To compare mortgage life insurance quotes, start by lining up the terms that differ between insurers, because the monthly price is only one of them. Legal & General, Aviva and Scottish Widows each publish their own rules for decreasing cover, and they differ on the assumed interest rate, the ages you can buy at, the options for couples and the free cover while you buy a home. No provider is named best here: this page sets those published terms side by side.
Want prices for your own loan rather than terms? Prices come from a quote, and the quote form here sends your details to an FCA-authorised broker, who will ring to go through what insurers could offer on your loan. It costs nothing, and buying is optional.
Which companies offer mortgage life cover?
Several insurers sell it, and banks and building societies sell cover under their own name that an insurer provides, so it helps to know whose policy a lender's page describes. Read in October 2026, the lenders' own pages say:
| Lender | Insurer named on its page | What the page says |
|---|---|---|
| Nationwide | L&G | Its life insurance cover "is provided by L&G" |
| Barclays | Legal & General (its partner) | Cover arranged by Barclays and underwritten by Legal & General: level or decreasing term, single or joint, with optional critical illness cover |
| NatWest | Aviva | Its life insurance is "provided, underwritten and administered by Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited" |
| Halifax | Scottish Widows | "Our Protection products are provided by Scottish Widows" |
| Lloyds Bank | Scottish Widows | "Protect the ones you love with life insurance from Scottish Widows." |
| HSBC UK | None named on its life insurance page | Premier customers can talk to its financial advisers who recommend a policy from a list of providers HSBC has chosen |
Royal London also lists decreasing term among its life cover, but its consumer page says that cover is sold only through a financial adviser. Whether a lender can insist on a particular policy is covered in do I need life insurance for a mortgage, and the places cover is sold in where to buy mortgage protection.
A bank's version can carry different limits from the insurer's own: Barclays' page gives 64 as the oldest age for critical illness cover with a decreasing policy, while Legal & General's own decreasing page says 67. Check which version a quote is for.
How do the main insurers' decreasing policies compare?
Each column below is from that insurer's own documents. Aviva's two core documents are printed May 2023, and Aviva's life insurance page (WC05632 09/2026) links them as its current terms. Scottish Widows' figures are for its Protect policy; its other life policy, Plan & Protect, differs and is covered below the table.
| Term | Legal & General, direct (QGI14786 and QGI12849, October 2026) | Aviva (DA03008 and DA03011, May 2023) | Scottish Widows Protect (January 2026 summary) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assumed interest rate for the fall | Applied to the policy; shown on the Policy Schedule, and in the personal quote | Fixed at 8% | Fixed rate chosen from 0% to 18%; 8% a year assumed when working out the rate of decrease |
| Oldest age to buy | 74 for decreasing cover | 77 (the oldest life, for a joint policy) | Up to 79 for life cover |
| Term | 5 to 50 years; must end before age 90 | One to 50 years; must end before age 91 | Consumer page table, "Age when policy ends" for life cover: 90 |
| Single or joint | Both; a joint policy pays once | Both; a joint policy pays once | Both on Protect; a joint policy pays once |
| Terminal illness | Included with life cover | Included with life cover | Included with life cover |
| Premium | Guaranteed | Guaranteed on decreasing cover | Never changes on decreasing cover |
The rate row matters most when quotes sit side by side: Scottish Widows and Legal & General both warn that if your mortgage rate is above the policy's rate, the payout may not clear the loan, as explained in what decreasing term life insurance is. Each insurer words its terminal illness test a little differently; those tests are compared in terminal illness benefit in life insurance.
Scottish Widows' consumer page also lists a second policy, Plan & Protect, with a maximum starting age of 59, and marks decreasing cover "No*" with the footnote "This is available for Mortgage Plan & Protect." The Protect column above does not apply to that policy.
Which insurers give free cover while you buy a home?
Buying a home leaves a gap between exchanging contracts and the policy starting, and two of the insurers describe free cover for it.
| Term | Legal & General, direct (QGI14786, October 2026) | Aviva (DA03008 and DA03011, May 2023) |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Free Life Cover | House purchase cover |
| Runs | From exchange of contracts to completion, "up to a maximum of 90 days" | Once Aviva has accepted the application, been given a start date and contracts are exchanged (missives in Scotland), until the earliest of 90 days, completion or the policy start date |
| Amount | The lower of the cover you propose or your mortgage, up to £300,000 | The lower of the amount applied for, the house price or £500,000 |
| Conditions stated | Accepted on standard terms, with everything L&G needs to start the policy; not for anyone aged 55 or over (both, on a joint policy); none if another policy with any provider covers the same mortgage | Pays on death; the conditions say it does not include terminal illness benefit |
Scottish Widows' Protect summary mentions something different: you "may qualify for free mortgage cover while we consider your application", which is cover while an application is considered rather than between exchange and completion, and it refers readers to its free cover leaflets for the details.
Partway through a purchase? Ask for a call using this page’s form, and the FCA-authorised broker you speak to can talk through how the free cover above would fit your completion date.
How do the joint and critical illness options compare?
