Life insurance for a family with young children usually comes down to a choice between three shapes of cover: a lump sum that stays level, a lump sum that shrinks roughly as a repayment mortgage is paid down, or a monthly income that runs to the end of a chosen term. The shapes can be combined, and each adult in the household can have their own cover.
Below: what each shape does, what two insurers add for parents, a way of thinking about the amount (not a figure), and how to make sure a payout reaches the people meant to have it. If you'd like someone to look over your own family's set-up, the short form here asks an FCA-authorised broker to phone you, with no charge and nothing you have to buy.
Which kinds of life insurance do families use?
Each of the three pays only on a death within the term; the difference lies in what is paid and how.
| Shape | What the insurer's document says | What the cover is for |
|---|---|---|
| Level term | Aviva: the premium and the lump sum both stay the same for as long as the policy runs. | Aviva points to debts and everyday outgoings such as rent. |
| Decreasing term | Legal & General: the cover falls over time, roughly following a repayment mortgage. | A repayment mortgage; Aviva calls it cover for that or another long-term loan. |
| Family income benefit | Legal & General's Family and Personal Income Plan pays a monthly benefit, not a single sum, if the life insured dies during the term. | Spreading the payout as income over the rest of the term. |
A note on the last row: it rests on one document, Legal & General's Family and Personal Income Plan terms (LG2030, October 2026), found in the part of its website meant for financial advisers. Read it as a description of that single product, not of family income cover in general. Those terms also let a claimant "request to receive the amount of cover as a commuted lump sum", calculated from the monthly benefit and the months still to run. What family income benefit is has the detail.
Because the shapes meet different parts of a household budget, a family can hold more than one: say, a falling sum to match the mortgage and a level sum or an income for day-to-day costs. Decreasing against level term sets the two lump sums side by side, and decreasing term explains how the falling amount is worked out.
What do insurers add for parents and children?
Two insurers' documents describe features aimed at parents. Each belongs to that insurer's own product and comes with its own conditions, so treat none of them as something every policy has.
Aviva's Free Parent Life Cover. Aviva's consumer page (print code WC05363, June 2026) puts the free cover at £15,000 per parent for every child under four. Among the conditions to apply are an age between 18 and 66, permanent residence in the UK, and not having had "any medical diagnosis or treatment for cancer (including leukaemia and lymphoma)" in the last 12 months. The policy summary (PT01118, May 2026) adds that the plan lasts one year, that only one plan can be taken per child "regardless of whether you take the plan out directly with Aviva or via a third party", and that it cannot be altered once started. It can run alongside an Aviva Life Insurance Plan, or be followed by one when it ends. With a one-year term, it is a short bridge, not cover for the years until a child is grown.
Raising cover when a child is born. Legal & General's terms (QGI12849, October 2026) let a policyholder add to their cover after the birth or legal adoption of the life insured's child, without a full new application. The option applies only to a policy that started before the life insured's 55th birthday, if its Policy Schedule includes it, and the insurer must hear about the birth or adoption within six months. The increase is capped at the lower of 100% of the original cover or £200,000, with further limits set out in the same terms.
Children's cover on critical illness. This sits on critical illness cover, a separate product from life insurance, and is not part of a life-only policy. Legal & General includes Children's Critical Illness Cover within its Critical Illness Cover, paying the lower of 50% of the cover amount or £25,000 per child; Aviva says its critical illness cover "includes a children’s benefit at no extra cost". Each comes with its own conditions, which life insurance for children sets side by side, and critical illness cover for a family looks at the cover itself.
How can you think about the amount when you have children?
What follows is a way of thinking, not a sum for your household. The general working (debts, income, cover you already have) belongs to how much life cover you need; two questions are particular to bringing up children.
- For how long? Legal & General notes that some people cover a mortgage term "while others think about how long their children will be financially dependent on them." Your youngest child's age is one way to mark where that ends.
- What does each parent contribute? Childcare, school and everyday costs come into it, and so does who pays for them and who provides them; those costs are listed in life insurance when you have a child.
