A Zurich life policy is sold as Zurich Life Protection: one policy that can provide life cover, critical illness cover or the two together. Zurich Assurance Ltd's key features document (February 2025, print code NP720500009 02/25) is the source for everything below: the choices, the age and term limits, the optional benefits, the situations where a claim can fail, and how trusts and claims work.

Zurich prices each policy on your own details, so a figure here would mean little. If you would like yours worked out, put a few answers into this page's form and expect a ring from an FCA-authorised broker; it costs nothing.

What can you choose when you buy a Zurich life policy?

The document says the Zurich Life Protection policy "can offer Life Cover, Critical Illness Cover or Life Cover and Critical Illness". The choice is made at the start and cannot be changed later. Zurich says you can apply online, and that if you apply through a price comparison website, "some of the options described may not be available to you".

VersionWhat Zurich says it pays
Life CoverA lump sum on death or on a terminal illness diagnosis. The policy then ends.
Critical Illness CoverThe full sum assured for one of 39 listed Full Payment conditions, after which the policy ends. Two less severe Additional Payment conditions pay the lower of £25,000 or 25% of the sum assured, and the policy carries on.
Life Cover and Critical IllnessOne sum assured for death, terminal illness or a covered critical illness, with the same Additional Payment conditions. A separate sum for each needs two policies.

The cover can be for one person or two people jointly, and a joint policy pays on the first event, which Zurich calls "joint life first event". Three shapes of cover are offered. Level cover and premiums stay the same. Increasing cover goes up annually at a rate of 3%, 5% or the Retail Price Index, and for every 1% added to the cover, premiums rise by 1.5%. Decreasing cover follows a repayment mortgage or loan down to zero, and Zurich warns it "might reduce faster or slower than your repayment mortgage or loan", so a payout could be more or less than the debt. The two cases are compared in decreasing against level term, and the general product in how term life insurance works.

The list of illnesses is in the document's appendix; Zurich says it follows the ABI's March 2023 Statement of Best Practice for Critical Illness Cover. What a definition requires is in the full terms, so see conditions covered and life and critical illness cover.

Who can take out the policy, and for how long?

The document's table gives the youngest and oldest ages at the start and the longest term for each version. Zurich's own note on reading it is "if the age is shown as 83, it means before your 84th birthday".

VersionStarting agesOldest age when it endsTerm
Life Cover18 to 83891 year to 50 years
Critical Illness Cover18 to 69745 years to 40 years
Life Cover and Critical Illness18 to 69745 years to 40 years

You must also be a UK resident and registered with a UK doctor when the policy starts and for six months before applying. Zurich says the cost depends on age, health, occupation, tobacco or nicotine replacement use (and how long since stopping), plus the amount, type and length of cover. It guarantees the premium for the whole term, except where you pick increasing cover or change the cover, or where later information about your application leads it to change your terms. Your price is set out in your Confirmation of terms, and no honest figure can be given without your details (what moves the price).

Unsure whether your age or health fits within these limits? A broker reached through this page's form can talk it through at no cost.

Which extras and options does Zurich add?

These cost extra and depend on the version you choose.

  • Children's Benefit covers children until their 22nd birthday. If a child is diagnosed with a Full Payment condition, Zurich pays the lower of £25,000 or 50% of your sum assured, and it pays £5,000 if a child dies after 30 days old. Your own policy carries on after a claim. Between a child's 18th and 22nd birthdays, the Children's Conversion Benefit lets them start their own Critical Illness Cover or Life Cover and Critical Illness policy for up to £25,000 or 50% of the sum assured; if they have not already been the subject of a claim, they need not tell Zurich about their personal circumstances.
  • Multi-Fracture Cover pays £2,000, £4,000 or £6,000 for a fracture, dislocation, ruptured tendon or torn ligaments, with a £6,000 yearly maximum and a list of excluded sports. It can only be chosen at the start.
  • Milestone benefit lets you raise cover within 90 days of an event such as moving house, marrying or having a child, without telling Zurich about changes in your health. You must be 54 or younger, and the rise is capped at the lower of your original sum assured or £200,000.
  • Separation benefit: on a joint policy, if you separate, divorce or dissolve a civil partnership, you "may have the option to cancel this policy and start individual policies" without further health details.

Other changes after the start include raising or lowering the cover or term, and asking for a premium review if you have stopped smoking. Zurich says health questions may be needed and that premiums are likely to change. Ask Zurich or a broker whether any health check or other perk applies to your policy; the options above are the ones the key features list.

