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 Widows and Royal London each pay a set sum if a child covered by a parent's policy dies, and at all four that children's cover comes with critical illness cover. Below: what their documents say about a policy on a child, what children's cover pays, and help with a child's funeral costs.

If you would like to know which policies would include children's cover for your family, a broker authorised by the FCA can look with you: send in the form here, which takes a few minutes and costs nothing.

Can you take out a life insurance policy on your child?

A stand-alone whole of life or term policy on a child's own life is different from children's cover on a parent's policy, and these insurers' own rules set 18 as the minimum age. Aviva says you need to be aged between 18 and 77 to take out its Life Insurance Plan (its FAQs, read October 2026). Royal London's adviser page for Life or Critical Illness Cover gives "minimum 18 years old, maximum 69 years old" as the age when cover starts. LV= says its cover is on your own or a joint life only, and that you will need to speak to a financial adviser to insure someone else.

Legal & General's adviser-only product page also sets 18, with one narrow exception: "It is possible for a life of another policy to be taken on a 17-year-old by an adult with insurable interest."

The rule behind this is insurable interest, which LV= describes as "a valid financial reason to insure somebody"; how it works between parents and children is set out in life insurance for parents, and for other relatives in life insurance on someone else. LV= says that in Scotland "there is a maintenance obligation to children which means insurable interest does exist", lasting "until 18 years old, or 25 if the child is in education or training for a trade and still being supported".

Whether a whole of life policy on a child is worth buying is weighed in is child life insurance worth it, providers are compared in the best life insurance for children, and how whole of life cover works is in what whole of life insurance is.

What does a parent's policy pay if a child dies?

At all four insurers, the payment on a child's death comes with critical illness cover rather than with life cover alone. Legal & General's policy summary (QGI14786, October 2026, direct version) marks Child Funeral Benefit "No" for Life Insurance and "Yes" for Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover. Scottish Widows' summary lists it among the features that come "If you have a Critical Illness Cover or Life with Critical Illness Cover policy", and at Royal London it is an option.

Insurer and documentComes withChildren coveredIf a child dies
Aviva, Life Insurance+ summary (AL50001, February 2026; adviser library)Life and critical illness cover, includedNatural, step, legally adopted or under legal guardianship, including future children, from 30 days until their 18th birthday (21st if in full time education)£5,000; £10,000 if you pay more for the upgraded children's benefit, whose death cover starts from 24 weeks of pregnancy
Legal & General, policy summary and terms (QGI14786 and QGI14872, October 2026; direct)Critical Illness Cover, includedA natural, legally adopted or step child, from 30 days old up to and including their 18th birthday (21st if in full time education)£4,000 towards their funeral (Child Funeral Benefit), for up to two children
Scottish Widows, Protect summary (January 2026; adviser site, non-aggregator version)Critical Illness Cover or Life with Critical Illness Cover, includedFrom 30 days until their 22nd birthdayA cash lump sum of £10,000 (its maximum across all your Protect policies)
Royal London, Children's Critical Illness Cover (undated consumer page; sold through advisers)Life or Critical Illness Cover or Critical Illness Cover, optionalFrom birth to age 22, or 23 if in full time education£5,000 at the Standard level; £10,000 at the Enhanced level

These are four insurers' own terms, not a market rule. Should you want to know which policies would carry children's cover like this for your family, an FCA-authorised broker can go through several insurers' wording with you; the request goes through the form on this page.

Each document sets its own conditions. Legal & General's terms say "On the death of a relevant child, we'll contribute £4,000 towards their funeral", but not where "the cause of death first arose before the relevant child was covered", where the condition was present at birth, or where it has already paid a children's critical illness claim for the same child. Scottish Widows won't pay children's life cover "if the symptoms, medical condition or cause of death started before the policy started".

The payment is made under the parent's policy, which carries on afterwards: Aviva says "If you claim your policy will continue", and Scottish Widows "If we pay a claim for your child, your cover will continue". Scottish Widows' summary adds that "you may have to pay income tax if there is more than one death benefit cash lump sum paid from the policy", and that tax rules can change.

The same children's cover also pays a share of the parent's cover if a child is diagnosed with a covered critical illness; those amounts and definitions are in critical illness cover and what child critical illness cover is, and the combined policy in life and critical illness cover. Stand-alone funeral cover on a child is the subject of funeral insurance for children, and where children fit among the reasons people buy cover is in who needs cover.

What help with a child's funeral costs does the government give?

If you are reading this because a child has died, Child Bereavement UK supports parents bereaved of a baby or child; its helpline is 0800 02 888 40, and it offers support by phone, live chat, email or text/WhatsApp from 8am to 8pm, Monday to Friday (except bank holidays).

GOV.UK (read 18 October 2026) says the Children's Funeral Fund for England "can help to pay for some of the costs of a funeral for a child under 18 or a baby stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy", that it is not means-tested, and that "The burial or cremation must take place in England." It can pay burial fees, cremation fees including the doctor's certificate, and a "coffin, shroud or casket (up to a cost of £300)". The burial or cremation provider claims its fees directly, so "you should not be charged", and "Claims must be made within 6 months of the funeral".

The other nations have their own arrangements. In Wales, GOV.WALES guidance (March 2021) says burial and cremation fees for children under 18 were ended by an agreement made in 2017, and that families in Wales who register the death of a child under 18 can receive "£500 as a contribution towards the funeral and other related costs". In Northern Ireland, nidirect (updated June 2026) says the Child Funeral Fund "is a one-off lump sum payment of £3,441" for a child under 18, whatever your earnings or savings. In Scotland, mygov.scot (read October 2026) says "it usually does not cost anything to bury or cremate a baby, child or young person aged 17 or under", and that people who qualify for Funeral Support Payment can get £1,327.75 towards other funeral costs.

Frequently asked questions

Can you add a child to your life insurance?

You do not add a child as a second person on a life policy. What the four insurers above describe is children's cover that comes with a parent's critical illness cover, and it includes children born after the policy starts: Aviva's summary covers "any future children", and Legal & General "any children you have in the future".

Can you get life insurance for a newborn or a baby?

The insurers' own policies quoted above start at 18, so a baby is covered through a parent's policy instead. Children's death cover starts at 30 days old at Aviva (standard benefit), Legal & General and Scottish Widows, and from birth at Royal London; Aviva's upgraded children's benefit covers a death from 24 weeks of pregnancy.

Can grandparents take out life insurance on a grandchild?

LV= says its life insurance "can only be taken on your own life or joint life", and any policy on someone else needs insurable interest. The children's benefits above follow the policyholder's own family, though Scottish Widows' includes "a child who lives with and is financially dependent on you". Whether an insurer would accept a grandparent's application is a question to put to the insurer or a broker.

How much life insurance should a parent take out to protect their children?

That depends on your debts, income and what you already have, so no page can give a figure for you. The method is set out in how much life cover you might need, and whether a parent needs cover at all is in do you need life insurance if you have a child and do I need life insurance.

If you decide to take it further, the quote form here is the one step: it asks an FCA-authorised broker to contact you about cover for your family, with no charge and no pressure to go ahead.

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