Scottish Widows life insurance policy documents are your policy schedule, a policy summary and the full terms, and Scottish Widows is the place to ask for copies if yours have gone missing. Name changes, new bank details and address updates then go through a phone number or a form that depends on when and how the policy was bought.

Weighing up whether to keep, amend or swap the policy? Once the form on this page goes in, an FCA-authorised broker rings to run through the choices. That is free.

Where are your Scottish Widows policy documents, key features and key facts?

Scottish Widows' own papers for its two current life policies describe a short summary and a longer set of terms. The Scottish Widows Protect summary (print code 61041 01/26, the edition for customers who did not buy through a price comparison site) tells you that it "doesn’t give you full details of the policy, you can find these in the policy provisions and your policy schedule". The Plan & Protect Life Cover summary (print code 60292(D) 10/25) sends you to "the terms and conditions and your policy schedule" instead. So the pieces you are looking for are:

  • the policy schedule, which is where the monthly amount and the end date are shown;
  • the policy summary, the short document sometimes searched for as key features or key facts;
  • the policy provisions (Protect) or terms and conditions (Plan & Protect), where the detailed rules sit.

Both summaries ask you to keep your documents together in a safe place. For Protect, the summary says you get the provisions from Scottish Widows, so a request to the insurer is the route.

For cover bought through Halifax, the bank's existing-customers page (read 27 October 2026) says: "To get new policy documents, just give Scottish Widows a call and they’ll send new copies to you right away."

If it is the policy itself you have lost track of, for example after a house move, Scottish Widows runs a trace service. It starts with a printed and signed form posted to Scottish Widows, with as much detail as you can give.

Who do you phone at Scottish Widows about your life policy?

Scottish Widows' contact page (read 27 October 2026) lists a different number for each policy family, picked by when the policy was bought and the policy number's length and first digit. It asks you to have your policy number ready and says the lines are open 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday.

PolicyWhere it was boughtNumber to ring
Protection policies bought before 2006Scottish Widows, Lloyds Bank, Halifax or Clerical Medical0345 716 6777
Protection for Life, bought 2006-2020A bank branch or direct; 8-digit number starting with 50345 300 0698
Scottish Widows Protect, from 2015 onwardsAn adviser or price comparison website; 8-digit number starting with 50345 030 6240
Scottish Widows Protect, from 2015 onwardsAs above; 12-digit number starting with 60345 030 6572
Plan & Protect, online banking, from March 2021 onwardsScottish Widows, Lloyds Bank, Halifax or Bank of Scotland online banking; 12-digit number starting with 40345 608 0378
Plan & Protect Mortgage, from October 2018 onwardsA Lloyds Bank, Halifax or Bank of Scotland mortgage adviser; number starting SW50330 678 1060
My life insurance6-digit number starting with 10800 849 6089

The contact page lists a few more plans, including some older ones, so if your policy number does not fit a row here, use the page itself. By post, the life insurance entry gives Scottish Widows, Protection, Swindon, SN80 1AA, and asks you to include your policy number, full name, address, how you want a reply, your contact details and your signature.

Halifax says its life insurance is provided by Scottish Widows, and Lloyds Bank's life insurance page offers life insurance from Scottish Widows, so a bank-bought policy goes to the same teams. The bank side is covered in Halifax and Lloyds Bank life insurance.

Name and address changes: what Scottish Widows asks for

Telling Scottish Widows is part of the deal for Protect: its policy provisions say "You’ll need to tell us if you change your name, address or bank account details." The life insurance existing-customers page lists updating your address among the things to contact Scottish Widows about.

Scottish Widows' general change-of-details page gives three ways to report a new address: an online form, a phone call, or a paper form posted to its Mail Processing Centre in Swindon. A name change is done by post. You complete the change of name form and post it with an approved document for ID, which is one of these:

  • a marriage or civil partnership certificate linking the name Scottish Widows holds to your current one;
  • a divorce decree or order together with your birth certificate, if you are returning to a maiden name;
  • an enrolled deed poll, or failing that a certified copy of an unenrolled one.

