Funeral cover limits are set plan by plan, and of the seven over-50s plans compared here the highest sum printed is £20,000, with Legal & General stopping at £10,000. None comes anywhere near a six-figure sum. This page sets out each provider's ceiling on the payout, then the premium and age limits that sit beside it.
A ceiling is not an offer. The sum you would actually be offered comes from your age, whether you smoke and the monthly payment you choose. A broker with FCA authorisation can work out what each plan would give you, and the call-back is free: it follows the form on this page.
What is the maximum funeral insurance payout?
Funeral insurance, as these providers sell it, is over-50s whole of life cover paying a fixed cash sum; what funeral insurance is covers the basics. The ceilings below come from each plan's own documents, listed from the highest.
| Plan (document) | Highest sum it states |
|---|---|
| Scottish Friendly My Mutual Guaranteed Over 50s Plan (key facts, no date printed) | £20,000; cover is chosen from £2,000 upwards |
| SunLife Guaranteed Over 50 Plan (terms S-G050T12.25.V3) | £18,000 in total across its guaranteed-acceptance policies; the smallest sum is £500 |
| Legal & General Over 50s Fixed Life Insurance (summary QGI12836 11/2025) | £10,000 in total across its Over 50s policies |
| Post Office Over 50s Life Cover (key facts PO 050 KF v2.9 LIVE AUG26) | £10,000 if you start aged 50-69, £9,000 at 70-74, £6,000 at 75-80 |
| British Seniors Over 50s Life Insurance (key facts BSIA KFO50 v4.2 LIVE JAN26) | The same three age steps as Post Office |
| Aviva Over 50s Life Insurance (web page) | Set by premium instead: up to £100 a month across all its Over 50s policies |
| Shepherds Friendly over-50s plan (terms O50.2026.03.TC) | Set by premium instead: up to £50 a month in total |
Post Office and British Seniors both say their policies are underwritten by Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited, and their age steps are the same. Under the Increasing Benefit Option, Post Office's key facts add, "the benefit amount could increase beyond these limits."
Whichever ceiling applies, the sum chosen at the start stays fixed, and Aviva points out that inflation wears down what it will buy. Its premiums run for 30 years or until the policy anniversary after your 90th birthday, if that comes sooner, so depending on how long you live the total paid in can end up larger than the payout.
Which funeral cover pays the highest?
The largest ceiling is not the largest payout for most people. Scottish Friendly's £20,000 is its maximum Cash Benefit, and its key facts say the minimum is set by its minimum premium, your smoker status and your age when the policy starts. SunLife puts the same point plainly: "The payout your loved ones receive depends on your age and smoker status when you take out your plan, and on the monthly payment you choose."
SunLife shows how much age alone changes the answer. Its own illustration, for new customers who are non-smokers paying £20 a month, correct as at October 2025:
| Age when the plan starts | 50 | 55 | 60 | 65 | 70 | 75 | 80 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payout | £5,694 | £4,959 | £4,470 | £3,647 | £2,776 | £1,985 | £1,442 |
That is one provider's example, not a price list, and not what you would pay. Choosing between plans on the highest ceiling alone misses this, which is why funeral cover compared across providers looks at what each plan does with the money, and what over-50s life insurance costs at how premiums are set.
Premium limits on funeral cover
Several providers cap the monthly payment instead of, or as well as, the sum.
- Aviva lets you pay between £5 and £100 a month, and says "you can't pay more than £100 a month in premiums across all Over 50s Life Insurance policies you hold with us."
- Shepherds Friendly's terms say "The minimum premium payable is £10 per month and the maximum you can pay is £50 per month."
- Legal & General's web page (reviewed 8 June 2026) shows monthly premiums running from £5 up to £75, which it ties to age and smoker status.
- SunLife's web page gives £4 to £74 a month, and says your life insurance "cannot exceed a monthly payment of £100 or a cash value of £18,000 across all your SunLife insurance plans."
Taking out a second policy does not get round these limits. Legal & General's cap counts every Over 50s policy you hold with it. British Seniors' terms say the lump sum "under all policies combined will be limited to that which would have applied under a single policy", and SunLife reserves the right to cancel or amend policies that go above its limit, refunding the monthly payments made. Holding policies with different providers is a separate question, covered in can you have two life insurance policies.
Which of these premium and sum limits apply at your age is something a broker can answer once your enquiry form is in; the call-back costs nothing.
Age limits that cap what you can buy
Age limits work in two ways: who can start a plan, and how much the plan can pay once they do. The documents give these entry ages.
- SunLife: its terms accept people who "Are aged 49-85".
- Legal & General, Aviva, Post Office, British Seniors and Shepherds Friendly: 50 to 80.
- Scottish Friendly: its terms say you must be "aged 50 to 74 years attained at the Policy Start Date", so a 75-year-old is outside it.
Post Office and British Seniors then lower the ceiling as the starting age rises, from £10,000 to £6,000. If you ask later to raise the cover, Post Office's key facts say the maximum "will be based on the life insured's age at the date of the request", so waiting does not preserve a ceiling from a younger age. Reducing your premiums later also reduces the cash sum, Legal & General's summary says.
These are limits on insurance, not on funeral plans. A prepaid plan has its own age rules, set out on funeral plan age limits, and a plan is a different product from a cash-sum policy. Against a bill, average funeral costs in the UK and the funeral plans and funeral costs guide give the wider picture.
Can funeral cover go beyond £20,000?
Not from the over-50s plans above, which stop at £20,000 or lower. Legal & General notes that "There may be other products available if you want to answer further lifestyle and medical questions", which points to a different kind of policy, assessed on health, rather than a bigger over-50s plan. What a whole of life policy of that kind pays is on how much a whole of life policy pays out.
The cover amount also does not tell you whether a funeral is met. SunLife says over-50s cover "does not guarantee to cover the full cost of a funeral, but it can help towards it", and Legal & General describes its plan as not meant to meet the whole of a funeral bill. Which provider would take you at your age, and what sum might be on offer, are points a broker can cover when calling back after you complete the form.
Frequently asked questions
Does funeral insurance pay out straight away?
Not with Legal & General: its summary says the policy pays a cash sum "if you die after one year from when you take out your policy". A death in that first year gets the premiums back, though an accidental death is paid in full. Other plans set their own early-death rules, set out on funeral cover waiting periods.
Do the people who receive the money pay tax on it?
Scottish Friendly says "The payout from this plan is generally free of UK Income Tax and Capital Gains Tax." That is one provider's statement about its own plan, and a broker or the provider can say how it applies to your own estate.
Is there a different limit for a child?
Children are treated separately; funeral insurance for children covers whether cover can be taken out and what limits apply.
Sources
- Scottish Friendly, key facts and terms for its My Mutual Guaranteed Over 50s Plan, no date printed, with the plan web page; read 27 October 2026. scottishfriendly.co.uk
- SunLife, Guaranteed Over 50 Plan terms (print code S-G050T12.25.V3) and over-50 web page, read 27 October 2026. terms (PDF); web page
- Legal & General, Over 50s Fixed Life Insurance policy summary (QGI12836 11/2025) and web page (reviewed 8 June 2026), read 27 October 2026. summary (PDF); web page
- Aviva, over-50s web page (undated), read 27 October 2026. Aviva page
- Post Office, Over 50s Life Cover Key Facts (PO 050 KF v2.9 LIVE AUG26), read 27 October 2026. key facts (PDF)
- British Seniors, Over 50s Life Insurance key facts (BSIA KFO50 v4.2 LIVE JAN26), read 27 October 2026. key facts (PDF)
- Shepherds Friendly, Over 50s Life Insurance terms and conditions, code O50.2026.03.TC, read 27 October 2026. terms (PDF)