81 guides
Critical illness & income
Cover that pays while you are alive: lump sums for serious illness and a monthly income if you cannot work. Definitions differ by insurer, so these guides quote them.
- ABI minimum standards for critical illness definitions The ABI minimum standards for critical illness cover are model wordings, published by the Association of British Insurers (ABI), that set the least generou…
- Aviva income protection The Aviva income protection policy you can buy from Aviva directly is called Living Costs Protection, and it works differently from the full-term cover man…
- Best life and critical illness cover providers There is no single best life insurance and critical illness cover provider: which suits you depends on what you need the cover to do. Seven insurers’ curre…
- Buying critical illness cover without life insurance Critical illness cover can be bought on its own from some insurers but not others. Aviva's Critical Illness Plan has no life cover in it, Vitality says you…
- Children's cover in critical illness and life policies Children's critical illness cover is part of a parent's critical illness policy: if a child is diagnosed with one of the conditions the insurer lists, it p…
- Combined or additional critical illness cover? The difference between combined and additional critical illness cover is what a critical illness payout does to your life cover. With combined cover (somet…
- Comparing family income benefit quotes To compare family income benefit quotes, line up the monthly amount, the end date of the term, whether the amount stays level or rises, and what happens if…
- Comparing income protection providers To compare income protection plans, set each insurer's own documents side by side on six terms: what counts as being unable to work, the wait before paymen…
- Critical illness claims statistics: how often insurers pay Critical illness claims statistics for the UK show that insurers pay roughly nine claims in ten: the rates five insurers published for 2025 run from 89.3%…
- Critical illness claims: why they are declined and how long… When critical illness cover is not paying out, the reason is often that the diagnosis did not meet the policy's wording for that condition; a wrong answer…
- Critical illness cover age limits The critical illness cover age limit for starting a policy is 64 at Aviva, Beagle Street, LV= and Scottish Widows, 67 at Legal & General and 69 at Zurich…
- Critical illness cover and COPD Critical illness cover can respond to COPD only when the disease reaches the stage a lung definition describes. Legal & General, Aviva and Royal London cal…
- Critical illness cover and Parkinson's disease Parkinson's disease is a named condition on many critical illness policies, so critical illness cover can pay out for it, but the standard wording asks for…
- Critical illness cover and accidents Critical illness cover pays after an accident only when the injury matches one of the policy's named definitions, such as the loss of a hand or foot or a b…
- Critical illness cover and arthritis Only some critical illness policies pay for arthritis, because a policy pays only for the conditions it names. Aviva's optional upgraded cover and Vitality…
- Critical illness cover and brain tumours Whether a brain tumour is a critical illness depends on two things: whether it is cancerous, and which wording your policy uses. A cancerous brain tumour i…
- Critical illness cover and breast cancer Whether critical illness cover pays out for breast cancer turns on your own policy's cancer definition. Zurich, Legal & General and Aviva's Critical Illnes…
- Critical illness cover and cancer Critical illness cover for cancer pays out when you are diagnosed with a cancer that meets your policy's definition, and that definition does not take in e…
- Critical illness cover and death Does critical illness cover pay out if you die? On its own, no: a critical illness policy pays when you are diagnosed with a condition it defines, not when…
- Critical illness cover and dementia or Alzheimer's Dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, is a critical illness on many policies but not on every one. It is not among the three conditions every critical i…
- Critical illness cover and disability Critical illness cover does not usually pay out simply because you are disabled; it pays when you are diagnosed with an illness the policy names and the di…
- Critical illness cover and heart attack Critical illness cover does pay out for a heart attack, but only one confirmed as a definite myocardial infarction, where tests show heart muscle has died…
- Critical illness cover and kidney disease Critical illness cover pays out for kidney disease when it meets the policy's definition, and the standard wording covers kidney failure that needs permane…
- Critical illness cover and mental health Critical illness cover is not usually designed to pay out for mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety or stress. Some policies include one sev…
- Critical illness cover and multiple sclerosis Critical illness cover can pay out for multiple sclerosis (MS), but only where the policy lists MS and your diagnosis and symptoms fit its wording. The wor…
- Critical illness cover and pregnancy 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…
- Critical illness cover and stroke Does critical illness cover stroke? Yes: stroke is one of the three conditions the Association of British Insurers (ABI) requires every critical illness po…
