Funeral insurance is the name given to over-50s whole of life cover sold with funeral costs in mind: you pay a monthly premium, and after an opening waiting period the policy pays a fixed cash sum when you die. The policy pays money, not a funeral, so it does not book a funeral director or arrange anything itself.

If you are arranging a funeral now, help may be available whatever the person held. In England and Wales, someone on certain benefits who is arranging a funeral and needs help with the cost may get GOV.UK's Funeral Expenses Payment: it goes towards burial or cremation fees, plus up to £1,000 for other costs such as the coffin, flowers or the funeral director. Northern Ireland has its own Funeral Payment. Scotland has the Funeral Support Payment.

Thinking about funeral cover for later? Whenever the time feels right, an FCA-authorised broker can ring and talk over which policies your age opens up; the call is free, and you ask for it with the form on this page.

GOV.UK adds that it will not usually meet the whole bill, and that the amount allows for other money available, such as an insurance policy or the estate. Age Scotland's guide (April 2026) gives the 2026/27 rate as £1,327.75 if no funeral plan is in place, or £162.05 with a fully paid-up plan, and mygov.scot says the payment is reduced where the person left money such as insurance policies or funeral plans.

GOV.UK's guide to arranging a funeral says the bill can be met from a scheme the person had, by you or family or friends, or from the estate, which needs a grant of representation (probate).

What a funeral insurance policy is, and who gets the money

SunLife's Guaranteed Over 50 Plan terms (S-G050T12.25.V3, no date printed) call it a whole of life policy that pays a fixed cash sum after the first year; the money might go on the funeral, on debts, or be left as a gift. Aviva's over-50s page (WC05649 09/2026) says the money can be used for anything, including funeral costs. So "funeral insurance" describes how the cover is marketed, not a separate kind of policy.

Who receives the payout depends on the policy and how it is set up. SunLife's terms say that to claim, the person making the claim needs to give evidence of their entitlement to the proceeds, and that the amount normally forms part of the estate and so may be subject to inheritance tax unless the plan is written under an appropriate trust. How a trust works is on what a life insurance trust is.

Ordinary term life insurance pays only if death falls inside its term and usually asks health questions; the over-50s plans here pay whenever you die, if premiums are kept up, and pay modest sums. Whole of life insurance explains the wider family, and does life insurance cover funeral costs looks at which kinds of cover can reach a funeral bill.

Guaranteed acceptance and the fixed payout

Guaranteed acceptance means you are taken on without health questions (Scottish Friendly asks only whether you smoke) if you are inside the plan's age band and live in the UK. It does not mean the full sum is paid from day one, or that the sum covers a whole funeral. Each row comes from the provider's own document.

Plan and documentGuaranteed acceptance ifSize of the sumPremiums payable until
SunLife Guaranteed Over 50 Plan, terms S-G050T12.25.V3 (no date printed), read 22 October 2026Aged 49-85 and UK residentFrom £500; "£18,000 or less" in total across SunLife guaranteed-acceptance policiesPolicy anniversary on or after your 95th birthday; cover then continues until death
Legal & General Over 50s Fixed Life Insurance, summary QGI12836 11/2025 (direct version)Aged 50 to 80; UK resident for at least 183 days in the last tax yearMaximum £10,000 across all its Over 50s policiesAge 90
Aviva Over 50s Life Insurance, web page WC05649 09/2026Aged between 50 and 80, living in the UKYou choose either the cover amount or the monthly premium; premiums run from £5 to £100 a month, with £100 a month the most across all its over-50s policies30 years, or the policy anniversary after your 90th birthday, if sooner
Post Office Over 50s Life Cover, key facts PO 050 KF v2.9 LIVE AUG26 (provided by Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited)Resident in the United Kingdom and aged 50 to 80Benefit amount between £1,000 and £10,000, depending on agePolicy anniversary on or after you turn 95
Scottish Friendly My Mutual Guaranteed Over 50s Plan, key facts (no date printed)UK resident, aged between 50 and 74Maximum cash benefit £20,000Policy anniversary after your 90th birthday at the latest

The payout is fixed. Legal & General's summary (QGI12836 11/2025) says: "It’s not designed to meet the full cost of a funeral, and does not guarantee to do so." Inflation will reduce the fixed sum's buying power, it adds, and SunLife says the same. Post Office offers an Increasing Benefit Option that raises the benefit by 3% of the initial amount each year, with the premium rising too, though its key facts say the value may still not keep up with inflation.

