Critical illness cover and pregnancy meet in a small way: several insurers add a payment, usually £5,000, if you or your partner are diagnosed with a named complication of pregnancy, and children's cover can start from birth or earlier. Whether a policy has these depends on the insurer and often on an option chosen at the start. Expecting a baby and unsure how this fits your plans? A broker who is authorised by the FCA can talk it through by phone. To arrange that, complete the form on this page. No fee is charged for the call.

Which pregnancy complications do policies pay for?

The policy documents of these five insurers set out a pregnancy payment.

Insurer and documentWhat is paidConditions named
Royal London, Personal Menu Plan plan details (July 2025)£5,000 per pregnancy; £5,000 per foetus for foetal death in utero; £10,000 per child for still birthSix core conditions, plus still birth and newborn intensive care
Aviva, Life Insurance+ conditions (AL50002 02/2026)£5,000 per pregnancySix core conditions
VitalityLife, Personal Protection plan provisions (VLTD174857WF_J3779_02/2025)£5,000, one payment per pregnancySix core conditions, plus still birth
Zurich, Personal Protection terms (PW720480017 04/26)£5,000; £5,000 for each foetal deathSix core conditions
LV=, Life and Critical Illness summary (49027-2022 04/26)£5,000 per pregnancySix core conditions

The six core conditions are disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC), eclampsia, ectopic pregnancy, foetal death in utero, hydatidiform mole and placental abruption. Royal London, Aviva and LV= count an ectopic pregnancy only with surgery to remove a fallopian tube, and exclude placenta praevia. Royal London, Aviva and Vitality set foetal death in utero at "after at least 20 weeks gestation"; Zurich and LV= give a band between 20 and 24 weeks. All five leave out pre-eclampsia. Royal London, Aviva, Zurich and Vitality each require the diagnosis to come from a consultant obstetrician.

Is the pregnancy payment part of the basic policy?

Often it is not. Vitality writes that "If you have Serious Illness Cover in your plan, we automatically include Complications of Pregnancy conditions." The others tie it to something extra. Aviva lists it in the upgraded critical illness benefit, which its summary describes as available "At an extra cost". Royal London's product page puts it in the Enhanced level of children's cover, not the Standard one. Zurich states that "Pregnancy and Early Childhood Cover is only available if you have Children’s Cover or Children’s Enhanced Cover". LV= says "Unless your policy schedule shows that you have Children’s cover your children aren’t covered by this policy and you won’t be covered for the pregnancy complication payments as listed in appendix C and D in the policy conditions."

Which option carries the payment on a quote, and what it adds to the premium, is a question for the broker when they ring.

What stops a pregnancy payment being made?

Four of the five look back to when the cover began. Aviva's conditions say it will not pay "If the person covered was aware of an increased risk of having a complication of pregnancy before the policy start date." Zurich and LV= word it much the same way, and Royal London measures from the latest of the cover's start, the date the Enhanced children's option was added, or a restart. Vitality's rule is that it does not pay where the claim is due to a "pre-existing medical condition".

Whether early symptoms, a past pregnancy or a scan result would count as an increased risk in your case is for the insurer to read against its wording, and a broker can raise it with them for you.

What do newborn and children's benefits say?

For a baby on the way, what differs is when the cover starts. Aviva's standard children's benefit begins at 30 days old, while its upgraded version covers a child from birth. Both of Royal London's levels, Standard and Enhanced, cover children from birth, and LV= covers them from birth up to their 23rd birthday if you add its children's option for an additional cost.

Zurich's Pregnancy and Early Childhood Cover add-on goes further. It pays £5,000 if a child dies between birth and 30 days old, including still birth after the 24th week of pregnancy, and £5,000 for one of four named birth defects. It also pays £50 a night, from the seventh night, when a baby born prematurely stays in hospital for seven or more nights in a row, up to 30 nights per child over the policy term. Aviva's upgraded children's death benefit pays £10,000 and includes still birth on or after the 24th week, while LV= pays £5,000 towards a funeral from week 24 of the pregnancy, excluding elective termination. Those are payments for a death, which life insurance for children covers further.

For illness in a child, what is child critical illness cover sets out what is paid and when, and critical illness cover for family looks at covering a household.

Can you apply for critical illness cover while pregnant?

Insurer guidance on applying while pregnant is written about life insurance. Aviva's article says most insurers will not raise premiums, decline or defer an application solely because of pregnancy, but each insurer sets its own critical illness underwriting.

A medical problem in the pregnancy is the kind of health detail an application asks about; life insurance disclosure requirements covers the duty to answer carefully, and life insurance while pregnant goes through weight, smoking and alcohol questions.

Postponement is one outcome Legal & General describes, for critical illness as well as life applications. Its underwriting guide says it may not be able to offer cover to someone who has "recently suffered a serious medical event", is undergoing medical investigations or is waiting for an operation, and that it will then say when a fresh application can be considered. How a complication in a current pregnancy would be handled differs by insurer, and the broker can describe the approach of those they work with.

Timing is the other thing to weigh. Aviva's Life Insurance+ includes a life change benefit: "This benefit lets you take out more cover through an additional policy without answering any more health and lifestyle questions, if the life covered’s circumstances change in one of the ways described below." Becoming a parent is one such change, shown by a birth or adoption certificate, with the new policy taken out within 180 days. Aviva says the benefit is not offered to everyone (the schedule shows whether you have it), it opens six months into the policy, and the new policy must start before the eldest life covered turns 55. Other insurers may set different terms.

Frequently asked questions

Is pregnancy itself covered by critical illness insurance?

The five documents above pay for named complications, not for pregnancy as such, and four of them ask for the diagnosis to come from a consultant obstetrician. Where the payment exists it is a fixed sum, £5,000 in most cases, rather than a share of the main cover.

Does Royal London critical illness cover include pregnancy?

Royal London's Personal Menu Plan (plan details, July 2025) treats pregnancy complications as an additional condition that comes with Enhanced Children's Critical Illness Cover, including a diagnosis in your partner. It pays £5,000 per pregnancy, £5,000 per foetus for foetal death in utero or £10,000 per child for still birth. The look-back rule above applies to it.

Does a pregnancy payment end the policy?

Aviva, Vitality and Zurich each say the payment leaves the rest of the cover as it was, and Royal London says a claim under Additional Conditions Cover does not affect the Life or Critical Illness Cover. Check the same point on the policy you are offered.

A broker can also read through a policy you hold or are offered; asking for that call takes the short form on this page.

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