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 illness policy must include, so a claim depends on whether the policy lists it and whether the diagnosis meets that policy's wording.
Should you want someone to look over the dementia cover in policies you are weighing, the form on this page takes only a few minutes. After it, an FCA-authorised broker rings back without charge, and nothing needs deciding on that call.
Two things settle the question for any one policy: the list of conditions in its documents, and the definition behind the word "dementia", which sets who must diagnose it and how severe and lasting the symptoms must be.
If dementia is already part of family life, the Alzheimer's Society runs a Dementia Support Line on 0333 150 3456. It is open Monday to Wednesday 9am to 8pm, Thursday and Friday 9am to 5pm, and Saturday and Sunday 10am to 4pm, and calls are charged at the standard local rate.
Does critical illness cover pay out for dementia and Alzheimer's disease?
Only where the policy lists it. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) sets minimum definitions for critical illness cover, and its guide requires every policy to include three core conditions: cancer, heart attack and stroke.
Beyond those three, the guide leaves the choice to each insurer, which may include some, all or none of the further conditions it gives wordings for. An insurer that does include dementia must use the ABI wording and cannot make it less generous.
Legal & General, Aviva and Vitality all list dementia in their current policy documents. Legal & General and Aviva pay the full cover amount for it; Vitality pays a share of the cover that turns on severity and on the cover option chosen. How critical illness cover works explains the basics, and the critical illness and income guides gather the related pages.
What must a dementia diagnosis show under the ABI standard?
The current ABI Guide to Minimum Standards for Critical Illness Cover is the edition of 16 September 2022, revised in April 2023, and the ABI's website still links it. Its model wording (page 12 of 36) carries the heading "Dementia including Alzheimer’s disease [before age x] of specified severity" and reads:
A definite diagnosis of Dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, [before age x] by a Consultant Geriatrician, Neurologist, Neuropsychologist or Psychiatrist supported by evidence including neuropsychometric testing. There must be permanent cognitive dysfunction with progressive deterioration in the ability to do all of the following: • remember • reason and • perceive, understand, express and give effect to ideas For the above definition, the following are not covered: • Mild cognitive Impairment (MCI)
Put simply, three tests apply together: a diagnosis by one of the named specialists, backed by memory and thinking tests; symptoms that are permanent and getting worse; and loss of all three abilities listed, not just one. The 2022 edition widened what had been an Alzheimer's-only wording to cover all types of dementia, and added the exclusion for mild cognitive impairment; the guide to the ABI minimum standards places this in the wider picture.
The square brackets are an option, not a rule. The ABI lets an insurer include an age limit or leave it out, and still treats a wording as the model one when it is "using or omitting specified optional age limits".
How do Legal & General, Aviva and Vitality define dementia?
Legal & General's Life Insurance terms and conditions, code QGI14872 and dated October 2026, give this definition on page 28 of 46 (the wider policy is described in Legal & General's critical illness cover):
A definite diagnosis of Dementia, including Alzheimer's disease by a consultant geriatrician, neurologist, neuropsychologist or psychiatrist supported by evidence including neuropsychometric testing. There must be permanent cognitive dysfunction with progressive deterioration in the ability to do all of the following: · remember; · reason; and · to perceive, understand, express and give effect to ideas. For the above definition, the following are not covered: · mild cognitive impairment (MCI).
Aviva's Life Insurance+ policy conditions (AL50002, February 2026) list dementia among the brain and nervous system conditions that pay in full, under the heading "Dementia – of specified severity" (page 36 of 51). The tests match the ABI model point for point: diagnosis by a consultant geriatrician, neurologist, neuropsychologist or psychiatrist with neuropsychometric testing; permanent cognitive dysfunction that worsens over time across remembering, reasoning, and perceiving, understanding, expressing and giving effect to ideas; and mild cognitive impairment excluded.
Neither definition, as printed, includes an age limit. Each insurer adds a survival period: Legal & General pays once the life insured has survived 14 days from diagnosis, and Aviva once they have lived at least 10 days after meeting the definition.
Vitality pays a percentage of the cover according to severity, and its plan provisions (February 2025) hold two dementia definitions. One needs "A definite diagnosis of dementia by a Consultant Neurologist, Psychiatrist or Geriatrician with evidence of current or previous symptoms (these symptoms do not need to be permanent)." The other, "Dementia – resulting in permanent symptoms", needs "permanent clinical loss of the ability to do all of the following": remembering, reasoning, and perceiving, understanding, expressing and giving effect to ideas.