To set those sums against a bill: SunLife's Cost of Dying Report 2026 (January 2026) gives £3,828 as the UK average for a simple attended funeral; a direct cremation, the lowest-priced type, averages £1,628. Those are averages from a firm that itself sells over-50s cover; average funeral costs in the UK has more.

The waiting period before the full sum is paid

Each plan above holds back the full sum for a natural-cause death in the opening stretch. Legal & General and SunLife set the first year and refund premiums paid; Aviva sets the first 12 months and pays an amount equal to the premiums; Post Office sets a 12-month "deferred period" in which it pays 1.5 times all premiums paid; Scottish Friendly's full cover starts after 2 years, with a return of monthly premiums before then. Each plan treats accidental death in its own way.

The wording behind each, and whether any cover pays in full from the start, is on the funeral cover waiting period page. Those opening years can be talked through for your own age on the broker's call, which has no charge.

When the premiums can add up to more than the payout

All five providers' documents in the table carry the same warning in their own words: live long enough and the total you have paid in can exceed the sum paid out when you die.

Started at the same age, a plan that runs to 95 asks for more payments than one that stops at 90. That is the trade the policy makes, and whether over-50s cover is worth it weighs it. Working those figures through for a particular age and sum is something the broker can do, free, when they ring.

What happens if you stop paying

Premiums that finish at the plan's end age are not a lapse: Aviva and SunLife both say cover then continues until you die. Stopping early is another matter:

  • Legal & General: if you stop paying premiums when due, the plan is cancelled and nothing is paid back.
  • SunLife: after a missed payment it writes to you and allows 30 days, then a reminder letter and 14 more days; if the premium is still unpaid the plan is cancelled and nothing is paid back. Within 6 months of the first unpaid premium you can choose to continue by paying all the premiums you missed.
  • Aviva's page says cover is cancelled 60 days after the last premium was due, with no premiums returned.
  • Post Office: the key facts say that if two consecutive premiums are missed before you are at least halfway through your policy, "your policy will end and you may receive nothing back". Once you are at least halfway (half the premium payments due between the start and the policy anniversary on or after your 95th birthday), its Protected Benefit still pays at least half the benefit amount on death, the exact sum depending on how many premiums had been paid. Its key facts also say you can lower the benefit, to a minimum of £1,000, if premiums become unaffordable.
  • Scottish Friendly: missing a monthly premium for more than 2 months ends the policy with no value unless more than 5 years' worth of premiums have been paid, in which case your estate receives a Reduced Cash Benefit.

Legal & General, SunLife, Post Office and Scottish Friendly each give 30 days to change your mind, with premiums refunded if you cancel within it. See also what a lapse means.

Where a prepaid funeral plan fits

A prepaid funeral plan is a different product, bought from a funeral plan provider rather than an insurer; GOV.UK lists a pre-paid plan and an insurance policy as separate examples of a scheme someone may have had. How plans work is on what a prepaid funeral plan is and in the funeral plans and funeral costs guide, and the funeral cover comparison sets six insurers' over-50s plans side by side.

To weigh funeral insurance against your own age and budget, you can talk it over with an FCA-authorised broker by phone, and plans too if you wish; the enquiry form starts that call, which costs nothing.

Frequently asked questions

What does funeral cover not include?

None of these policies arranges a funeral. SunLife's first-year accidental death benefit is also ruled out where death results, directly or indirectly, from causes it lists, among them natural causes or illness, self-inflicted injury, war, alcohol or drug abuse, criminal acts and hazardous pursuits.

What decides the price of funeral insurance?

SunLife fixes its premium from your age when the plan starts, whether you smoke and the sum it will pay; Scottish Friendly's key facts say its premiums start from £7 per month. The figure for you comes from a quote, and over-50s life insurance cost looks at what moves it.

Sources