Mortgage protection and critical illness cover are different things, and whether mortgage protection pays out if you are ill depends on which product the name means. Legal & General's guide (5 August 2026) says the life policy designed to cover a repayment mortgage pays out on death rather than on illness or injury, and only pays out once. A payout on a serious diagnosis comes from critical illness cover, added to that policy or bought beside it.

Want critical illness cover looked at against your own mortgage? Put your name and a few mortgage details into the enquiry form on this page; a broker with FCA authorisation will then ring to talk the options through with you. It is free, and buying is your decision.

Does mortgage protection cover illness, or only death?

L&G's guide says "'Mortgage protection insurance’ can refer to different things", and the two it describes answer this question in opposite ways. The life policy for a repayment mortgage, which the guide calls mortgage life insurance, pays on death. The insurer's Life Insurance terms (QGI12849, October 2026) add a diagnosis of terminal illness, and Aviva's Life Insurance+ summary (AL50001, February 2026, from its adviser library) says that its life cover pays if you die while you have a policy. A terminal illness benefit is not critical illness cover (how the two differ).

The other meaning is payment protection, which the guide describes as covering mortgage costs while you cannot work, as the next section sets out. If you are not sure which kind a policy you hold or are offered is, its policy summary is the place to check what it pays on.

Which products pay if you are ill or cannot work?

  • Mortgage payment protection insurance. L&G's guide says it "insures monthly mortgage costs if the policy holder is temporarily unable to work", that you can insure "against accident, sickness or unemployment", and that "The maximum payment period is between 12 and 24 months". The insurer says it does not offer this type of insurance itself. Redundancy is covered in does mortgage protection cover redundancy.
  • Income protection. Regular payments that replace part of your income if you cannot work because of illness or an accident. Income protection for a mortgage looks at it for borrowers.
  • Critical illness cover. A single lump sum, not monthly help. It applies when you are diagnosed with a condition that the policy lists, and the wording of each condition decides whether a diagnosis counts; definitions, severity levels and survival periods are set out in how critical illness cover works.

How does decreasing life insurance with critical illness cover work?

The two insurers quoted here attach critical illness cover to cover for a repayment mortgage in different ways, and the difference decides what is left after a claim.

Aviva. Its Life Insurance+ summary (adviser library) offers life and critical illness cover as one plan and, in its table of benefits for that cover, lists decreasing cover among the options. Of decreasing cover it says "The size of the sum goes down every month, at a rate set when you apply for your policy", so that the lump sum "roughly keeps track with what you have left to pay back on a loan, like a repayment mortgage." The summary says a successful critical illness claim pays the full cover amount and ends the policy, so a payment on diagnosis leaves no life cover on that plan.

Legal & General. Its critical illness page describes a separate policy, bought at extra cost alongside Life Insurance or Decreasing Life Insurance, whose amount may be set below the life cover but not above it. Its summary (QGI14786, October 2026, direct version) says you may be able to pick different premium and cover type options for the two policies, depending on what is available when you apply. Whether the critical illness policy offered beside a decreasing one would fall with the loan is therefore a question to ask of the quote in front of you. After an accepted claim, its terms (QGI14872) say "your Critical Illness Cover policy will end"; its page says the cover "can pay out separately to your life insurance".

Either way, a falling sum follows an assumed interest rate, not your actual balance. L&G's summary warns that if its rate is below your mortgage rate, or your mortgage changes, "the amount we pay out may not be enough to repay your mortgage in full".

If a quote with critical illness cover is hard to read, the broker you are put in touch with through this page's form can go through each insurer's summary with you and explain what it would pay and when. No broker can promise an insurer will accept you.

Should critical illness cover be added to a mortgage policy?

Whether you need it is your own decision. MoneyHelper's guide (archived September 2026) says to "Consider getting critical illness cover if: you and your family depend heavily on your income", and says you might not need it if "you have enough savings to cover ongoing expenses such as bills, rent or mortgage payments as well as the extra costs of a serious illness or disability" or "you already have some cover as part of your employer’s employee benefits scheme". Is critical illness cover worth it, one of our critical illness and income guides, weighs these.

  • What it leaves behind. On Aviva's single plan a critical illness payment ends the life cover as well; on the separate policies described above it ends the critical illness policy. The sections above give each insurer's words, and life and critical illness cover compares the two set-ups more fully.
  • Cost. L&G says critical illness cover is "added at an extra cost" to a decreasing policy. Adding it usually raises the premium, and nobody can honestly give a figure without your details; critical illness insurance cost covers what moves the price.
  • Your lender. Whether a lender can make any cover a condition of the loan is answered in do I need life insurance for a mortgage; ask your own lender whether it asks for critical illness cover too.

Can the state help with mortgage payments if you are ill?

GOV.UK (read 18 October 2026) describes Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI): "You may be able to get help towards interest payments on: the mortgage for the home you live in". It is a loan: "It’s paid as a loan, which you’ll need to repay with interest when you sell or transfer ownership of your home."

It depends on benefits. GOV.UK says "You need to be getting a qualifying benefit to get SMI", and its eligibility page names three: income-related Employment and Support Allowance, Universal Credit and Pension Credit. On Universal Credit, "Payments can start if you’ve got Universal Credit for 3 months in a row." SMI is no help with premiums: GOV.UK lists insurance policies among the things it cannot pay towards.

Frequently asked questions

Does mortgage life insurance cover critical illness?

Not by itself. At the two insurers quoted here it is something you choose: L&G adds critical illness cover to its Decreasing Life Insurance for an extra cost, and Aviva has you pick life and critical illness cover rather than life cover alone.

Does critical illness cover pay off your mortgage?

It pays you a lump sum on a valid claim, and MoneyHelper says the payment "can be used to pay for your treatment, mortgage, rent or changes to your home". Whether it clears the loan depends on the amount you chose, what you still owe and whether the policy's definition is met.

Does mortgage protection cover maternity, disability or mental health?

A mortgage life policy pays on death (L&G's also on a terminal diagnosis), not for time off work. The description of payment protection quoted earlier names accident, sickness and unemployment, and whether a particular absence counts is for that policy's wording to say. For critical illness cover, see disability and mental health.

Can you have critical illness cover without a mortgage?

Yes. The reasons for considering it given above turn on income, savings and workplace benefits, not on a mortgage. Which insurers sell it on its own is on buying critical illness cover on its own.

To have these options set against your own loan, use the form on this page, which leads to a conversation with a broker authorised by the FCA, at no cost to you.

Sources