What each pays depends on the plan's Serious Illness Cover option. Vitality covers severity levels A to D under 1X, A to E under 2X and A to G under 3X, and its Appendix 2 raises the payout for the permanent version to 100% of the cover under 2X or 3X:
| Vitality definition | Severity level | Serious Illness Cover 1X | 2X | 3X |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dementia, resulting in permanent symptoms | D | 25% of cover | 100% of cover | 100% of cover |
| Dementia, symptoms need not be permanent | F | Level F not included | Level F not included | 10% of cover |
Which option a particular Vitality quote carries is something the broker can confirm for you on the free call-back. The rest of the plan is covered on the Vitality Serious Illness Cover page.
Are there age limits on a dementia claim?
Only where a policy sets one. The ABI wording's "[before age x]" is optional, and the Legal & General and Aviva definitions quoted above leave it out.
Aviva does tie an age to dementia in one optional benefit. If extra care cover was added when the policy was taken out, Aviva's conditions say it will accept a claim when the life covered is under age 55 and meets its critical illness criteria for dementia, or one of several other conditions listed with it. It then pays the cover amount in the policy schedule and, at the same time, £50,000 (paid as a lump sum where family income cover was chosen), and the policy ends once that claim is accepted.
Vitality looks at the other end of life. Its plan schedule shows whether Serious Illness Cover carries on past its expiry date as Dementia and FrailCare Cover, which has rules of its own. Premiums continue. It pays between 25% and 100% of a separate cover amount worked out at expiry, based on 50% of the cover for level or indexed cover or 25% of the starting cover for decreasing cover, up to £100,000. Its advanced dementia definition needs a permanent inability to perform 2 or more cognitive tasks, and it will not pay if the person knew of symptoms, or had seen a medical practitioner about a covered condition, before the Serious Illness Cover term ended.
The ages at which critical illness cover can be started, and when it must end, are a separate question, answered in critical illness cover age limits.
Is mild cognitive impairment or early memory loss covered?
Not under the ABI, Legal & General or Aviva wordings, which all exclude mild cognitive impairment. The ABI's glossary describes it as a condition where memory and thinking are impaired more than would be expected for a person's age, with symptoms "mild enough not interfere significantly with daily life and so are not defined as the more serious condition of dementia".
Vitality's non-permanent definition is the one to note: it asks for a definite diagnosis of dementia with current or previous symptoms, but it sits at level F and so pays only under Serious Illness Cover 3X. How a diagnosis made at an early stage would be treated under a given policy is a question the broker can work through with you when they ring.
Dementia is one of several brain and nerve conditions that policies word separately, and Parkinson's disease and stroke each have their own definitions and pages.
What if you or a relative already has a diagnosis or symptoms?
An application asks about your health, and the law expects careful answers. The Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 says the person applying has a legal duty of reasonable care to avoid misrepresenting anything to the insurer. Memory problems, tests and referrals count wherever the questions reach them; what you must tell a life insurer explains how that duty works.
What an application asks about a relative's dementia varies from insurer to insurer. If you have been declined before, or are unsure how to answer, life insurance with medical conditions explains how insurers assess health, and a broker can approach specialist insurers for you, though cover is never guaranteed.
Whenever it feels right, a free call-back can be requested through the form on this page. On that call, an FCA-authorised broker can set out side by side how each policy you are considering words dementia.
Frequently asked questions
Does critical illness cover Alzheimer's?
It can, where a policy lists dementia including Alzheimer's disease and the diagnosis meets the wording. The ABI model and the Legal & General and Aviva definitions all need a specialist diagnosis backed by neuropsychometric testing, plus permanent cognitive dysfunction that is getting worse.
Is dementia covered by every critical illness policy?
No. The ABI guide requires only cancer, heart attack and stroke, so dementia is each insurer's choice. The list of conditions in the policy documents shows whether it is there.
Is Alzheimer's defined separately from other types of dementia?
Not in the ABI wording: since the 2022 edition a single definition covers dementia including Alzheimer's disease. Vitality's provisions keep separate Alzheimer's definitions, which exclude other types of dementia, alongside their dementia ones.
Sources
- Association of British Insurers, ABI Guide to Minimum Standards for Critical Illness Cover (16 September 2022, updated April 2023), read 21 October 2026. linked from abi.org.uk
- Legal & General, Life Insurance Policy Terms and Conditions (QGI14872, October 2026), read 21 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Aviva, Life Insurance+ Policy Conditions (AL50002, February 2026), read 21 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
- VitalityLife, Personal Protection Plan Provisions (VLTD174857WF_J3779_02/2025), the plan owner's contract provisions as hosted on Vitality's adviser site, read 21 October 2026. adviser.vitality.co.uk
- Alzheimer's Society, Dementia Support Line (archived 9 October 2026), read 21 October 2026. alzheimers.org.uk (archived)
- legislation.gov.uk, Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, section 2, read 21 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk