Free life insurance usually means temporary cover an insurer gives at no charge for a set period, such as up to 90 days while you buy a home or while your application is assessed. Aviva also gives the name Free Parent Life Cover to a one-year plan, and employers normally provide death in service benefit at no cost to the employee. Which of these covers touches you, if any, is worth raising with an FCA-authorised broker; submitting the form on this page secures a telephone call, and that is free.

What does "free" mean in a life insurance document?

Insurers use the word for cover that starts without a premium and stops on a date or event they set. Legal & General's policy summary for its life and critical illness plans (QGI14786, October 2026) calls its version "Free Life Cover", and says it "will end as soon as the policy starts". Free is not the same as guaranteed: each insurer's free cover below comes with conditions, such as age limits, exclusions or a cap on the sum paid.

When do insurers give cover before a policy starts?

Legal & General's Free Life Cover applies to home buyers. Its summary says it will cover you "if you die between exchange of contracts and completion of your property purchase up to a maximum of 90 days, provided you are accepted on standard terms and we have everything we need to start your policy". The sum is the lower of your proposed cover or your mortgage, up to £300,000. Anyone aged 55 or over is not accepted for it, and a joint policy needs both people under that age. The summary adds that it will not provide the cover where another policy with any provider already covers the same mortgage. Aviva describes something similar on its life insurance page (read 26 October 2026): up to 90 days of free life insurance when you are buying a home, with terms applying. The timing of exchange and completion is covered in when to get life insurance when buying a house, which also sets out the other insurers' wording.

A second kind covers the weeks while an insurer decides. Aviva's Life Insurance+ policy summary (AL50001, February 2026) is held in Aviva's adviser document library. It says that if Aviva needs more information before deciding, "for customers under 55, our Protection Promise will cover you free of charge", though not if you are also applying to another insurer for the same cover. It lasts at most 90 days from Aviva's confirmation that it has started, and ends sooner if the policy starts, the application is deferred, declined or withdrawn, or ten days pass after an acceptance offer. It pays out unless, among other things, the information given was not complete and accurate, or death results from suicide, self-inflicted injury or a pre-existing medical condition the person knew about or had symptoms of. Waiting for a decision is also covered under waiting periods.

Scottish Widows publishes its Protect Personal Protection policy summary (61041, January 2026) on its adviser website. It says you "may qualify for free accidental death cover while we consider your application for Life Cover or Life with Critical Illness Cover". Legal & General's summary lists an accidental death benefit among those included with its life insurance: from when it receives an application, for up to 90 days or until a decision is made, it pays the amount applied for, up to £300,000 for all applications, if an accident causes death within 90 days. What an accidental death policy does and does not cover is in what does accidental life insurance cover.

Is there free life cover for new parents?

Aviva calls one plan Free Parent Life Cover. Its policy summary (PT01118, May 2026), held in Aviva's adviser document library, describes a one-year life insurance plan that pays £15,000 if you die during its term. The parent must be aged 18 to 66, can take it out on their own only, and must apply before the child's fourth birthday. Only one plan can be taken out for each child. It will not pay if death is by suicide or intentional self-inflicted injury, or if it results from non-prescribed drug abuse or a history of alcohol excess, and it ends if you stop living in the UK. Whether that is enough is a question for parents weighing life insurance.

Is death in service free life insurance?

Legal & General's guide to death in service (24 February 2026) says the benefit "is normally provided at no cost to the employee", and describes it as an employee benefit paying a tax-free cash sum if the employee dies while on the company payroll. It notes that it is not mandatory for employers to offer it, that most UK employers offering it give between two and four times salary, and that "when an employee leaves an organisation, they will no longer be protected by any death in service benefit". Self-employed people do not qualify.

Normally free to you, then, but tied to your job and to the salary multiple your employer picks, which the guide says "may or may not be enough to meet your protection needs". Whether it makes other cover unnecessary is worked through in death in service and whether you still need life insurance. To have workplace cover set against a personal policy, submit the page's form and someone will ring you at no cost.

What does "free cover limit" mean in group life?

The phrase has a different meaning for employers. Aviva's employer guide to Group Life (GR01089, January 2026) says it offers "a free cover limit (FCL) to schemes with as few as three lives", and that the FCL is "the limit, under which medical information isn't needed". There, "free" refers to medical information, not to the price. Group schemes are explained in group life assurance cover.

Does a packaged bank account include life cover?

Bank of Scotland's packaged account benefits page (read 26 October 2026) lists "Personal accident cover up to £30,000" as one part of the worldwide multi-trip family travel insurance that comes with the account. It says cover "ceases fully on your 71st birthday" and that limits, terms and exclusions apply, with benefits supplied by selected third-party providers. That is accident cover within travel insurance, not a life insurance policy. If you are unsure what an account or membership you already hold includes, a broker can check that with you for free when they ring.

Are quotes, calculators and discounts the same as free cover?

No. A quote is a price for cover, not cover itself, and how quotes work is in life insurance quotes. Rewards and offers from insurers are covered in life insurance discounts, and the premium on a policy you take out is still payable. The wider picture of costs is in the what it costs guide.

Frequently asked questions

Can you get life insurance for free?

Only in narrow forms: temporary cover while you buy a home or while an application is assessed, Aviva's one-year Free Parent Life Cover plan, or death in service benefit, normally at no cost to employees. Each comes with conditions, and an ordinary policy has a premium.

Does free life assurance mean something different from free life insurance?

"Life assurance" and "life insurance" are used for the same cover, so free life assurance means the same narrow, time-limited offers described above. The term is explained in the difference between life insurance and life assurance.

Where can I work out how much cover I need for free?

Online calculators are common, and the method behind them is in how much life cover do I need. A result from one is not an offer of cover.

Can you get a life insurance quote without giving personal information?

A firm price depends on details about you and the cover you want, so some personal information is needed. The details involved are set out in life insurance quotes.

Any question about your own situation can be put to an FCA-authorised broker through the form, and they will phone you, free of charge.

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