Best Life Insurance Companies – Top 10 Providers In 2024

When we’re evaluating life insurance companies, we’re looking first and foremost for two things:

1. Is their cover the most comprehensive it can be?
2. Are they offering policies at a competitive price?

With a bird’s eye view of the life insurance industry, we’re well-positioned to evaluate and compare these companies, so our recommendations are the best they can be for you. What companies come out on top? Read on to find out.

Throughout the life insurance industry, there are many different companies offering insurance products. Some are huge generalists with every kind of cover you can imagine. Some are specialists, primarily offering narrower packages, such as Over 50s Life Insurance.

This means there’s no singular “best” insurance provider in the UK. What works best for you might not work best for your spouse, or for your business partner, or your adult children. The choice of the best life insurance provider in the UK comes down to your specific, unique situation and needs.

It’s a lot to consider and can feel overwhelming, especially if you’re trying to comb through it all in the stressful aftermath of a life-changing event that made you reevaluate your situation and decide life insurance is a good idea.

Compare The Best Life Insurance Companies And Receive Quotes That Meet Your Exact Requirements

That’s where we come in; our goal is to make the process simpler and easier for you. With that in mind, we have three options for you.

1. Continue reading, learn about the UK’s top insurance providers, and pick one that suits your needs.
2. Fill out our simple form and receive quotes from all of the UK’s top providers, to compare plans directly.
3. Call us on 0203 129 88 66 to start the process with our friendly and helpful agents.

The Ten Best Providers of Term Life Insurance in the UK

With our unique perspective and insight into the companies offering life insurance cover in the UK, we’ve compiled a list of the best providers of term life insurance cover for 2024 and beyond.

The comments here are just a brief representation of our opinions; for a more detailed discussion, feel free to call or reach out and contact us any time.

Company	Plan Name	Comments
VitalityLife	Comprehensive Cover or Combined Cover	Our pick for the best value life insurance provider for term life insurance of all kinds for 2024.
Scottish Widows	Protect Personal	Also includes potential emotional support and practical support for clients through Scottish Widows Care
Nationwide Building Society	Multi-Protection	Many varieties of term life cover are available through Nationwide.
Legal & General	Level or Decreasing Term Assurance	Their general term life cover is also good, but their decreasing term is exceptional among similar offerings.
Sainsbury’s Bank	Mortgage Protection Plan	Often bundled with or sold alongside mortgages offered by the bank.
Barclays Bank	Simple Life Insurance	A simple form of term life cover with premiums as low as £6 per month.
Zurich Insurance	Life Protection	One of the most standard, high-quality life insurance plans available.
AA (From L and G)	Mortgage Protection and family income benefit	AA partners with Legal & General to offer high-quality life insurance plans.
Aviva	Life Insurance	The most “bread and butter” plan you can get from a provider in the UK.
LV=	Flexible Protection Plans	A variety of useful options to configure the perfect plan for you.

The Ten Best Providers of Whole of Life Insurance in the UK

We’ve read the reviews, experienced the claims—both the hits and the misses—and analysed many years’ worth of data to conclude that these ten insurance providers offer the best range of whole life insurance cover available to UK residents.

Please let us know if you have a uniquely positive (or negative) experience with one of these companies.

Company	Plan Name	Comments
Zurich Insurance	Adaptable Life Plan	Our recommended best value life insurance plan in the whole of life category across the board.
VitalityLife	VitalityLife	Their core offering and one of the top whole of life insurance plans in the UK.
NFU	AIG Whole of Life Insurance	It includes both single and joint life insurance cover options depending on your needs.
Royal London	Pegasus Whole of Life Plan	One of the best whole of life insurance cover plans for inheritance tax planning.
Legal & General	Whole of Life Protection Plan	No list of UK insurance providers is complete without at least one entry from Legal & General.
Scottish Widows	Protect Whole of Life Cover	The supplementary support offered by Scottish Widows is top-notch.
Aegon	Whole of Life Plans and Critical Illness	One of the best options if you need whole of life cover with a critical illness rider, which can be expensive from other providers.
AIG Life	Whole of Life Insurance or Care Coverage	AIG offers several different highly-rated plans many people have good experiences with in the UK.
LV=	LifeTime+	Recently, they’ve added terminal illness cover to their already excellent LifeTime+ plan.
Old Mutual	Protect Guaranteed Whole of Life Plans	A set of very good plans that offer whole of life cover customized to your needs.

