The disclosure requirements for life insurance rest on one legal duty: when you apply, you must take reasonable care not to misrepresent anything to the insurer, which in practice means answering its questions accurately and completely. A condition you had before the policy started does not rule out cover by itself, but a wrong or missing answer about it can lead to a claim being reduced or refused, and the Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012 decides how far.

Not sure how to put a condition into words on an application? Request a call-back through this page's form: a broker, FCA-authorised and free to speak to, can go over each question with you before anything is submitted.

What do you have to tell a life insurer?

Section 2 of the Act puts it in one sentence: "It is the duty of the consumer to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation to the insurer." The Financial Ombudsman Service (the Ombudsman) defines non-disclosure as where "relevant information you were asked about when you took out a policy was left out", so in practice the duty follows the questions you are asked. It applies before a policy is changed as well as before it starts.

Legal & General's page on pre-existing conditions (16 March 2026) says it asks about age, occupation, smoker status, height and weight, medical history, alcohol, travel and hobbies, and that for a condition it may want the name, the date of diagnosis and any medication with its start date. What counts as pre-existing varies: Legal & General means an illness or injury, while Aviva (page updated 7 January 2025) includes "symptoms, medication, advice, treatment or diagnostic tests" for a disease, illness or injury, and notes that each insurer sets its own definition. So the wording in front of you matters more than any general list; medical questions for life insurance shows what applications usually ask.

You are not expected to know everything. The Ombudsman accepts that some answers cannot reasonably be expected of you, such as something you could not have known, something the insurer should already know, or a conviction covered by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. If you are merely unsure, it expects you to look the answer up.

Does life insurance pay out for pre-existing conditions?

It depends on what was agreed when the policy started and on whether your answers were right. Aviva's guide says a condition need not stop you getting cover, but that some policies may not pay out for a death caused by it, and that the choices can include paying more or taking a policy that excludes the condition. With Legal & General, the Policy Schedule sent when cover starts sets out what the policy covers and what it does not.

  • Disclosed, and accepted. Standard terms, a higher premium or an exclusion, whichever the insurer agreed, is what the contract says.
  • Not disclosed, or described wrongly. The claim can be reduced or refused, under the rules below.

Whether one insurer would exclude a given condition or simply charge more is something a broker can talk through with you, free, using your own details when they call back. For the decisions insurers make on application, see life insurance with a medical condition and what to do if you are declined; critical illness and income protection are on critical illness with a medical history and income protection.

Some readers want cover without pre-existing conditions coming into it. Aviva's Over 50s Life Insurance asks no health questions, but pays in full only for a death after one year or an accident in the first full year, provided all monthly payments are made; guaranteed acceptance life insurance explains those plans. Other grounds for refusal, such as lapsed policies, are on can a life insurance company refuse to pay.

Careless, deliberate or reckless: what is the difference?

Under section 5, a wrong answer is deliberate or reckless when two things are both true: you knew it was false or misleading, or were indifferent to whether it was; and you knew the point mattered to the insurer, or were indifferent to that too. Anything else that breaks the duty is careless. The insurer must show deliberate or reckless, but two presumptions apply unless the contrary is shown: that you had the knowledge of a reasonable consumer, and that you knew a matter asked about in a clear and specific question was relevant. A dishonest answer always shows lack of reasonable care. The Ombudsman says that where an insurer cannot satisfy it an answer was deliberate or reckless, it is likely to treat it as careless.

An innocent mistake is one made despite reasonable care, and it gives the insurer no remedy. Section 4 lets an insurer act only if you broke the duty and it shows that, given the right answer, it would have turned down the policy (or the change to it) altogether, or agreed only on different terms. Whether you took reasonable care is judged on the whole picture, including how clear and specific the questions were; the yardstick is a reasonable consumer, adjusted for anything about you that the insurer knew or ought to have known.

What happens if something was not disclosed?

Schedule 1 of the Act lists what an insurer can do, and section 4 makes that list the only remedies available. The heaviest applies to a deliberate or reckless answer:

If a qualifying misrepresentation was deliberate or reckless, the insurer— (a) may avoid the contract and refuse all claims, and (b) need not return any of the premiums paid, except to the extent (if any) that it would be unfair to the consumer to retain them.