Joint policies. All three insurers describe a joint policy that pays once. Aviva's summary says a jointly held policy pays the surviving policyholder. What happens afterwards is where they part (couples' wider questions are in joint decreasing term life insurance and providers of joint cover):
- Legal & General offers replacement cover, which lets the other person take out a new single policy. The request must be made "within six months of a valid claim being paid"; on a decreasing policy the amount is the remaining cover at the time of the claim, and the new policy ends on the life insured's 70th birthday or one year after the original expiry, whichever is first. The survivor answers health questions, L&G says there may be circumstances where it cannot offer cover, and the new policy's premiums and terms may differ from the original's.
- Aviva offers a separation benefit that lets a joint policy be split into two single ones if you separate or move the mortgage into one name, without further health questions. Its conditions say it can be used six months from the start date, is included only if Aviva accepted the policy on standard terms and you are both policyholder and life covered, and that a new policy from a decreasing original "must have decreasing cover only".
- Scottish Widows says replacement cover is included automatically on a policy for two people, on "the terms and conditions and what the rate was at the start of the original policy", applied for within three months of the claim being paid. Its Plan & Protect policy is single cover only.
Critical illness cover. Legal & General's page says you can add it "for an extra cost when taking out Life Insurance or Decreasing Life Insurance", with an upper age of 67; its summary says it is a separate policy, for which you "may be able to select different premium and cover type options". Scottish Widows offers a single plan covering both life and critical illness on Protect, with a top age of 64 for the critical illness part, whereas Plan & Protect needs two plans. For Aviva, the critical illness option comes from adviser literature on a separate policy, Life Insurance+ (AL50001), which says "You can choose life cover or life and critical illness cover", with 64 as the maximum age at the start. What a claim leaves behind is in mortgage protection and critical illness cover, and insurers that combine the two are compared at life insurance with critical illness cover.
How do you compare mortgage life cover quotes like for like?
Quotes only compare when they describe the same cover, so set the basics identically before reading any price.
- Amount and term. Use the same starting sum and length for each, matching the loan; the mortgage life insurance calculator guide covers sizing.
- The assumed rate against your mortgage rate. Ask each quote what rate it uses; the table shows they differ.
- Premium type. Legal & General, Aviva and Scottish Widows each describe premiums on decreasing cover that stay the same. Aviva's Life Insurance+ summary says life and critical illness cover can instead have reviewable premiums.
- Which version of the policy. A quote through a bank, a direct quote and an adviser's quote can carry different limits, as the Barclays example shows.
Some insurers and lenders advertise gift cards. Legal & General's is "only available if you apply directly to L&G". An incentive has its own terms; the cover should be chosen on what it pays, not on the gift.
Price is the one thing this page cannot give you: no published, dated UK source sets a market price for decreasing cover, and a quote depends on your age, health, smoking and loan. Adding critical illness cover usually raises the premium, and a longer term tends to as well. To see how wide a range a quote draws on, ask any adviser, including the one this site introduces you to, which insurers it can quote from. And if a quote calls itself mortgage protection, whether life insurance and mortgage protection are the same is worth settling first.
Frequently asked questions
Who has the best mortgage protection insurance?
Nobody can name one for every borrower. The three insurers here differ on interest rate, age limits, joint options and free cover, and which differences matter depends on the loan and the people covered. For the wider field, best life insurance policies and providers compares across policy types.
To have quotes for your own mortgage looked at side by side, request a call through this page’s form; an FCA-authorised broker will phone, with no obligation to go ahead. More on protecting a mortgage is in the mortgage cover guide.
Sources
- Legal & General, Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover Policy Summary (QGI14786, October 2026; direct), read 18 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Legal and General Assurance Society Limited, Life Insurance - Policy Terms and Conditions (QGI12849, October 2026), read 18 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Legal & General, Decreasing Life Insurance (reviewed 1 June 2026), read 18 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited, Life Insurance Plan Policy Summary (DA03008, May 2023; linked from Aviva's life insurance page as current), read 18 October 2026. static.aviva.io
- Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited, Life Insurance Plan Policy Conditions (DA03011, May 2023; same page), read 18 October 2026. static.aviva.io
- Aviva, Life insurance (direct product page, WC05632 09/2026), read 18 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
- Aviva, Policy Summary of Life Insurance+ (AL50001; adviser literature, no printed date), read 18 October 2026. static.aviva.io
- Scottish Widows Limited, Scottish Widows Protect Personal Protection Policy Summary (61041 01/26; all customers except those using an aggregator), read 18 October 2026. adviser.scottishwidows.co.uk
- Scottish Widows, Life cover (consumer page, undated), read 18 October 2026. scottishwidows.co.uk
- Royal London, Life insurance (consumer page, undated), read 18 October 2026. royallondon.com
- Nationwide Building Society, Life insurance (undated), read 18 October 2026. nationwide.co.uk
- Barclays, Life insurance (undated), read 18 October 2026. barclays.co.uk
- NatWest, Life insurance (undated), read 18 October 2026. natwest.com
- Halifax, Life cover (undated), read 18 October 2026. halifax.co.uk
- Lloyds Bank, Life insurance (undated), read 18 October 2026. lloydsbank.com
- HSBC UK, Life insurance (undated), read 18 October 2026. hsbc.co.uk