If you need a quote for whole of life cover, please fill out our no-obligation form and get quotes from all of these providers and more in a matter of moments.

The Ten Best Providers for Over 50s Life Insurance Cover in the UK

Over 50s life insurance cover is often guaranteed based on your age, while other life insurance plans may decline to offer you options at all due to your age and the risk associated with it. They aren’t even necessarily more expensive, but they may have additional terms you need to know.

Here are our ten picks for this year’s best over 50s insurance providers in the UK, based on our analysis of the quotes and offerings we see daily.

Company	Plan Name	Comments
Smart Insurance	Smart Guaranteed Life Insurance Coverage (For Over 50s)	No medical exam or health questions, flexible policies, global cover, and accidental death benefits. Includes a Will Kit.
Foresters Friendly Society	50+ Life Cover	Offers potential bonuses. You only need to pay premiums until you’re 85.
Sainsbury’s Bank	Over 50s Life Insurance Plans	Coverage can start as low as £5 per month. Offers added entry to Legal & General Wellbeing Support Facilities.
Onefamily	Over Fifties Life Coverage	Defined payments guaranteed to not increase. Guaranteed acceptance for anyone aged 50 to 80 in the UK. Immediate cover for accidental death in the first year.
Post Office	Over 50s Life Coverage	Includes a funeral benefit with no added charge. No medical exams necessary. Offers both level term and increasing coverage.
Sunlife	Guaranteed Over 50 Plan	Guaranteed acceptance from age 49 to 85. Cash payments up to £18,000. 100% payout rate, often within three days.
Royal London	Guaranteed Lifelong Protection Plans	100% payout rate. No further premiums after 30 years or after turning 90.
Aviva	Guaranteed Lifelong Protection Plans	The same benefits as Royal London; essentially, the same plans from different firms.
Santander Bank	Over 50s Life Insurance	Plans are backed by Aviva, the UK’s largest insurance provider. Monthly premiums don’t increase, and acceptance is guaranteed.
LV=	50 Plus Plan	Guaranteed acceptance for UK residents. Free bonus gift card after paying your third premium.

Seeking a quote for one of the best plans available? Whether you need term, whole, or guaranteed cover, all you need to do is fill out our simple form and get quotes in your inbox from all of these companies and more.

Picking the Best Type of Cover for Your Situation

It’s understandable that people seek out the best life insurance. You don’t want to be stuck with a sub-standard offering, right? Some providers are better than others regarding factors such as policy exclusions, customer service, the speed of payouts from claims, and other issues.

The trouble is, with so many different possible living situations, financial situations, health situations, and lifestyle needs, there’s no way to define one “best” kind of life insurance for everyone.

The key is to determine what the best life insurance is for you. That means determining what you need the most to protect your loved ones after you pass.

The most important element to getting the best, most appropriate level of cover for the most affordable price is getting direct advice from life insurance experts.

While many websites with comparison charts exist, they tend to be biased, and software algorithms may be programmed to offer the option most beneficial to the broker earning a commission from the sale, not the best policy for you.

Here at Insurance Hero, we’re confident we can secure the best life insurance quotes you can get without commission-driven algorithms or comparison engines getting in the way. Call us, use our web form, or keep reading to learn more.

Life Insurance Offers Real Peace of Mind

There’s always a chance that, in the event of your passing, your family could end up suffering for your absence. We don’t just mean in terms of missing you emotionally; that will happen no matter what.

Without your presence and ongoing financial support, your family may have to forfeit some of the better things life has to offer. Your granddaughter misses gymnastics lessons, or your grandnephew misses out on music tuition, or even your family having to skip holidays to keep paying for the family home.

No one wants to know they’ve left behind more than their own absence, right? Fortunately, a life insurance policy helps to guarantee that your loved ones won’t have to make sacrifices or skip out on personal growth because of those financial burdens and commitments.