A careless answer is treated differently. Schedule 1 asks what the insurer would have done had you answered with reasonable care, and gives it the matching remedy:

  • It would have refused cover on any terms. It can cancel the policy from the start and turn down all claims, but has to give back the premiums.
  • It would have offered other terms, price aside (an exclusion, say). If the insurer wants, the policy is treated as though it had been issued on those terms.
  • It would have asked a higher premium. The payout can be scaled down in proportion: the insurer pays the share of the claim that the premium you were charged bears to the premium it would have charged, applied to what the policy (or the different terms above, where those apply) would otherwise pay.

Those rules decide a claim. Before any claim, the insurer can give you notice that the different terms or the scaled-down payout will apply, but Schedule 1 does not let it end a contract that is wholly or mainly life insurance on that ground; any right to terminate in the policy's own terms is unaffected. The full wording is on legislation.gov.uk.

Each insurer's terms set this out in its own words. Legal & General's Life Insurance Policy Terms and Conditions (QGI12849 2026/10, page 13 of 46) require the life insured to answer every question honestly and accurately. Where an answer was deliberately or recklessly wrong, the terms let the insurer cancel the policy, refuse to pay and decline to refund premiums already paid; where it was careless, the terms follow the same three outcomes as the Act. For the higher-premium case they reduce the amount of cover by a formula: the premium actually charged, multiplied by the original amount of cover, divided by the higher premium. That formula is L&G's own; other insurers describe the reduction in their own terms, so the part of your own policy that deals with inaccurate answers is the place to check.

How do you get your answers right before you apply?

Aviva's guide says insurers routinely check application answers and may contact your doctor to confirm them, and that an inaccuracy found can mean a higher price, a later start date, cancellation, or a policy that is invalid and pays no claim. Legal & General says it needs your consent before asking your doctor for a report and gives you 21 days to review one; non-medical limits and GP reports goes further.

  • Answer each question as written; the Act treats the clarity of the question as part of the test.
  • Tell the insurer if something changes between applying and the policy starting, where it has made clear it needs to know. Once cover is running, the Ombudsman says you usually owe the insurer information only when you buy or renew, unless your policy terms ask for more.

If an insurer finds an answer was wrong and chooses to carry on, the Ombudsman generally thinks it unfair to change its mind later. What underwriting means explains how answers are used, and the health and medical questions guide collects the related pages.

Once you are ready to apply, the call-back request on this page puts you in touch with a broker with FCA authorisation, who will call you at no cost to talk through how your own history is likely to be asked about.

Frequently asked questions

What is non-disclosure in life insurance?

Non-disclosure means something the insurer asked about was missing from your answers; misrepresentation means an answer you gave was incomplete or misleading. Under the 2012 Act both are judged the same way: did you take reasonable care, and would the insurer have acted differently with the full picture?

Can an insurer cancel my policy if I forgot to mention something?

Only if you failed to take reasonable care and, with the right answer, it would have refused cover or offered different terms. Where no terms at all would have been offered, the insurer can treat the policy as void, but the premiums come back to you.

Do I have to disclose symptoms that were never diagnosed?

That depends on the question asked. Aviva's wording includes symptoms and diagnostic tests; Legal & General's refers to an illness or injury. Read the exact words and, if unsure, ask a broker on the free call-back.

Do the same rules apply when I change my policy?

Yes. The duty in the Act applies before a policy is varied as well as before it is taken out, and when you ask Legal & General to change, for example, the amount of cover, its amendment form puts health and lifestyle questions to you again.

Sources

  • legislation.gov.uk, Consumer Insurance (Disclosure and Representations) Act 2012, sections 2 to 5 and Schedule 1, read 21 October 2026. legislation.gov.uk
  • Financial Ombudsman Service, Misrepresentation and non-disclosure (last updated 27 September 2022; archived copy of 5 February 2026), read 21 October 2026. web.archive.org
  • Legal & General, Life Insurance Policy Terms and Conditions (QGI12849 2026/10, direct version), read 21 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Legal & General, Life insurance with pre-existing medical conditions (16 March 2026), read 21 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Aviva, Can you get life insurance with a pre-existing medical condition? (last updated 7 January 2025), read 21 October 2026. aviva.co.uk