Funeral insurance for children usually comes down to a parent's own cover: several life and critical illness policies can add a fixed payment if a child dies, and Legal & General calls its version Child Funeral Benefit. Over-50s funeral insurance is a different product, sold to people aged 50 and over on their own lives. Nothing here needs deciding quickly. If you are looking over your family's protection and would like a policy's children's section explained, an FCA-authorised broker can walk through it with you in a free phone call; ask for it, whenever you are ready, with the form on this page.

Can you buy funeral insurance for a child?

Funeral insurance is the name for over-50s whole of life cover that pays a fixed cash sum, and what funeral insurance is explains how it works. Legal & General's Over 50s Fixed Life Insurance summary (QGI12836 11/2025) guarantees acceptance without medical questions to people aged 50 to 80, and Scottish Friendly's My Mutual Guaranteed Over 50s Plan accepts people between 50 and 74. A child cannot be the person covered under either.

Other providers set their own entry ages, and whether any of them would write funeral cover on a child's life is a point a broker can settle for you during the free call-back.

A life insurance policy taken out by an adult on a child is a different product, set out in life insurance for children. A prepaid funeral plan is a plan, not insurance; what a prepaid funeral plan is covers it.

What a parent's life or critical illness policy may pay towards a child's funeral

Some insurers build a payment on a child's death into the parent's policy. It is a benefit of the parent's own cover, so it exists only if that policy was set up with it. Each figure below is that insurer's own, and other insurers may set different amounts:

  • Legal & General, policy terms (QGI14872 - 2026/10): Child Funeral Benefit comes with its Critical Illness Cover. The terms say "On the death of a relevant child, we'll contribute £4,000 towards their funeral", for up to two relevant children. A relevant child is a natural child, a legally adopted child (from the date of adoption) or a stepchild (by marriage or registered civil partnership) of the life insured.
  • Aviva (consumer page, May 2026): a separate benefit, included with its critical illness cover, pays £5,000 "which could be used towards funeral costs"; Aviva also offers to talk to the funeral director.
  • Zurich, Life Protection key features (NP720500009 (02/25)): an optional Children's Benefit, available at extra cost, includes a Children's Death Benefit of £5,000 if your child dies after they are 30 days old. Children's Benefit covers children until their 22nd birthday.
  • Scottish Widows, Protect policy summary (61041 01/26): children's life cover pays a cash lump sum of £10,000, from 30 days until the 22nd birthday, and the most it pays across all your Protect policies is £10,000.
  • Royal London (product page, read 27 October 2026): £5,000 on the death of a child at the Standard level and £10,000 at the Enhanced level, chosen as an extra on Life or Critical Illness Cover. Cover for each child lasts to age 22, or 23 for those in full time education.

Whether your own policy has one depends on the insurer and, at Zurich and Royal London, on whether the children's option was chosen. If you are weighing up cover for your family, a broker can lay several insurers' children's wording side by side for you at no cost, using the form on this page.

What to check in the wording

Legal & General's terms rule out a claim in three cases: a condition present at birth, a cause of death that first arose before the child was covered, and a child for whom it has already paid a Children's Critical Illness Cover claim. Other insurers set their own exclusions.

It is also worth finding out whether a claim ends the parent's policy. Zurich says that after a successful Children's Benefit claim your policy will continue, and Scottish Widows says the same of a claim for your child. Payments if a child becomes seriously ill are in what child critical illness cover is, cover for parents is in life insurance when you have a child, and whether a policy on a child's own life suits your family is weighed in is child life insurance worth it.

Children's funeral funds in each UK nation

England: the Children's Funeral Fund

The fund helps with some funeral costs when a child under 18 has died, and for a baby stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy; GOV.UK says what you earn or have in savings will not affect what you get. The burial or cremation must take place in England.