It’s also not uncommon that a lender will require you to get some kind of life insurance cover when you get a mortgage from them to buy a home. Rather than picking whatever policy they offer you – and giving them a commission for no reason – why not make sure you’re getting the best cover for your needs? That way, you can ensure that your mortgage is paid if you pass, and more.

What Can Life Insurance be Used to Pay?

Here are some examples of some costs that life insurance can be used to pay off, either immediately or on an ongoing basis in the form of an annuity or a managed lump sum.

Expense	Average Cost
Cost of a college degree (including maintenance and tuition)	£172,000
Cost of childcare over 10 years	£105,000
Cost of music tuition for two children over 10 years	£41,000
Gymnastics twice a week for two children over 10 years	£33,000
Cost of childcare over ten years	£58,000
Total	£409,000

With these kinds of expenses on the horizon for anyone with a family, it just makes sense to get some kind of cover that can protect them in the event of your death and subsequent loss of your income.

It’s also possible that certain policies can have added intangible benefits that can help even more. For example, if you have a policy that offers access to wellbeing facilities, this can help you out with your health and keep you hale and hearty for attending those milestones in your family’s lives.

Help Protect Your Family’s Future, Compare Top UK Insurers. Find Your Cheapest Quote ⏱ Takes About 60 Seconds

Without life insurance protection, just think about the things the people closest to you might have to give up.

• Financial security, as they clear out your outstanding debts and monthly obligations in your name.
• Their current lifestyle, as their funds have to go to expenses you previously covered.
• Their home, if your mortgage can’t be covered, and they’re forced to move.
• Your funeral – the average cost of a funeral in the UK is increasing every year, and is up to £4,141.
• More money, as a portion of your estate has to go to inheritance taxes.
• Childcare, as they have to decide between living expenses and childcare costs.
• Their own futures, as the drain on their funds and lifestyle, give them less room for critical illness and medical issues that may arise in the future.

All of this and more can be ongoing repercussions for living and dying without life insurance cover while your family still relies on you.

Searching for the Best Life Insurance Cover in the UK? Here’s Why You Should Make an Enquiry with Us Today

If you’re seeking the best possible cover you can get in the UK, we’re the place to be. We aren’t biased and we aren’t driven solely by commissions, so we have your best interests in mind, not our pocketbooks.

Here are some of the main reasons why you should fill out our form and get a no-obligation set of quotes from the best insurance providers today.

• You can get lower premiums than you might elsewhere.
• Our system is reliable, honest, and trustworthy.
• Our UK-based staff are caring and concerned for your well-being.
• On average, you can get life insurance for as little as £8 per month. For some over-50s plans, you can see even lower rates.
• Life insurance premiums for mums and dads are generally better than from other insurers.
• Specialist Life Cover gives your family protection without undue strain on your bank account.
• We’re highly rated for our excellent customer service. We’ll make sure you get the cover you want today.
• If you smoke or even vape, we can get you non-discriminatory rates from multiple providers.
• You can get multiple policies for you and a spouse, or a joint policy that covers both of you simultaneously.

Remember: the cheapest possible life insurance isn’t necessarily the best option. While cheap life insurance is certainly possible, you may be giving up cover or even qualifications for the death benefit in exchange, and nothing is worse than your family filing a claim only to be denied because you didn’t die the right way.

Finding the best life cover for critical illness to meet your needs and your monthly outgoings can seem hard. Even our top ten lists above are only a place to start and not a be-all, end-all list of the only options you have.

That’s why we offer an alternative in the form of our free life insurance or critical illness cover advisory service. Instead of manually filling out forms and getting quotes from ten or more providers, comparing them when you barely understand the terms and terminology they use, and trying to muddle through it all, just contact us.

Our knowledgeable team of experts can screen the UK’s leading life insurance companies and ensure you find the best life insurance quotes available.

We stack up the best against the best and give you a customized, tailored list of the best providers, the most comprehensive policies, and the most ideal options for your unique circumstances.

Then, you can decide which is best for you. The one with the highest payout, the one with the best customer service, the one with the lowest fixed premiums, or some balance of these and other factors? The choice is always yours.

