For a Post Office life insurance bereavement claim, start with the policy schedule, because the date the policy was bought decides who takes the call. For policies bought after 31 January 2022, the Post Office's help page gives Neilson Financial Services on 0800 068 8014; older policies go to Royal London or Aviva, as set out below. Today's plans are underwritten by Aviva (Over 50s Life Cover) and Scottish Friendly (the term plan). Settling a Post Office policy can bring your own plans to mind. If you would like them looked at, whenever you wish you may use the form on this page. Afterwards a broker holding FCA authorisation rings at no cost.

Which Post Office policy was it, and who settles the claim?

The Post Office name sits on two separate products, and our guide to Post Office life insurance explains how they differ. On the plans sold now, the underwriter assesses the claim, and the current key facts send every claim to the same place:

PolicyInsurer that assesses the claimWhere its current key facts say to claim
Post Office Over 50s Life CoverAviva Life & Pensions UK Limited0800 068 8014, weekdays between 9am and 7pm; claims@postofficelife.co.uk; Customer Services, Post Office, PO Box 6063, Windsor, SL4 9GL
Post Office Life Insurance (the term plan; critical illness and children's cover are optional extras)Scottish Friendly Assurance Society LimitedThe same phone line, email and address

The Post Office's help page adds that "The contact details for the insurer vary depending on the date the policy was taken out, which you can see on the policy schedule." It prints three routes, which we read on 27 October 2026:

  • Bought after 31 January 2022: Neilson Financial Services on 0800 068 8014. Neilson sells both current plans and helps administer them.
  • Bought between 31 January 2017 and 31 January 2022: Royal London on 0345 266 1483.
  • Bought before 31 January 2017: Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited on 0800 158 3065.

Check the purchase date on the schedule before ringing; each line keeps its own opening hours, listed with call charges in our guide to Post Office life insurance contacts.

One term-plan route is different. A term policy bought through MoneySupermarket between October 2018 and November 2022 is provided by Scottish Friendly, as its documents will show, and the instruction for it is: "For policy enquiries, or to make a claim on a Post Office Life Insurance policy purchased through MoneySupermarket, please call Scottish Friendly on 0333 323 5433". If the papers do not make clear which plan it was, the policy number and the insurer's name on the schedule settle it.

How do you start the claim?

Both sets of key facts ask for a claim to be made as soon as possible, and you can phone, email or write using the details in the table. After that, the two insurers describe the next step a little differently.

On Over 50s Life Cover, the terms say "Depending upon the type of claim, we may be able to collect all the necessary claim details over the phone or alternatively, we will send a claim form to be completed, signed and returned." So a form is not always needed, and the call may be enough to begin.

On the term plan, the terms say "Once a claim request is received, the claimant will be contacted and a claim form will be sent to be completed, signed and returned." So the claim form for a term policy comes to you once you have made contact.

Cruse Bereavement Support runs a helpline for anyone who is grieving, free to call, on 0808 808 1677. Our guide to what happens to life insurance when you die covers who usually tells the insurer and what it asks.

Which papers will the Post Office insurers want?

In its answers on Over 50s Life Cover, the Post Office's help page says that "We'll need to know the policy number and details of the claim." It goes on: "The person making the claim must send all original documentation to us, showing they are entitled to receive the cash sum, before we will pay any cash sum to them." And: "This documentation must include any deed of assignment, trust deed, or deed altering the trust." If the policy was written in trust or assigned, those papers are part of the claim.

The insurers' own terms add a few more points:

  • Aviva's Over 50s terms say "Aviva will require proof of a death to assess the claim."
  • Scottish Friendly's term-plan terms say it may require "further information or documentary evidence to assess the claim, such as, a death certificate."
  • Each may ask the person who died's treating doctor or a medical specialist for a report, which both documents say is at the insurer's expense, and each says it may be necessary to access medical records.
  • Both say that a claim cannot be processed until any information reasonably needed to assess it has been provided.

Who is paid, and how much?

For Over 50s Life Cover, the help page says that "If the policy is assigned, it will pay out to the Assignee. If it's under Trust, it will pay out to the Trustees." It continues: "If Funeral Benefit Option has been applied to your policy, we will pay the cash sum to the funeral provider. In all other circumstances we'll pay out the amount to the Life Assureds Personal Representatives." Funeral Benefit Option claims have their own lines, open 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. For a policy bought after 31 January 2022, that is Co-op Funeralcare on 0800 289 120. For one bought between 31 January 2017 and 31 January 2022, it is Dignity on 0800 022 3229 if the option was chosen before 22.02.21, or Co-op Funeralcare on 0800 289 120 if it was chosen after 22.02.21.

The key facts for both plans say that once a claim is accepted the insurer pays the sum due "to you or the person who is legally entitled to it, whichever is appropriate." On a joint plan, a claim accepted for the partner life insured is payable to the policy holder; one accepted for the policy holder is payable to the policy holder or the person legally entitled, who may not be the partner. Both say that, where applicable, any premium collected after the date of death is refunded once a valid claim is made. When a claim is paid, the Over 50s cover ends for that life insured, and a term policy ends.

Under the current Over 50s terms, the amount depends on when and how the death happened: twice the cover amount for an accidental death (one within 90 days of an accident that happened while covered), 1.5 times all premiums paid for death from natural causes in the first 12 months, and the full cash sum after that. The Over 50s Life Cover guide sets out those rules and the Protected Benefit. The term plan pays the amount on the policy schedule, and an older policy pays under the terms that came with it. For how Aviva handles claims on its own policies, see Aviva life insurance bereavement claims; the Post Office plan has its own route above.

Frequently asked questions

Is a death certificate needed for a Post Office claim?

The term-plan terms give a death certificate as an example of what may be asked for, and the Over 50s terms say proof of a death is needed. A first call lets the insurer say what it wants to see before anything is posted.

What does Over 50s Life Cover pay when the policy is under a year old?

Under the current terms it depends how the death happened: twice the cover amount for an accidental death, but 1.5 times all premiums paid for a death from natural causes in that first year. An older policy is paid under the terms that came with it.

Some months on, you may want to think about protection for yourself. This page's form is a route to a call from a broker about that, free of charge.

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