A certified copy cannot be certified by the person whose document it is; Scottish Widows lists who can do it. That page covers Scottish Widows customers generally rather than life insurance alone, so ring the number for your policy first if you are unsure which route applies. For a policy bought through Halifax, the bank's page also says to call Scottish Widows to update your name, address or other details.

Changing a Direct Debit or payment date, and what a missed payment does

Protect premiums are collected by Direct Debit from a UK bank account in your name. The provisions say you can ask Scottish Widows to change the date it collects your payments, and that a change of bank account is something you must tell it. Halifax's page points its customers to Scottish Widows by phone for the same request. Plan & Protect's summary describes the same monthly Direct Debit to the end date.

Missing payments is where wording matters most. For Protect, the summary says: "If you miss three payments in a row, we’ll cancel your policy and you’ll get nothing back." Before that point the provisions say Scottish Widows will get in touch and ask you to pay. The Plan & Protect summary words its rule differently: if you miss three months’ payments, Scottish Widows cancels the cover three calendar months from the date of the first missed payment, and does not refund payments already made. Halifax adds that it cannot offer a payment break.

If money is the reason, Scottish Widows' existing-customers page lists telling it you cannot afford your premium among the reasons to contact it. What happens when payments stop is explained in missed payments and lapsed life insurance, and cancelling on purpose in cancelling or cashing in Scottish Widows life insurance.

What if you move abroad?

The Scottish Widows Protect provisions collect premiums by Direct Debit from a UK bank account in your name, and ask you to tell Scottish Widows if your address or bank account changes. Emigrating with this cover in place raises questions of its own, and a broker will talk them over at no cost when returning your call.

The general position across insurers is on whether life insurance covers you abroad, and buying cover while living overseas is in life insurance for UK expats and non-UK residents.

Which Scottish Widows policies let you change the amount of cover?

That depends on which policy you hold, according to Scottish Widows' existing-customers page:

  • Scottish Widows Protect: speak to your financial adviser, and note that some advisers may charge for advice about your level of cover.
  • Plan & Protect: you cannot change the level of cover but you can take out another policy, through your banking app or the Scottish Widows website.
  • Protection for Life: you cannot increase it, though you may be able to reduce it.
  • My Life Insurance: the level cannot be changed.

Halifax's page is blunter for its own customers: "You can’t change your policy after it has started." If the cover you hold no longer fits, a broker can cost out a replacement for you without charge when this page's form is filled in.

For a Scottish Widows Protect policy held in trust, the trustees page says a change to the trust, such as new beneficiaries or trustees, needs the trustees' signatures. Trusts and the claims route are on Scottish Widows life insurance: cover, cost and reviews, and changing who benefits is explained in changing a life insurance beneficiary. More insurers are set side by side in Insurers compared.

Frequently asked questions

What if I do not know my Scottish Widows policy number?

Scottish Widows warns that a call without one may not get you help straight away, and asks you to write in with the trace form and a copy of ID such as a driving licence or passport. If it finds the policy, it can send you information and regular updates afterwards.

Is there a Scottish Widows app or online account for a life policy?

Scottish Widows' app page (read 27 October 2026) presents the app mainly as a place to see pensions and investments, though you can also add your insurance policies and see where there might be gaps in your cover; you register with your postcode and National Insurance number. Its trace page adds that if you have moved home or changed your name, you can check your details and update them in the app. Whether a Direct Debit or the cover on your own life policy can be changed there is something to ask Scottish Widows on the number for your policy in the table above.

Can the policy summary come in large print or braille?

The Plan & Protect summary says: "Please ask us if you’d like this policy summary in large print, braille or audio." The phone number for your policy is in the table above.

Who receives missed-payment letters if the policy is in trust?

For a Protect policy in trust, Scottish Widows' trustees page says additional trustees, once appointed, are entitled to receive policy information such as missed premium reminder letters. It also says to check you are not the only trustee, and that you can call to find out.

Do I ring a different number if I bought through Halifax or Lloyds?

Halifax's existing-customers page sends its customers to Scottish Widows by phone, and the table lists which Scottish Widows line fits Plan & Protect and older bank-sold policies.

Bigger questions, like swapping a Scottish Widows policy for another, can go to a broker via this page's form.

Sources