Understanding the Terms Used when Buying Life Insurance

Life insurance is a difficult industry to understand. It’s one thing to grasp common terms like premium and term, but it’s another to understand all of the jargon and terminology the insurance industry and providers use in their quotes.

Let us help you work through it, both with resources like this one and through direct contact if you want to call us and work with us directly. We’re more than happy to answer any questions you may have.

What is life insurance all about?

Deciding on the best life insurance policy is one thing. For the individual buying life insurance coverage, think about buying peace of mind.

After all, as a policyholder, you don’t generally gain anything from the policy directly. It can’t take effect until you die. Of course, some kinds of policies offer options that can benefit you while you are alive, like cash loans against the value of the policy. If that’s something you think you may need, keep it in mind when you’re evaluating policies.

Life insurance matters more to your loved ones and whether or not they’ll need to make a life insurance claim. It’s their financial future you’re providing with your life insurance.

For you, it’s peace of mind to know that if the worst happens and you pass unexpectedly, your spouse, your family, and your descendants will still have a roof over their heads, their rent or mortgage covered, and their debts paid off in full.

Maintaining an acceptable lifestyle, putting food on the table, paying childcare costs, and paying off loans are all things the death benefit from a life insurance policy can do for your loved ones.

The loss of a household income earner – even if you’re retired and living off your pension – due to a critical illness or death can significantly impact household income and future spending, as well as security.

The higher your earnings in your golden years, the bigger your loss is in financial terms. Life insurance cover, even decreasing term cover, is financial protection for those closest to you. That goes the same whether you opt for an annuity or a cash lump sum.

How does life insurance work?

You might wonder, how does life insurance even work? It’s one thing to buy coverage, but it’s always a good idea to know how it all works under the hood. Buying the best life insurance or critical illness coverage is essentially like paying to enter into a contract.

As the policyholder, you keep paying to keep that contract alive. Like any other ongoing expense, if you stop paying, you cease receiving the benefits of the policy you’re holding.

The policy itself is the contract that you pay. The terms of the life insurance policy are set out when the plan requires the insurance company to pay out the benefits promised within the life insurance policy document.

Like any contract, it’s critical to pay attention to the fine print. You, as the insured, have obligations to be met, and so does the insurer.

Standard life insurance policies have exceptions that you might expect. For example, the policy provider generally will not pay out death benefits on the policy if the insured commits suicide within a specific timeframe after entering into the contractual agreement. This ensures that no one can sign up for life insurance and then take their life for the financial gain of another. It’s an element of security against exploitation of the insurance provider.

It’s also a safeguard against those with suicidal ideation or suicidal thoughts. If you believe your family or dependents would receive hundreds of thousands of pounds when you die, it’s an incentive to act on those thoughts; the clause in the contracts helps keep you safe as well.

The fine print of each life insurance contract will state the terms necessary for the policy to remain valid. These are generally fairly standard; probably 80% of the contracts will be the same from provider to provider, but the remaining details in that 20% can vary.

For example, mortgage protection insurance contracts are only active until the mortgage is repaid. Term life insurance with a level or flat benefit remains active for the duration of the term, generally between ten and thirty years.

Life insurance providers pay out death benefits in the event of death. Some also pay out in the event of a critical illness, which is generally defined as an illness that is terminal and has less than a year of life expectancy.

For term life insurance cover, if you outlive the term, the premiums are not returned to you; you’re essentially left with nothing, though the preceding decades of peace of mind can’t be ignored.

Insurance providers pay out money on the death of their customers and technically make their money on their lives. Therefore, every policy is a gamble, and they perform sophisticated risk analysis on every customer to determine the appropriate terms and conditions.

How Much Life Cover Should You Have?

How much life insurance? This is perhaps the single most common question we see in the insurance business. Unfortunately, as with all similar questions, there’s no one answer.

Instead, we ask you questions in return:

• Do you have people in your life who would need financial assistance if they lost you from their life or if you suffered a critical illness?
• How much would losing you impact everyone who is financially dependent on you?
• How much of a salary would your household lose if you weren’t around to bring in a wage or receive a pension?
• In your employment, does your employer have any death-in-service benefits that can assist your dependents?
• Are you the principal breadwinner for your family or your dependents?
• Have you been searching for the cheapest life insurance, the best life insurance, or something else, and have you not yet found the right cover?