- Critical illness cover and surgery Critical illness cover pays for operations only where the policy names them, because it pays when you meet one of its listed definitions. A handful of thos…
- Critical illness cover cost and age Critical illness insurance cost depends on who is covered and what the policy is built to do, so no honest monthly figure applies to everyone. What can be…
- Critical illness cover for a family member Critical illness cover for a family can combine a policy for each adult, one joint policy for two people, children's cover that comes with a parent's polic…
- Critical illness cover for businesses and directors Critical illness cover for a business is normally an option added to a business protection policy, not a product of its own. It pays a lump sum to the comp…
- Critical illness cover for the self-employed Yes, critical illness cover for self-employed people is a personal policy you arrange and pay for yourself, because there is no employer scheme to join and…
- Critical illness cover in trust A critical illness policy in trust is usually a life policy with critical illness cover written in a split trust, so the death benefit goes to the people y…
- Critical illness cover vs income protection No, critical illness cover is not the same as income protection: they pay on different events and in different shapes. Critical illness cover pays a lump s…
- Critical illness cover vs terminal illness cover The difference between critical illness cover and terminal illness cover is the event that triggers the payment. Critical illness cover pays when you are d…
- Critical illness cover with a medical history Critical illness cover for pre-existing conditions starts with an application rather than a yes or no. You can apply with a past or current condition, and…
- Critical illness cover with diabetes Whether you can get critical illness cover if you have diabetes depends on the insurer. Legal & General says it cannot offer the cover to new customers wit…
- Critical illness payouts and benefits Does a critical illness payout affect benefits? It can affect the ones that look at how much money you have, because GOV.UK counts money, savings and inves…
- Does income protection cover stress and mental health? Income protection can pay for time off with stress, anxiety, depression or another mental health condition, but the label is not what triggers a payment. T…
- Does mortgage protection cover illness? Critical illness co… Mortgage protection and critical illness cover are different things, and whether mortgage protection pays out if you are ill depends on which product the n…
- Executive income protection explained Executive income protection is an income protection policy that a business takes out, owns and pays for on a named employee or director. How it works in pr…
- Family income benefit for couples and divorce Joint family income benefit puts two people, usually a couple, on one policy that usually starts paying a monthly income at the first claim: the first deat…
- Family income benefit maximum age The maximum age for family income benefit is 86 at Aviva, 79 at Scottish Widows and 64 at Legal & General, going by each insurer's own product papers. Beca…
- Family income benefit vs level term Family income benefit vs life insurance in the form of level term cover comes down to how the money arrives: family income benefit pays your family a month…
- Family income benefit: decreasing cover and lump sums Family income benefit can be paid as a lump sum with some insurers: Aviva, Legal & General, Royal London and Zurich each print a way to swap the monthly pa…
- Group critical illness cover through an employer Group critical illness cover is a policy an employer takes out to pay a lump sum, normally tax-free, to an employee who is diagnosed with a covered illness…
- How much critical illness cover you need How much critical illness cover do you need? There is no set figure: the sum is whatever a single payment, made after a diagnosis and while you are recover…
- How much family income benefit do you need? To work out how much family income benefit you need, start with the monthly amount your household would be short if your pay stopped, then run that amount…
- How much income protection costs How much does income protection cost? No honest monthly figure exists until an insurer has your age, job, health and smoking history, because insurers pric…
- How much income protection you need How much income protection insurance do I need? The figure comes from a short sum, not a rule of thumb: add up what has to be paid every month, take away t…
- How to apply for income protection online To apply for income protection insurance, the routes described on the insurers' own pages, read in October 2026, are a phone call, a call-back or an advise…
- Income protection and life insurance together Do you need life insurance and income protection, or is one enough? They pay on different events, so owning one does not stand in for the other: life insur…
- Income protection and pre-existing conditions Whether income protection covers a pre-existing condition is not settled by one blanket rule. With the insurers quoted below, the application settles it: y…
- Income protection and redundancy Normally, no: income protection does not cover redundancy. It pays when illness or injury stops you working, not when a job ends, and the documents of five…
