?

Canada Life Limited is, on its own legal statement, authorised by the PRA and regulated by the FCA and the PRA. The Financial Services Register shows its current permissions.

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