Answering these questions will help you determine the right kind of insurance to get and how much cover you seek in your policy.

What is the Average Cost of Life Insurance in the UK?

The cost to get life insurance, whether it’s a level term policy, critical illness cover, whole of life cover, or another kind of cover, will vary depending on the individual. However, you can use certain estimates and examples as a ballpoint figure.

Consider a 38-year-old applying to a company like SunLife for a ten-year term life insurance policy. This young, healthy non-smoker passes their medical history questions. They are offered a rate of roughly £10 per month for £100,000 of cover. For each additional £100,000 they want, the rate goes up another £10 in a flat increase.

This same individual as a smoker could expect to pay double that, at a rate of £20 per £100,000 they want to receive in their cover. This is because of all of the well-known health risks associated with smoking. Sometimes, you can find cheaper quotes, but they aren’t always available. It can also vary as to whether or not the insurance provider considers vaping to be in the same category as smoking.

Our life insurance comparison research into how much it costs for a £500,000 life insurance policy reveals that of consumers polled by Critical Research, most assume the average cost per £100,000 of cover is £51 per month. That means the reality is dramatically cheaper than what most people think.

The Three General Types of Life Insurance Cover

One of the hardest decisions you need to make is which kind of life insurance cover you need. Life insurance cover comes in many forms, and picking the right kind of cover can be a significant decision you need to make before you even start looking at specific insurance providers.

It’s one thing to seek a quote for life insurance, but you can’t even take that first step without knowing what kind of life insurance you want.

Remember, too, that various types of insurance cover each category, and riders and optional add-ons can change how they function even within those groups. That’s all part of why it’s so hard to pin down the best life insurance in the UK or elsewhere.

Considering Term Life Insurance

The first kind of life insurance is term life insurance. With term life insurance, you pick the amount of cover you’re seeking and the duration of that cover. For example, you might pick £250,000 for 30 years. If you pass within that 30-year term, the £250,000 pays out to your beneficiary.

If you outlive the policy, though, it expires, and you have nothing to show for it. You can often choose to renew your cover for another term or the remainder of your life, but it’s generally more expensive because your inherented risk is higher than it was 30 years prior. You can also switch to whole of life cover or another kind of cover instead, if you prefer.

There are three kinds of term life cover:

• Decreasing term life cover. This is term life insurance chosen to cover a specific debt obligation, such as a mortgage. Say you bought a home five years ago on a 30-year mortgage. You might choose life insurance cover with a 25-year term for the total value of the mortgage. Each year, the amount of coverage you get decreases based on your mortgage repayment. If you pass away, the cover pays out enough to repay the mortgage. If you don’t, by the time the term is up, you’ve paid off the mortgage anyway.
• Level term life cover. This is the kind of cover described above; a flat term, a flat death benefit, and no changes over time. Everything remains constant throughout the duration of the policy. You know what you pay and what you get at the outset, and there will be no surprises.
• Increasing term life cover. This kind of term life cover starts small, but the amount it pays out increases over time. It can be linked to inflation, given a fixed growth rate, or a flat increase yearly. The goal is to have a larger payout as life goes on and expenses, such as childcare and child education or late-life medical expenses, go up.

Term life cover is generally inexpensive – you can be looking at paying between £5 and £20 per month for every £100,000 of cover you get – with the knowledge that after the term is up, the policy has no remaining value.

Considering Whole of Life Insurance

The second kind of life insurance is whole of life insurance. With this kind of cover, you purchase a policy that remains with you until you pass, whether you pass in a tragic accident in your 50s or you live to be 100. You pay into the policy, and no matter when you pass, your death benefits are paid out.

This form of insurance, also known as life assurance, is often much more expensive than term cover because of the guarantee that it will pay out. At the same time, it builds cash value like an investment account, can grow like an investment with interest, and you may even be able to borrow against it like a cash value loan.

