Post Office life insurance add-ons are critical illness cover and children's cover, which can be added to the Post Office term plan, alongside a choice of individual or joint cover. They belong to the term plan, which Scottish Friendly underwrites, and not to Post Office Over 50s Life Cover. Not sure which extras suit your household? An FCA-authorised broker can talk children's, critical illness and joint cover through with you for free; send the form on this page if that would help.

Which extras sit on which Post Office plan

The Post Office sells two separate plans from two insurers, and our overview of Post Office life insurance sets out which insurer sits behind which. The extras follow the plan. On the Post Office's life insurance page, the term plan is introduced with the line "Add cover for children or a critical illness", and its list of what the standard policy offers includes "A choice of individual or joint cover".

The plan page also lists "optional extras for an additional cost". So there are three decisions to make on the term plan:

  • whether to add critical illness cover;
  • whether to add children's cover;
  • whether the policy covers one adult or two.

Terminal illness cover is not one of the optional extras. The same page describes it as part of the standard policy, with "Terminal illness cover from day one if you have less than 12 months to live".

What the critical illness extra pays on

The plan's Key Facts and Policy Terms and Conditions (document PO LKFT04 v2.5, read 27 October 2026) list four conditions: "cancer – excluding less advanced cases", "coronary artery by-pass grafts – with surgery to divide the breastbone", "heart attack – of specified severity" and "stroke – resulting in permanent symptoms". Each has a full definition in the document's glossary, and an illness that does not meet it is not paid. The person must also survive at least 30 days after the diagnosis, and nothing is paid for an illness that occurs, or is related to an event, before the start date or in the first three months after it.

You can choose a critical illness amount of up to 100% of your life cover, to a maximum of £200,000, and the Post Office says extra costs apply. If a critical illness claim is paid, that part of the cover ends and the life cover carries on for the rest of the term while premiums are paid. The critical illness cover also stops at the policy anniversary on or after the eldest person insured reaches 80. Our guide to life and critical illness cover together compares the two, and buying critical illness cover on its own covers the stand-alone route.

The premium for the extra depends on the amounts you choose, whether the policy is single or joint, and your age, health and lifestyle, among other things. A broker can price the critical illness extra for your age and the amounts you have in mind; send the form on this page if a free call about it would help.

Children's cover as an add-on

Children's cover on the term plan is a separate option from your own cover. The Post Office says it "Pays a lump sum for accidental death or medical expenses if your child suffers a serious injury or illness specified in the policy". It is an optional extra, with a cost, and not something every policy includes.

The Key Facts fill in the detail. Children who are financially dependent on you or your partner can be added if they are under 21 and live in the UK at the start date, and the benefit is between £10,000 and £30,000 per child. The policy lists eight injuries and illnesses, among them bacterial meningitis, blindness and some cancers (less advanced cases are excluded), each with a definition that has to be met. It pays once per child, not for a condition known to be present at birth or one arising in the first three months of the child's cover, and each child's cover ends at the policy anniversary on or after their 21st birthday. Our page on life insurance for children looks at how insurers treat children's cover more broadly.

Individual or joint cover

The term plan offers "A choice of individual or joint cover". The Post Office explains joint cover this way: "Joint life insurance protects two people under one policy with one monthly premium payment. It only pays out once if a policyholder dies within the term."

Two single policies, the page adds, protect each person separately but mean paying two premiums each month. So a joint policy pays once, while two single policies can each pay. Joint or individual life insurance goes through the trade-offs, including separation and what happens to the cover afterwards.

If you want critical illness cover on a joint policy, joint life insurance with critical illness explains how a joint payout works. The Post Office Key Facts do allow critical illness cover on a joint policy, but it "is only payable upon the first life insured to be diagnosed with a critical illness", and then it ends.

What Over 50s Life Cover offers instead

Post Office Over 50s Life Cover is a separate plan, underwritten by Aviva, and the three term-plan extras are not listed for it. Its page calls it "a single-life policy, which means it covers one person per policy", so a couple would take a policy each.

The option it does list is the Funeral Benefit Option: at no extra cost, it gives up to £250 off a Co-op Funeralcare funeral, a discount rather than an extra payment. How the plan and that option work is set out in our Post Office Over 50s Life Cover guide, and guaranteed acceptance life insurance explains who the plan is built for.

Because critical illness, children's and joint cover are listed on the term plan, someone who wants them may need to look at the term plan instead, and the term plan has its own age limits (18 to 70 at the start). Torn between the two Post Office plans? A broker can weigh each one against what you want to protect during a free call, and requesting one takes the form on this page. If a gift card is part of your thinking, the Post Office gift card page covers the offer separately.

Frequently asked questions

Is critical illness cover optional on the Post Office term plan?

Yes, the Post Office lists critical illness cover as an optional extra on its term plan, at an extra cost. The definitions that decide a claim are in the plan's terms and conditions.

Up to what age can a child be added to Post Office children's cover?

A child must be under 21 and living in the UK when their cover starts, and financially dependent on you or your partner. Their cover ends at the policy anniversary on or after their 21st birthday.

Is there a joint Post Office policy for couples?

On the term plan, yes: the Post Office offers individual or joint cover. On Over 50s Life Cover, no, as it is single-life and partners take a policy each.

Is terminal illness cover an extra on the Post Office term plan?

No, the Post Office lists it in the standard policy for someone with less than 12 months to live. Critical illness cover is the optional one.

Does the Post Office Over 50s plan have a critical illness option?

The Over 50s page lists the Funeral Benefit Option as its optional extra, while critical illness cover is listed on the term plan. Someone who wants critical illness cover would be looking at the term plan, which takes applicants aged 18 to 70 at the start and asks questions about health and lifestyle.

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