There is no single maximum age for a relevant life policy, because each insurer sets its own. In the papers quoted below, cover can start at up to 71 with Aviva and up to 73 with Legal & General, Royal London, Scottish Widows and Zurich, and in each case it stops at or before the employee’s 75th birthday.

Whose age is in question? Their age decides which insurers might look at the plan, and ages and start dates are what an FCA-authorised broker weighs up by phone; the form on this page can open that free conversation.

What start and end ages do relevant life insurers print?

Each row below is one insurer’s own limits, as printed in the document named. The adviser web pages are undated and were read on 26 October 2026; the others carry the print code shown. Nothing here is a market-wide rule, and other insurers may sell the plan with different limits. Pay multiples sit in relevant life cover limits, and the six-insurer comparison is in relevant life insurance providers.

Insurer and documentCover can start atLatest endTerm
Aviva, key features (EDCO1771 0126)17 to 71Before the 75th birthday3 to 50 years
Legal & General, policy summary (QGI12848 2026/10)18 to 73Before the 75th birthday1 year (2 if increasing) to 50 years
Royal London, adviser web page18 to 73Age 741 to 57 years
Scottish Widows, adviser web page18 to 7375 next birthdayMinimum 1 year (level or increasing)
Zurich, key features (PW720504007 08/25)18 to 73Age 741 to 50 years

Four of these five documents are written for advisers or intermediaries rather than for the business itself. Counting also differs between insurers. Zurich’s key features explain: “For example, if the age is shown as 73, it means before your 74th birthday.” Scottish Widows says cover “must be taken out before the employee reaches their 74th birthday and will cease on their 75th birthday”.

Legal & General’s adviser page adds a floor at the other end: “The minimum age at the end of the policy is 29”. Aviva starts a year earlier than the rest, at 17.

Why does HMRC’s age 75 matter to a relevant life policy?

HMRC’s Employment Income Manual (EIM15045, updated 28 July 2020) lists three types of policy that count as a relevant life policy. For a policy on one person, it says the conditions for an excepted group life policy would have to be met as if they referred to that individual, and the first is that:

a capital sum is payable on the death in any circumstances of the insured individual who dies under a specified age that does not exceed age 75

That is HMRC’s wording of the condition, not an insurer’s product limit. Every insurer in the table sits at or inside it. The other conditions, including the trust, are covered in what relevant life insurance is, and the tax result in relevant life insurance tax treatment. Tax rules can change, and this is the position as the manual reads today, not tax advice.

How long can the term run for an older employee?

For most starting ages, the end-age limit caps the term before the maximum term does. Where the policy must end before the 75th birthday, as Aviva and Legal & General print, an employee who is 60 at the start has under 15 years, so a 50-year term is out of reach. A 50-year term only fits where the employee starts at about 24 or younger, going by the end-age limits of Aviva, Legal & General and Zurich. Royal London’s 57-year maximum meets the same wall: even from its youngest start age of 18, 57 years would run to age 75, past the end age of 74 it prints.

Whether an older director would be accepted, and on what terms, depends on health and the insurer. If a particular director or employee is the reason you are reading, a call-back request through this page lets a broker talk about their age without charge.

Choosing the term is a separate decision from the age limits. If the cover is meant to last until retirement or a loan is repaid, how long you need life insurance goes through the options, and the age limits on ordinary life policies are a different set of rules.

Can a relevant life policy decrease over its term?

Some insurers print a decreasing option. Royal London says its cover “can be written on either a level, decreasing or increasing basis”, Scottish Widows lists a decreasing sum assured, and Zurich’s decreasing cover will “reduce at a rate you choose to best match your outstanding loan”. Aviva’s key features describe cover that “stay[s] the same or change[s] over time” through level or increasing cover, and Legal & General’s adviser page lists level and increasing.

Each of these insurers prints one set of age limits for the plan, and Zurich’s table has a single row for life cover. How a decreasing term is treated at the edges of those limits is worth asking a broker when they ring back.

Before choosing, remember that a relevant life policy protects one employee’s family, not the business itself. For cover that pays the company, see key person insurance against relevant life; the wider options are in the business cover guides. With the employee and the term settled, that plan can be priced by a broker over the phone at no cost; mention relevant life when completing the form on this page.

Frequently asked questions

Until what age can a relevant life policy run?

Aviva and Legal & General say the policy must end before the employee’s 75th birthday. Royal London and Zurich print 74 as the maximum age when cover ends, and Scottish Widows says cover stops at 75 next birthday.

What is the maximum term for a relevant life policy?

Aviva, Legal & General and Zurich print 50 years, and Royal London prints 57. With the first three, only an employee starting at about 24 or younger has room for the full 50 years before the end-age limit; Royal London’s end age of 74 cuts its 57 years short from any start age.

Is there a relevant life insurance age limit at the young end?

Four of the five insurers above start at 18, and Aviva’s key features start at 17. Legal & General’s adviser page also gives 29 as the minimum age at the end of the policy.

Does a relevant life policy have to end at 75?

Not at exactly 75. HMRC’s condition is that the policy pays on death under a specified age that does not exceed 75, so it can end earlier but not later, and the insurers above print end ages at or inside that.

Sources