While it might initially sound like whole of life insurance is favourable – since it sticks around for the rest of your life, as long as you keep paying for it – there are drawbacks. After all, as we’ve mentioned, insurance providers are taking a gamble on their customers. If every bet is a guaranteed loss, there has to be some other reason why they offer their services.

Most whole of life insurance providers do periodic reviews, usually every five years. These reviews check on your ongoing health and risk situation and determine if your premiums need to change and go up. Usually, they will. You can potentially lock in premiums when you first buy your cover, but they will generally be higher to account for it.

On the plus side, since the cover is lifelong, as long as you keep paying the premiums, you will have that cover, no matter what.

If you want to learn more, we have a whole guide to whole of life cover here. Please read it, and if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask us directly.

Considering Over 50s Life Insurance

The third kind of life insurance is over 50s life insurance. This form of cover is specifically available to people who are over the age of 50 but under the age of 80. Over 50s cover can range from £25,000 to £1,000,000 in cover, and is unique in that you don’t have to undergo medical screening or questioning to qualify.

You pay into the cover, and your payout is guaranteed when you pass away. Often, there are other benefits, such as only needing to pay premiums until you reach the age of 85, cover if you move abroad, or additional care and support features for your golden years.

Since over 50s life insurance cover is usually guaranteed, it will be more expensive than other kinds of cover, but you also generally don’t even need to undergo medical questioning or a health assessment. However, you may still be able to volunteer information that could benefit your rates.

Picking the Life Insurance Plan You Need

What kind of cover do you need? A lot depends on your specific circumstances. Feel free to call us at the number listed above to discuss your unique situation and what you would benefit most from having.We’ll talk more about that later. For a quick summary, just consider the purpose you’re buying insurance for.

Whole Life insurance is best if you want to leave a legacy for your loved ones and ensure your inheritance taxes are covered.

If you want to protect a loan and ensure it’s paid off rather than handed down as a financial burden to your family, decreasing term cover is your best option.

If you want to pay for an ongoing, stable expense, like living expenses and funeral costs, level term life insurance is the best.

If you’re over the age of 50 and you’re worried that the other kinds of insurance will be riddled with exclusions or may deny you entirely, over 50s life cover is the best.

It’s difficult to say more without knowing your exact situation, but there’s plenty of information that can help you make the right decision.

Life Insurance Cover with Add-Ons

Many basic life insurance plans cover you for a fixed amount when you pass, but there may be a way to expand that cover by using additional riders and added cover features.

For example, you can get life insurance with funeral cover. The cost of funerals in the UK averages over £4,141 and is going up every single year. That’s a significant burden to put on your family immediately. Life insurance with a funeral rider can add an extra amount of cover that goes directly to funeral expenses.

A policy that has an added £5,000 rider for funeral expenses can cover the cost of a funeral without eating into the normal amount of benefit paid out. Often, in cases where payout is slower, funeral expenses can be paid out faster to make sure the funeral is covered at least.

Another example is critical illness cover. Normally, life insurance can’t be paid out if you’re still alive for obvious reasons. It’s called a death benefit, after all. Critical illness cover, however, can pay out if you are diagnosed with a critical illness.

What is a critical illness, though? This can vary from insurance provider to insurance provider. The key term is “defined critical illness” as it requires you to be diagnosed with a critical illness that the insurance provider defines and recognizes.

This can be something like a serious heart attack, stage 4 cancer diagnosis, or a degenerative disease that will progress fast enough you won’t live another year.

In these cases, if your insurance provider has a critical illness rider, you may be able to file for the claim “early” before your passing.

This has two major benefits: the first is that you can accept the burden of filing the claim yourself rather than putting that on the heads of your loved ones in their time of need. The second is that some of the money can be used for your own end-of-life care and arrangements rather than putting that burden on your own finances and family.

Some kinds of policies, like life assurance policies, can list defined critical illnesses as broad as pre-malignant tumours that are early-stage diagnoses, and haven’t spread.

All of this can vary between different insurance providers and even in terms of individual policies. That’s why it’s so important to get the help of insurance experts like we here at Insurance Hero.

What does sum assured mean?

