You can cancel a Legal & General life insurance policy at any time, but there is nothing to cash in: L&G's policy summary says its policies have no cash value, and you get money back only by cancelling within 30 days of receiving your welcome pack, or, if you pay annually, as a proportionate share of the year's premium.
Moving away from L&G rather than going without cover? An FCA-authorised broker can talk over what could replace the L&G policy on a free call-back. Request it via the form on this page.
Phone, email or post: the contact details L&G prints for cancelling
L&G's Policy Terms and Conditions and its Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover Policy Summary both give 0370 010 4080, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, for cancellations. It is the same number they give for general enquiries and complaints. The post address in the terms is Legal & General Assurance Society Limited, City Park, The Droveway, Hove, East Sussex, BN3 7PY.
The two documents differ on email. The terms list protection.customerenquiries@landg.com against cancellations. The summary lists protection.customercancellations@landg.com on its cancellations row, and the enquiries address for "General enquiries, to change or cancel the policy". Numbers and addresses can change, so compare them with the paperwork sent with your policy before you get in touch. If you have an L&G online account, the L&G app and account guide shows what that account does.
When you contact L&G, ask whether it needs anything from you in writing, the date your cover will end and the last premium it will collect, and keep a note of the date you asked.
If your L&G policy came through Barclays or Nationwide
Barclays and Nationwide Building Society both offer cover that L&G provides. Barclays' page for mortgage holders says its life insurance is "arranged by Barclays Bank UK PLC and provided and underwritten by Legal & General Assurance Society Limited". Nationwide's life insurance page says its cover is provided by L&G.
The Barclays page words cancelling differently from L&G's direct terms. It says you can cancel at any time and that L&G returns your payments if you cancel within 30 days of starting the policy, whereas L&G's own terms count 30 days from receiving the welcome pack. For Barclays customers it gives two ways to cancel: logging in to My Account on the L&G website, or calling 0370 010 4080, with lines open Monday to Friday 8:30am to 6pm and Saturday 9am to 1pm.
Whichever of the two arranged yours, the policy documents you were sent decide the dates and contact details, so go by those. If they are unclear, a broker can read them with you on the call-back.
What you get back, and why there is no cash-in value
This is how L&G's terms and summary set out the money side of cancelling:
| Your question | What L&G says |
|---|---|
| Can I cancel whenever I like? | Yes. "You can cancel your policy at any time." |
| What if I cancel in the first 30 days? | The 30 days run from receiving your welcome pack, and L&G refunds any premiums you have paid. |
| What if I cancel later and pay monthly? | No refund of premiums already paid. |
| What if I cancel later and pay annually? | A proportionate refund of the annual premium. |
| Does the cover carry on? | No. "your cover will end and no further premiums will be payable." |
| Is there a cash-in value? | No. The policies "have no cash value". |
Once the policy is cancelled and the cover has ended, a death or diagnosis after that would not be paid under it. For how cancelling works across insurers in general, see what happens to life insurance if you cancel.
A surrender value is a sum some savings-style policies pay when you hand them back. L&G's summary says the opposite for its life and critical illness policies: "Our policies have no cash value and we will not pay out if you reach the end of the policy without making a valid claim." So asking to "cash out" or "surrender" ends the same way as cancelling: no cash value is paid, and the only money that can come back is the premium refund in the table above.
The same sentence covers a policy that simply runs to its expiry date: cover ends, and L&G pays nothing. The summary applies to the Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover policies it describes. An over-50s plan has its own documents, covered in the L&G over-50s guide, and can you cash in life insurance explains which types of policy can pay anything on surrender.
Missed payments are not the same as cancelling
L&G's terms say: "Your policy will be cancelled if your premium isn't paid." They add that if a premium "remains unpaid for any reason 60 days after the due date of any missed payment", the policy is deemed cancelled and cover automatically ends, with no refund of premiums already paid.
If a policy lapses because of missed payments and a death or diagnosis follows later, L&G's terms are blunt: "you won't be covered, and your claim won't be paid". So letting the direct debit stop is a way of cancelling, but a slower and less certain one: you may not know exactly when cover ended. If money is the reason, telephone L&G first and ask what can be done.
The wider picture of what L&G does after a missed collection is in the Legal & General life insurance guide.
Before you cancel: joint policies and replacement cover
A joint policy has its own route after a split. L&G lets a couple separate it into two single policies following a divorce, a dissolved civil partnership, or one partner taking over a mortgage alone, but the request has to arrive within six months of the event being finalised. L&G ends the joint policy and starts one policy per person, priced on the terms available then. Both people complete a short health questionnaire. A yes to any of its questions means a full application, after which L&G may be unable to cover both of you. The route is closed once either person has had a valid claim. Other points on joint cover are in can one person cancel a joint policy.
If you are replacing the policy, start the new cover before cancelling the old one, because a new policy is priced and underwritten on your health and age on the day you apply, and acceptance is never certain. How to switch life insurance companies lists the steps. If you would like help picking what replaces the L&G policy, a broker rings back without charge when you submit the enquiry form on this page.
Frequently asked questions
When does L&G cancel a policy itself?
In set circumstances. L&G's terms say that if inaccurate information was given on the application deliberately or recklessly, it can cancel and may not refund premiums; if it was careless and L&G would not have issued the policy on the true facts, it can cancel but will refund the premiums paid. It can also cancel to comply with financial-crime or sanctions rules, and can a life insurance company cancel your policy covers this across insurers.
Who has a say over ending an L&G policy held in trust?
L&G's terms say a policy placed in trust pays out to the trustees. Before you contact L&G, read cancelling a life insurance policy in trust, which sets out who decides.
Who contacts L&G when the person insured has died?
That is a claim rather than a cancellation. L&G's terms give Life or Terminal Illness Cover claims their own phone line, 0800 137 101. Where the owner of the policy has died, L&G pays the personal representative (usually the executor named in the will), and a policy held in trust is paid to the trustees.
Sources
- Legal & General Assurance Society Limited, Life Insurance: Policy Terms and Conditions (print code QGI12849; the PDF also holds the Critical Illness Cover terms, QGI14872), read 27 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com policy terms and conditions (PDF)
- Legal & General Assurance Society Limited, Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover: Policy Summary (print code QGI14786), read 27 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com policy summary (PDF)
- Barclays, Mortgage protection: mortgage life insurance, undated, read 27 October 2026. barclays.co.uk life insurance for mortgage holders
- Nationwide, Life insurance, undated, read 27 October 2026. nationwide.co.uk/insurance/life-insurance