What it can pay towards is listed as burial fees, cremation fees (the doctor's certificate included) and a coffin, shroud or casket up to £300. The burial or cremation provider sends in its own claim, so the charge should not fall on you; a funeral director can claim for items such as the coffin, or you can do so online if you have no funeral director. Every claim has to be in within 6 months of the funeral.

For other funeral expenses, GOV.UK says you might be able to apply for a Funeral Expenses Payment if you or your partner get certain benefits; how to pay for funeral expenses explains it. Parents whose child has died may also be able to get Statutory Parental Bereavement Pay and Leave.

If you would like someone to talk to, Child Bereavement UK's helpline is 0800 02 888 40, open 8am to 8pm on weekdays apart from bank holidays.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

Each nation has its own scheme, and the rules differ:

  • Wales: GOV.WALES (page dated 22 March 2021) says local authority and community council burial and cremation fees for children under 18 are waived, and describes £500 towards the funeral and related costs when a child's death is registered on or after 1 April 2021, for a family home in Wales, whatever the income or savings; it says this is unlikely to cover the total cost.
  • Scotland: where you live in Scotland and you or your partner get certain benefits, mygov.scot says Funeral Support Payment can give £1,327.75 towards funeral costs such as the service or funeral car when the person who died was 17 or under. It adds that it usually does not cost anything to bury or cremate a baby, child or young person aged 17 or under, so the payment can be lower.
  • Northern Ireland: nidirect (read 27 October 2026) describes a one-off lump sum of £3,441 from the Child Funeral Fund for a child who had not reached 18, or a stillborn baby after the 24th week, regardless of income, claimed within six months of the funeral. It says there is no entitlement if you have already received a payment from another government funeral or bereavement scheme.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most a policy pays towards a child's funeral?

There is no single figure, because each insurer sets its own: £4,000 at Legal & General, £5,000 at Aviva and Zurich, £10,000 at Scottish Widows, and £5,000 or £10,000 at Royal London depending on the level chosen. Limits for adults' funeral cover are in funeral cover limits.

Is help available if a baby was stillborn?

Yes. The England fund and the Northern Ireland fund include a baby stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy, and the Welsh £500 includes children stillborn after the 24th week. In Scotland, Funeral Support Payment includes babies who were stillborn and can also help where a baby was born alive before 24 completed weeks and later died, but not after a miscarriage.

Sources

  • Legal & General, Over 50s Fixed Life Insurance Policy Summary (QGI12836 11/2025), read 27 October 2026. policy summary (PDF)
  • Scottish Friendly, Key Facts and Terms and Conditions, My Mutual Guaranteed Over 50s Plan (no date printed), read 27 October 2026. key facts (PDF)
  • Legal & General, Critical Illness Cover Policy Terms and Conditions (QGI14872 - 2026/10), read 27 October 2026. policy terms (PDF)
  • Aviva, Children's critical illness benefit (last updated 15 May 2026), read 27 October 2026. aviva.co.uk page
  • Zurich, Key features of the Zurich Life Protection policy (NP720500009 (02/25)), read 27 October 2026. key features (PDF)
  • Scottish Widows, Scottish Widows Protect Personal Protection Policy Summary (61041 01/26), read 27 October 2026. policy summary (PDF)
  • Royal London, Children's Critical Illness Cover (undated page), read 27 October 2026. royallondon.com page
  • GOV.UK, Support for child funeral costs (Children's Funeral Fund for England) (no date printed), read 27 October 2026. gov.uk/child-funeral-costs
  • GOV.WALES, Child funeral and other related costs: information (22 March 2021), read 27 October 2026. gov.wales page
  • mygov.scot, Funeral Support Payment: if the person who died was 17 or under (no date printed), read 27 October 2026. mygov.scot page
  • mygov.scot, Funeral Support Payment: who can apply and when (no date printed), read 27 October 2026. mygov.scot page
  • Child Bereavement UK, home page (no date printed), read 27 October 2026. childbereavementuk.org
  • nidirect, The Child Funeral Fund (no date printed), read 27 October 2026. nidirect.gov.uk page