When you have a policy quote that includes the term “sum assured”, what does it mean? The sum assured is the maximum amount of insurance coverage the insurer provides on the life insurance policy. It’s also called the death benefit. Your beneficiary will receive this sum when you pass during the term of the policy, so insurance companies put some conditions on the benefit.

One of the conditions is that you must die during the term of the policy. So, if you outlive the terms of a given policy, you aren’t entitled to the sum assured because you didn’t fulfil your end of the contract. Your life continues, and to many, that’s benefit enough.

For example, when a ten-year policy matures, the sum assured will not be payable if the policyholder is still alive.

Sum assured has another condition: you do not commit suicide after buying the insurance policy. However, this condition can vary from company to company, so it’s critical to read the policy documentation before buying any insurance plan. If you die due to accident, murder, or other causes, your beneficiaries will generally receive the sum assured.

What are pre-existing medical conditions when it comes to life insurance?

Life insurance may not be available to everyone outside of guaranteed cover policies. The main reason is pre-existing medical conditions. But what are pre-existing medical conditions?

The term describes medical conditions, illnesses, and injuries that existed before you apply for life insurance. A pre-existing condition can affect your life expectancy and, consequently, the cost of your life insurance policy.

If you suffer from a pre-existing condition, you’re at higher risk of dying within the term of a policy. Thus, the insurance provider will want to charge you more to compensate or potentially not even offer you a term policy.

What can constitute a pre-existing condition? Here are many real pre-existing conditions from real insurance providers.

• Cancer
• Suspected cancer
• Diabetes that requires insulin or oral medication
• High blood pressure
• Heart disease
• High cholesterol
• Lupus
• Migraines that occur more than twice a month or last three or more months
• Pregnancy, miscarriage, abortion, and childbirth
• AIDS/HIV
• Cerebral palsy
• Epilepsy
• Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy
• Kidney disease
• OCD
• Psychosis
• Anorexia or bulimia
• PTSD
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Muscular Dystrophy
• Organ transplants
• Paraplegia
• Quadriplegia
• Paralysis
• Terminal illnesses
• Congestive heart failure
• Coronary artery disease
• Peripheral vascular disease
• Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia

The list is long, and this isn’t even the full extent of what can qualify. This is why most life insurance will require a medical examination and medical history screening unless otherwise exempted from the process.

Buy Life Insurance Related Reading:

How To Easily Compare Life Insurance Quotes

The Differences Between Life Insurance and Assurance

Reduce Insurance Premiums by Comparison Shopping: How to Compare the Best Life Insurance Policies in the UK

Insurance companies are not the only providers of life insurance in the UK. Building societies, banks, high street retailers, and even supermarkets can offer some of the best cover plans. Sometimes, a company even resells insurance cover that comes from other companies.

For example, the Nationwide Building Society offers life insurance coverage to its members. This coverage can be very good, even better than the policies offered by Legal & General when the policies sold by Nationwide are from Legal & General.

It’s simply a special deal made between the two organizations, to offer their members an additional benefit. Where the plan is purchased can determine the premium, even if the policy is the same between the two, as well. This is why comparison shopping is so important.

An affordable life insurance broker regulated by the financial conduct authority will deal with multiple life insurance companies to compare the best policies. Some brokers operate online; others prefer to work out of an office. Any financial conduct authority-regulated broker can pass a portion of their commission fee to a policyholder to further incentivize purchasing a policy through them.

At Insurance Hero, we have always strived to offer our customers the best life insurance plans in the UK and the no-obligation quotes. We ensure you pay fair and suitable premiums, with no hidden terms and conditions or fine print jeopardising your peace of mind.

Some brokers rebate commissions throughout a policy term, giving you an ongoing premium reduction. UK residents can find the best or compare competitive quotes for life insurance from both online and offline comparison resources.

Some providers even have additional perks, such as gift cards and vouchers upon signing up or after paying a certain number of premiums.

Others offer access to otherwise restricted facilities and other wellness programs. In some cases, insurance providers can bundle and offer discounts for customers who purchase combined joint life insurance policies or combine their life insurance coverage with car, home, or travel insurance coverage.

Generally, if you have multiple quotes that are essentially identical, you can often pick the one that has the best added incentives. Even if it’s just a difference of one plan giving you a £30 gift card and one not, hey, £30 is £30, right?