- Income protection benefit periods: short-term or full-term … How long an income protection policy keeps paying on one claim depends on its income protection insurance benefit period, which you fix when you buy. Full-…
- Income protection deferred periods The income protection insurance waiting period, which most insurers call the deferred period, is the gap between the day you become unable to work and the…
- Income protection for NHS staff, teachers, police and civil… Income protection for NHS staff, teachers, police officers and civil servants sits on top of the sick pay their employer already gives: the policy's waitin…
- Income protection for builders, drivers and other manual jo… Yes, builders, carpenters, electricians and lorry drivers can apply for income protection, but insurers sort every job into an occupation class, and the cl…
- Income protection for the self-employed Yes, self-employed people can get income protection. Every insurer quoted here accepts self-employed applicants, and most work out a claim from business pr…
- Income protection, pregnancy and maternity leave Does income protection cover maternity leave? Not the leave itself, on the six insurers' wordings below: they pay when illness or injury stops you working…
- Is a critical illness payout taxable? Are critical illness payouts taxable? For a policy you hold yourself, the documents quoted below point the same way: HMRC's manual says a critical illness…
- Is critical illness cover worth it? Whether critical illness cover is worth it depends on what a lump sum on diagnosis would replace for you, and on what you already have to fall back on. It…
- Is family income benefit tax free? For income tax, family income benefit is generally tax free: HMRC's own manual treats the monthly payments as a series of capital sums paid on a death, not…
- Is income protection tax deductible? No: for an individual in the UK, income protection premiums are not tax deductible. You pay them out of income that has already been taxed, and in return H…
- Joint life and critical illness cover Joint life insurance with critical illness cover is one policy for two people that pays a single lump sum when the first of them is diagnosed with a covere…
- Legal & General critical illness cover Legal & General critical illness cover is a separate policy that runs alongside an L&G life insurance or decreasing life insurance policy, and by our count…
- Life insurance with critical illness cover Life and critical illness cover is life insurance with a second trigger added: as well as paying out if you die during the policy term, it can pay out if y…
- Partial payments and severity-based critical illness cover Severity-based critical illness cover pays a share of the amount insured, and the share depends on how severe the diagnosed condition is, instead of one fi…
- Post Office life insurance add-ons: CI, children and joint Post Office life insurance add-ons are critical illness cover and children's cover, which can be added to the Post Office term plan, alongside a choice of…
- Royal London critical illness cover A Royal London critical illness policy is sold through financial advisers, and its list has two tiers: conditions that pay the full amount of cover, and ad…
- Terminal illness benefit on life insurance Terminal illness benefit in life insurance can pay the cover amount while the person insured is still alive, if they are diagnosed with an illness that mee…
- Vitality serious illness cover Vitality's Serious Illness Cover pays a percentage of the amount you insure, from 5% to 100%, set by how severe the diagnosed condition is, rather than one…
- What critical illness cover includes and excludes The conditions covered by critical illness cover start with cancer, heart attack and stroke, which the Association of British Insurers (ABI) requires on ev…
- What is critical illness cover and what does it pay out? Critical illness cover is insurance that pays you a lump sum if you are diagnosed with an illness your policy names and the diagnosis meets its definition…
- What is family income benefit? Family income benefit means term life insurance that pays your family a monthly income, rather than one lump sum, from a valid claim until the policy's ter…
- What is income protection and how does it work? Income protection insurance is a policy that pays you a regular income if illness or injury stops you working, so that part of your earnings carries on whi…
- What is waiver of premium? Waiver of premium is an optional extra on a protection policy: if illness or injury stops you working for longer than a waiting period, the insurer pays yo…
- When critical illness cover pays out Critical illness cover pays out once a diagnosis meets your policy's definition and you have survived any period the policy sets after it, such as 14 days…
- Who gets a critical illness payout Critical illness insurance does not usually have a beneficiary in the life insurance sense, because the payout goes to the policyholder, who is normally th…
- Whole of life critical illness cover Whole of life critical illness cover, meaning a critical illness payout that stays in place for life, is not how Vitality, Legal & General, Aviva or LV= se…
- Zurich critical illness cover If you are looking for Zurich life serious illness cover, Zurich's own name for it is critical illness cover: a lump sum paid when you are diagnosed with a…