If you move house or are buying a property, what does Zurich offer?

For a property purchase, Zurich says it "may be able to offer you free cover for the period between the date you exchange contracts (missives in Scotland) and the date you complete the contract". It may also offer free cover while it assesses an application. The conditions sit in two separate documents named in the key features, the Underwriting free cover and Mortgage protection free cover terms and conditions, so ask for them before relying on it. Cover needed for the loan itself is covered in life insurance for a mortgage.

How does terminal illness cover work, and when might Zurich not pay?

Life Cover pays the sum assured on diagnosis of a terminal illness, not only on death, and the combined version does the same. What counts as a terminal illness is set out in the full terms and conditions rather than the key features. Zurich sends those "when your policy starts" and says you can contact it for a copy before then, so ask for one if this part of the cover matters to you.

Living with a terminal diagnosis, or caring for someone who is? Marie Curie's support line, 0800 090 2309, is free, and its information is also available online and in print.

The document says a claim may not be accepted or paid in full, or the policy may be cancelled or its terms changed, if you did not answer application questions "fully, honestly, and accurately", did not report changes before the start, or have unpaid premiums. It adds that a claim may fail where the illness is not covered by the policy or does not match the policy definition exactly. Zurich may also show extra exclusions on your Confirmation of terms.

The one fixed exclusion it names for life cover is death by suicide, or by intentional self-inflicted injury, in the first 12 months after the policy starts, or in the 12 months after cover is increased: no claim is paid for it.

The policy has no cash-in value. Stop paying and the policy ends, with nothing paid back. You can cancel at any point; within the first 30 days Zurich refunds premiums paid, and after that it does not.

How do trusts and claims work with a Zurich policy?

Zurich's key features say proceeds are free of income tax and capital gains tax, and that where the policy is written under a suitable trust, the death lump sum should fall outside your estate for inheritance tax; outside a trust it may be liable to inheritance tax. Zurich publishes an Absolute Trust Deed with guidance notes (NP720472007 08/25). The guidance says beneficiaries, once chosen, "cannot be changed", and lists a joint life first death policy, and critical illness cover you want to benefit from yourself, among the cases where this trust should not be used. You are automatically a trustee and can appoint up to four more, and Zurich recommends at least two; with no extra trustees, a payment on your death waits for probate or letters of administration. For more control it points to a more flexible trust and an adviser, and it says donors should take their own tax advice. Background is in our trust explainer, and the steps in putting a policy in trust.

To claim, you or whoever is dealing with the policyholder's affairs calls 0370 240 0073 (Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm, not bank holidays), and Zurich says it will confirm what information it needs (making a Zurich life insurance claim). How often UK insurers pay claims is covered in life insurance claims statistics.

Which Zurich company is the insurer, and what about reviews?

The policy is issued by Zurich Assurance Ltd, an insurance company on the Financial Services register under number 147672; the PRA authorises it, and both the FCA and the PRA regulate it. For its financial strength, the key features send readers to Zurich's Solvency and Financial Condition Report (SFCR) on its website.

Customer review scores, Defaqto ratings and claims figures are not reported here. If you read them elsewhere, check who published them and the year they cover.

If Zurich could not meet its obligations, the key features say that on a policy like this one the FSCS "covers 100% of the claim", though its first aim is to keep the cover in place rather than pay compensation. Complaints go to Zurich's customer services, and the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free, can look at one you remain unhappy with. Other insurers' documents are set out under insurers compared, including Royal London.

When you want Zurich's terms and others looked at against your own circumstances, completing the form here is a free next step with an FCA-authorised broker, and the price and acceptance stay with each insurer.

Frequently asked questions

Is Zurich a life insurance company?

Yes. Zurich Assurance Ltd describes itself as an insurance company, and Zurich Life Protection is its life and critical illness policy. It appears on the Financial Services register as firm 147672.

Can you cancel a Zurich life policy?

Yes, at any time. Premiums come back only if you cancel within the first 30 days; cancelling Zurich life insurance sets out how.

Can Zurich cover be arranged to follow a repayment mortgage?

Yes, as decreasing cover, which falls each month in line with a repayment mortgage or loan while premiums stay level. Zurich warns the two may not match, so a payout could be above or below what you owe. See comparing mortgage life insurance.

What kind of trust does Zurich's own deed create?

An absolute trust: the beneficiaries and their shares are fixed once named. For more control, Zurich's guidance suggests a more flexible trust and a word with an adviser.

Sources