The Option of Direct Purchasing Life Insurance

To discover which life insurance is best, some UK residents bypass cashback and price comparison sites and purchase their life insurance cover directly from a provider. Many people also choose to add additional riders like critical illness cover.

Based on age, smoking status, general health, the policy’s term, and other factors, different providers may be better than others. One person might find that LV= is the best insurance provider; others can compare the two and find that Aviva, Saga, or Zurich have better terms. All of these companies can offer competitive direct purchase rates.

When buying life insurance, critical illness cover, single or joint policies directly, comparing the best insurance quotes is essential. The process, though, can be time-consuming.

Whatever the reason you’re seeking that cover, is that time and effort you want to spend? Instead, getting free, no-obligation advice from an unbiased source like Insurance Hero may be better.

Charts like our top ten insurance providers can give you a good place to start, but they lack detail. Since many different insurance products are available, possible health and wellness situations, financial needs, dependent levels, and differences between individuals, no one answer will ever suffice.

After identifying the most suitable insurance coverage for you, such as critical insurance coverage from one of the best life insurance companies, customers should use the guidance above and the information we provide to find the best plans or single policies with reasonable premiums from a good and reputable provider.

Remember, the best life insurance policy or level-term life insurance plan is not always the cheapest option. It’s the one that best matches your needs and circumstances, your medical history, and your financial situation. Always read the terms and conditions and policy documentation provided to you in a quote to make sure you know what you’re getting.

What If You Don’t Have Life Insurance Cover?

You may have heard that the state has a system similar to the state pension, which pays out some amount of money to the families of individuals who die. If this is real, why have life insurance?

The system is called the Bereavement Payment Support System. It’s a health history and wellbeing service that began on the 6th of April, 2017. For financial dependents who have lost or know someone who lost a civil partner, husband, or wife since the introduction of the support system, you may receive some compensation.

The amount you get varies, and you can read more here. There’s one certainty, however: it won’t be anywhere near what you would get from life insurance. Usually, the absolute most you can get is £3,500.

Life Insurance is Fast Becoming a Necessity

In the past, life insurance was an added benefit for the wealthy or for those who wanted an additional luxury as part of estate planning. However, with costs rising, salaries stagnating, and housing getting ever more expensive, it’s no longer a luxury but a necessity if you want peace of mind and financial security for yourself and your family.

Which family members are providing the household salary? With many families these days being dual-income homes, losing a loved one can impact household finances, living expenses, income benefits, and even credit scores.

Can your family or your dependents live comfortably on that pittance from the bereavement system? How much has the national insurance you paid over the years impact the amount your descendants receive? Life insurance is such a better deal; it’s not even comparable.

Life Insurance Frequently Asked Questions

Below, we’ve covered a handful of the most frequently asked questions about life insurance that we receive. If your question isn’t on here, we’ve probably covered it elsewhere on this blog, but you can also contact us and ask directly. We’re always here to help.

Why Would Life Insurance Not Pay Out?

There are many reasons why the insurance company might decide not to pay out life insurance. It all depends on the terms of the contract that has been signed.

Some of the most common include suicide, non-disclosure, and people outliving the term life insurance policies they have taken out. To prevent insurers from not paying out, keep close attention to the details of the life insurance contract being presented to you.

What’s the Age Limit for Life Insurance?

While there are no set limits for taking out life insurance, the common practice among insurers is to refuse to sign a contract with people who have passed a certain age threshold of life insurance. Typically, that threshold is 80 years old.

Generally speaking, the best age to get life insurance is when you’re young, fit and healthy – between 20 and 30.

How Many Life Insurance Policies Can I Have in the UK?

No legal limit exists on how many life insurance policies you can take out. However, it is worth keeping in mind that having too many of them can be challenging to manage, not to mention the financial cost that goes along with it.

Sure, your family will get multiple payouts in the event of your death. Still, you’ll also have to deal with multiple monthly premiums and the added trouble of your beneficiaries having to file multiple claims.

Convinced? Is it time to sign up for life insurance cover? We’re here to help. Fill out our simple form and you’ll have quotes ready to compare in no time at all.