22 guides
Who needs cover
Whether cover is worth having depends on who relies on your income or your care. These guides start from the person, not the product.
- Armed forces death in service: what the AFPS and AFCS pay y… Armed forces death in service benefit comes from two schemes. The Armed Forces Pension Scheme (AFPS) pays a tax-free lump sum of four times final pensionab…
- Can you buy life insurance on a grandparent? You can only take out life insurance on a grandparent if you would suffer a provable financial loss if they died, which is what insurers call an insurable…
- Choosing life insurance for a family Life insurance for a family with young children usually comes down to a choice between three shapes of cover: a lump sum that stays level, a lump sum that…
- Civil service death in service: what alpha and classic pay The civil servant death in service benefit depends on which section of the Civil Service Pension Scheme the member belonged to. In alpha, the lump sum is t…
- Death in service cover for the self-employed Death in service for the self-employed does not exist as a benefit, because death in service is something an employer arranges for its staff and a sole tra…
- Do you need life insurance to cover a student loan? You do not need life insurance for a student loan from the UK government, because the loan is cancelled if the borrower dies. If you are looking into life…
- Do you need life insurance when you have children? Whether you need life insurance when you have a child comes down to a practical question: if a parent died, where would the money for childcare, the home a…
- Firefighters' death in service and life insurance The firefighter death in service benefit in the Firefighters' Pension Scheme 2015 (England) is a lump sum of three times final pay, paid if a member dies w…
- Is life insurance for children worth it? Whether child life insurance is worth it usually turns on a smaller question than parents expect: what a parent's own policy already pays if a child dies…
- Is life insurance tax-deductible for the self-employed? Usually not: if you are self-employed as a sole trader or a partner in a partnership, premiums on life insurance covering yourself or a partner are not an…
- LGPS death in service: what the Local Government Pension Sc… If a member of the Local Government Pension Scheme (LGPS) dies while still paying in, the local government death in service benefit has three parts: a lump…
- Life insurance during pregnancy You can get life insurance while pregnant: Aviva's guide (updated June 2026) says "You can apply for life insurance while pregnant, and pregnancy alone doe…
- Life insurance for a child: availability, amounts and payou… Life insurance for children usually means cover that comes with a parent's policy, not a policy on the child's own life. Aviva, Legal & General, Scottish W…
- Life insurance for a stay-at-home parent Life insurance for a stay-at-home parent is worth thinking about even though there is no salary to replace, because the childcare and household work they d…
- Life insurance for serving UK military personnel Serving members of the UK armed forces can apply for private life insurance, but life insurance for military personnel in the UK is not one product with on…
- Life insurance for single parents Life insurance for single parents usually has three jobs: to last until the children can manage without your income, to reach whoever is bringing them up…
- Life insurance for the self-employed Life insurance for self-employed people is mostly the same personal cover everyone else can buy, with one thing missing and one thing added. What is missin…
- Life insurance for unmarried couples Life insurance for unmarried couples matters because, if one partner dies, the other has no automatic right to inherit under the intestacy rules, and the i…
- NHS death in service: what the NHS Pension Scheme pays and … The NHS death in service benefit is a lump sum of two times pay, plus pensions for a partner and any eligible children, paid by the NHS Pension Scheme if a…
- Police death in service and life insurance: what officers g… Police officer death in service benefits come mainly from the police pension scheme: in the Police Pension Scheme 2015, a lump sum death grant of three tim…
- Putting life insurance in trust for a child Putting life insurance in trust for a child means the policy is written so that the payout goes to trustees you name, who hold it for the child until the m…
- Teachers' death in service: what the Teachers' Pension Sche… Teacher death in service benefit is a lump sum of three times salary, paid under the Teachers' Pension Scheme when a member dies while still teaching, alon…