Each adult answers those questions separately. A salary multiple counts earnings, so for a parent who is at home with the children or works part-time it can miss the real contribution. Write down what they do (school runs, childcare, running the house) and ask what it would cost to buy in, or what hours the other parent would have to drop. The method is the same for a mum or a dad; what changes is how much each adult earns and how much unpaid work they carry.
With those notes in hand, you can ask a broker how insurers would view each of you, a parent not in paid work included, by sending the form here. Nobody can promise that an insurer will accept you or quote a particular price.
Two parents can share one joint policy or hold one each. Aviva's guide explains that a joint policy pays out once, on the first partner's death, and then ends, whereas each single policy pays on its own life. Joint against individual cover weighs the two, and life insurance for single parents covers a household with one adult.
How do you make sure the money reaches the family?
Who receives a payout turns on how the policy is arranged. Aviva's calculator page says a single life policy "will be paid to your estate, unless you place your policy in a trust", and a joint life policy "will be paid to the joint life policy holder." Money paid to an estate may have to wait for probate before it can be shared out. Written in trust, the payout goes to trustees you have chosen, who can hold it for the children until a set age.
For a family that may still grow, the type of trust matters, because some fix the beneficiaries when they are set up. Legal & General's Absolute Trust is one: its beneficiaries "cannot usually be changed later", so children born afterwards cannot automatically be added. Trusts can carry legal and tax consequences, so professional advice is worth having first. What a life insurance trust is compares the types, and putting a policy in trust walks through setting one up.
Frequently asked questions
What life insurance should a mum or a dad take out?
There is no policy type reserved for mums or dads: level, decreasing and family income cover are open to either, and the choice follows what that person's income and unpaid work contribute to the household. A broker can go through the options once they know your circumstances.
Is level or decreasing term better for a family?
They do different jobs, so the answer depends on what you are covering: a repayment mortgage, which decreasing cover is built around, or living costs for the years the children depend on you, which a level or income-style policy is built around. A family can hold both; decreasing against level term compares them.
Are free gifts a reason to pick a policy?
A gift or cashback offer is an incentive with its own terms, separate from the cover. The cover itself, its length, the amount and who is paid are what the choice should rest on.
What if the family is blended or a child needs long-term support?
Raise both when you set up a trust, because trust types differ in how fixed the list of beneficiaries is, which matters when there are stepchildren or more children may yet arrive. If a child may need your support into adulthood, the length of the term is worth talking through as well.
Is this the same as insuring my own parent?
No. This page is about cover on your own life while your children are young. A policy on your mother's or father's life is a separate arrangement, which life insurance for parents covers.
Some parents find these choices easier to talk over than to settle on paper. Leaving your details in the form here lets an FCA-authorised broker call to go through them with you, without charge. Our guide to choosing a broker suggests questions to ask, and who needs cover collects related pages.
Sources
- Aviva, Life insurance (direct product page, WC05632 09/2026), read 19 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
- Aviva, Different types of life insurance for you and your family (last updated 12 Jun 2026; WC05488 06/2026), read 19 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
- Aviva, Free Parent Life Cover (consumer page, WC05363 06/2026), read 19 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
- Aviva, Policy Summary of Free Parent Life Cover (PT01118 05/2026), read 19 October 2026. static.aviva.io
- Aviva, Life insurance calculator (WC05624 07/2026), read 19 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
- Aviva, Putting life insurance in trust (last updated 30 Jun 2026; WC05614 06/2026), read 19 October 2026. aviva.co.uk
- Legal and General Assurance Society Limited, Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover Policy Terms and Conditions (QGI12849 2026/10; QGI14872 2026/10), read 19 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Legal and General Assurance Society Limited, Family and Personal Income Plan Policy Terms and Conditions (LG2030 2026/10; on L&G's adviser area), read 19 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Legal & General, Life insurance (consumer page, undated, copyright 2026), read 19 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com
- Legal & General, Putting life insurance in trust (18 August 2026), read 19 October 2026. legalandgeneral.com