Family medical history can affect life insurance: insurers ask about close blood relatives and conditions that can run in families, such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Whether it changes your price depends on the insurer and the details. Predictive genetic test results are a separate matter, limited by a code the insurance industry has agreed with the Government.

Curious how insurers would read your own family's history? That is the kind of question the form here is for: once you send it, a broker with FCA authorisation rings to go over it with you, free and at a time that works for you.

Which relatives and conditions do insurers ask about?

Wording varies by insurer. Aviva's guide to how premiums are calculated (last updated 8 October 2026) says "Some providers may ask you if any of your immediate family have had or died from certain conditions." Legal & General (L&G) is more specific on its consumer page (9 December 2025): it looks at how many relatives were affected, "including your natural parents, brothers and sisters".

L&G's list of conditions that occur in some families and may affect premiums runs: heart disease (for example heart attack or angina), diabetes, epilepsy, stroke, cancer (for example bowel, breast or ovarian), polycystic kidney disease, familial adenomatous polyposis, Huntington's disease, multiple sclerosis, cardiomyopathy, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, myotonic dystrophy and motor neurone disease.

The reason, in L&G's words: "if a close relative has experienced a serious medical condition, there’s a higher likelihood that you could suffer the same illness." These lists are what the insurers' guides name; each application form sets its own questions.

Does the age a relative was diagnosed make a difference?

For L&G it does, as one factor among several. A family history of one of its listed conditions "doesn’t automatically mean your life insurance premiums will be affected": it also weighs how many relatives were affected, how close the relationship is, "the age of the relative when the disease occurred", and your own age and gender.

Its Underwriting explained leaflet (W10188 09/25) adds that conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and some cancers can run in families without always being hereditary. Whether a given insurer treats a parent's or sibling's diagnosis differently by the age it happened is a point to raise with the broker when they ring you back, free.

What do you have to tell the insurer about relatives?

Less than many people fear. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) puts it this way on its genetics FAQs: "Regarding the health details of relatives, you only need to disclose what has been requested and that you know about." If you are unsure whether a condition runs in your family, you do not need to go and find out. The wider duty to answer carefully is covered in what you must disclose.

The same FAQs say most life, critical illness and income protection applications are decided on the form alone, without the insurer contacting your GP. Where an insurer does want a GP report, it asks for your consent first and "may ask your GP about the medical history of your first degree relatives", though that information "will only include what you have disclosed to your GP as part of your own medical records, and will only be in relation to a specific set of conditions."

If you only know part of a relative's history, ask the broker to talk the questions through with you on the call-back, before anything goes to an insurer.

What does the Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance say?

A genetic test result is not the same thing as family history, and the Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance deals with the first. It is a voluntary agreement between HM Government and the ABI, dated October 2018 and last updated on GOV.UK on 19 March 2026. All ABI members are signed up and other insurers can join. The Code says its content "is not legally binding"; it has no end date (it calls itself "open-ended") and is reviewed every three years.

In GOV.UK's summary, the Code commits insurers to:

not ask for, or take into account the result of a predictive genetic test, except when the life insurance is over £500,000 and the applicant has had a predictive genetic test for Huntington’s Disease

A predictive test estimates the risk of a future illness in someone without symptoms. The Code sets financial limits of £500,000 per person for life insurance and £300,000 per person for critical illness cover, but its list of tests an insurer may ask about holds just one, for Huntington's disease, and only on life cover over £500,000; no test is listed for critical illness.

Three more points matter for families. Insurers will not ask for a predictive result "of another person, such as a blood relative". They remain "lawfully permitted to seek access to appropriate family medical history", so the questions above still apply. And diagnostic tests, which confirm or rule out a diagnosis when there are already symptoms, can be used as ordinary medical information. If you choose to share a favourable predictive result that rules out a risk your family history suggested, the insurer may take it into account and offer better terms.

Can a family history raise the price of life or critical illness cover?

It can. Royal London says a family history of some conditions does not always stop you getting cover, but "can sometimes push up the cost of your life insurance premiums and may result in some insurance companies being unable to offer cover at all". L&G's leaflet lists family history among its underwriting assessment factors, any of which may lead to cover with an increased premium, and says a decision can rest on one factor or several together. How an extra premium works is explained in what a loading is.

For critical illness cover, MoneyHelper (archived September 2026) counts family medical history among the health factors behind the cost, and says someone considered at risk of a particular condition may find that illness excluded from the policy or pay a higher premium. What a particular family pattern might do to your own quote is a question the broker can answer when they call. What the cover tends to cost is on critical illness cover costs.

On cancer in the family, Aviva's cancer guide (updated 12 May 2026) puts it like this: "A family history of cancer doesn’t prevent you from getting the cover you need. It’s important to disclose it, and while it might lead to higher premiums, that’s not always the case."

If a relative's cancer is weighing on you, Macmillan Cancer Support's Support Line is free on 0808 808 00 00, 8am to 8pm, 7 days a week.

Frequently asked questions

Do life insurance companies check family history?

They ask about it on the application form, in questions that differ between insurers. With your consent an insurer may also ask your GP, but that only reaches relatives' history you have already told your GP about, as noted in your own records.

Can an insurer ask for a relative's genetic test result?

Not under the Code, which rules out asking for a predictive result that belongs to someone else, such as a parent or sibling. The Code is voluntary, but every ABI member has signed up to it.

If your own health is part of the picture too, these guides cover it: life insurance with a heart condition, life insurance after cancer and life insurance with a medical condition, with more in the health and underwriting guides.

When you feel ready, a few minutes on the enquiry form puts your family's history before an FCA-authorised broker, whose free call-back is a chance to talk through how insurers may view it.

Sources

  • GOV.UK, Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance (updated 19 March 2026; first published 23 October 2018), read 21 October 2026. gov.uk
  • HM Government and the Association of British Insurers, Code on Genetic Testing and Insurance (October 2018, with March 2026 update note), read 21 October 2026. assets.publishing.service.gov.uk
  • Association of British Insurers, Genetics & insurance: FAQs (undated), read 21 October 2026. abi.org.uk
  • Legal & General, Will my family medical history affect my life insurance? (9 December 2025), read 21 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Legal & General, Underwriting explained (W10188 09/25), read 21 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
  • Royal London, Factors affecting life insurance premiums (10 June 2026), read 21 October 2026. royallondon.com
  • Aviva, How are life insurance premiums calculated? (last updated 8 October 2026), read 21 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
  • Aviva, Life insurance and cancer (last updated 12 May 2026), read 21 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
  • MoneyHelper, What is critical illness cover? (archived September 2026), read 21 October 2026. moneyhelper.org.uk (archive)
  • Macmillan Cancer Support, Macmillan Support Line (undated), read 21 October 2026. macmillan.org.uk