Whole of life critical illness cover, meaning a critical illness payout that stays in place for life, is not how Vitality, Legal & General, Aviva or LV= set up critical illness cover. Vitality sells its serious illness cover only for a fixed term, and the other three insurers' plans have to end before an age limit, 80 at most. The nearest lifelong option is Vitality's LifestyleCare, which sits on its whole of life cover but pays for fewer conditions.

An FCA-authorised broker can put it to insurers whether illness benefits could sit on lifelong cover for you, given your age and health. Your answers to the short questions in the form on this page go to a broker, who rings you back without charge.

What do insurers print about critical illness on a whole of life plan?

Vitality's plan provisions (VLTD174857WF_J3779_02/2025, a customer document hosted on its adviser literature pages) say: "Life Cover can instead be for the whole of your life – this is called whole of life." Two covers in the same booklet are tied to a set end date: "Serious Illness Cover must be for a fixed term." and "Life with Serious Illness Cover must be for a fixed term."

Aviva's summary for its Whole of Life Insurance+ (AL50007 02/2026) lists the extras you can choose as waiver of premium, which protects your payments if illness or injury stops you working, and a cover amount that rises each year. Zurich's whole of life key features (PW720505007 02/25, on Zurich's intermediary site) describe Life Cover that pays "when you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness". That is a different thing from critical illness; critical illness and terminal illness cover are set apart on their own page. How another insurer's lifelong plan treats an illness benefit is a point the broker can raise when it calls you back.

For the plain whole of life product itself, see what a whole of life policy is and the types of whole life insurance.

What does Vitality's LifestyleCare pay for?

Vitality describes it this way: "LifestyleCare Cover allows you to access some or all of your Life Cover if you are diagnosed with an illness or condition that we cover and that meets our definition of that condition." It is "only available if you have chosen Whole of Life Cover. It is available on single life plans only." So it is part of the life cover rather than a second sum on top.

Severity levelShare of the LifestyleCare amount paidDefinitions in the appendix
Level 120%Alzheimer's disease, dementia, Parkinson's disease, each "resulting in permanent symptoms"
Level 2100%Permanent inability to perform 3 out of 6 listed tasks; persistent confusional state; severe stroke resulting in permanent symptoms

The appendix wording is strict. For Alzheimer's disease, for example, it asks for "permanent clinical loss of the ability to do all of the following": remember, reason, and perceive, understand, express and give effect to ideas. Heart attack and cancer do not appear among those definitions.

What a claim does to the rest of the plan depends on an option called LifestyleCare Cover Protector. Without it, a Level 1 payment reduces your Life Cover and LifestyleCare Cover by the amount paid, and a Level 2 payment removes LifestyleCare from the plan and reduces Life Cover by the amount paid. With the "level 1 & 2" version, a Level 1 payment does not affect later claims, and a Level 2 payment is made if you survive for at least 14 days after meeting the definition, leaving the Life Cover amount unchanged. Vitality makes only one Level 1 payment, and it will not pay for a condition it excluded from your cover at application.

How long can critical illness cover last compared with whole of life?

Each of these critical illness plans has to end by a set age, which is the main gap between them and a lifelong policy:

Insurer and planAge to applyPlan must end
Legal & General, Critical Illness Cover (QGI14786 - 2026/10)Up to 67Before age 75; length 2 to 50 years
Aviva, Critical Illness Plan (DA09001 05/2023)18 to 64Before you turn 76; length 5 to 50 years
LV=, Life and Critical Illness (49027-2022 04/26)17 to 59 inflation linked, or up to 64 level or decreasingBefore age 80 for level or decreasing cover, age 70 for inflation linked

Vitality's route past the end date is different. Its provisions say the plan schedule shows whether Serious Illness Cover will carry on after its expiry date as Dementia and FrailCare Cover, a lump sum for diagnoses on a separate list. The amount is the lesser of a share of the cover left at expiry, worked from 50% of a level or indexed cover amount, and a maximum of £100,000, which rises each plan anniversary in line with RPI if the cover is indexed. Premiums carry on and are adjusted. You can cancel it at any time if you do not want the cover to continue.

What do these covers cost?

Legal & General's page says its critical illness cover can be added for an extra cost when you take out its Life Insurance or Decreasing Life Insurance. A monthly price for illness cover on lifelong terms depends on a personal quote, and putting one together with you is part of the broker's free call.

On Vitality's plan, LifestyleCare carries a premium of its own, which stops if a claim removes it from the plan. Premium Step, a premium that starts lower and climbs each year (see the types of whole life insurance), can apply with or without LifestyleCare. Reviewable whole of life premiums are reviewed from the tenth plan anniversary and at each person's 75th birthday, and "There is no limit on the amount we might increase or reduce your premium by after a review." Your plan schedule shows which kind you hold.

Can you hold term critical illness cover alongside whole of life?

Where one policy cannot do both, two can sit side by side. Legal & General's summary describes adding critical illness "alongside your Life Insurance as a separate policy", so a lifelong plan from one insurer and a term critical illness plan from another or the same one would be two contracts, each with its own premium and its own end date. Combined and additional critical illness cover explains what each setup leaves in place after a claim, and buying critical illness cover on its own covers which insurers sell it without a life policy.

The trade-off is plain from the table above: the term cover stops at a stated age, and the lifelong policy carries on. Whether the sum is worth having, and for how many years, is a question about your own finances; how much critical illness cover you need sets out one way to work at it. If you would like term critical illness priced beside lifelong cover for you personally, use the form on this page, then raise it when the broker rings, free of charge.

Frequently asked questions

Does Vitality's LifestyleCare work for joint plans?

No: its provisions limit LifestyleCare to single life plans. Its joint whole of life cover, including the second death option, therefore comes without it.

Can I change a whole of life plan to a fixed term plan later?

On Vitality's plan you cannot: once it has started, no cover can be switched between whole of life and fixed term. Other insurers' rules are for the broker to check with you.

Is Dementia and FrailCare the same as keeping critical illness cover for life?

No. It follows a fixed-term Serious Illness Cover, has a £100,000 maximum (index-linked if the cover is indexed) and pays for the conditions in its own appendix. More on Vitality's main plan is in how its serious illness cover pays.

Pairing life and critical illness cover in one term plan is covered in what life and critical illness cover is; related guides sit under critical illness and income.

Sources