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  • Cover for a wide range of critical illnesses
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Critical illness cover summary

What is life and critical illness cover?

Life and critical illness cover is a type of policy that provides a lump sum pay out if you pass away or are diagnosed with a serious illness.

The pay out can help to relieve some of the financial strain during a difficult time. For example, it could help to cover:

  • Lost income
  • Mortgage payments
  • Unpaid debts
  • Family living costs
  • Childcare costs

Critical illness cover and life insurance can be secured as separate policies, but it’s common for insurers to offer these together as a combined policy for a lower cost.

Compare FREE life and critical illness cover quotes online today through Reassured and secure our best deal.

Alternatively, depending on your personal circumstances, one of our experts will be in touch to discuss your options.

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Life insurance and critical illness cover explained

Life insurance and critical illness cover are two types of financial protection that can be combined in one policy.

The critical illness part of the policy will provide you with a lump sum pay out if you’re diagnosed with a specified critical illness, such as cancer, heart attack or stroke. This can help to replace your income and cover essential costs if you’re unable to work.

The life insurance part of the policy will provide your family with a lump sum pay out if you pass away. This is designed to help protect their financial future after you’re gone.

Here’s a quick summary of how life insurance with critical illness cover typically works as a combined policy:

  • You choose how much cover you need (sum assured) and how long you’d like to be covered for (the term) for both forms of cover
  • If you pass away due to any reason or are diagnosed with a specified critical illness during the policy term, you (or your family) can make a claim
  • You pay one monthly premium (from £10 a month) while cover is in place. The cost is determined by your chosen policy details and personal circumstances
  • If a valid claim is made and the full sum assured is paid out, or the term comes to an end, your policy will expire

What does life and critical illness insurance cover?

When you take out life insurance with critical illness cover, you’ll be covered in the event you pass away or are diagnosed with a specified serious illness during a set period.

Most policies cover up to around 40 serious illnesses, which may include:

The exact definitions of the illnesses covered vary between different insurers and will be outlined in your policy documents.

Some policies also offer free critical illness cover for your children, or you may have the option to add children’s cover for an extra cost.

See our guide What illnesses are covered by critical illness cover? to find out more.

Do I need life and critical illness cover?

Not everyone needs life insurance or critical illness cover, or both forms of protection at the same time.

However, it could be worthwhile taking out life insurance and critical illness cover together if:

  • You have a partner or dependents who rely on your income and could be at risk of financial hardship if you had to stop working due to illness or passed away unexpectedly
  • You don’t have sufficient savings or other types of insurance in place already, such as adequate death in service benefit or income protection insurance
  • You have a mortgage and other financial commitments that would still need to be paid if you became unwell

Even if you’ve not yet started a family or bought your first home, you may consider taking out life insurance with critical illness cover ahead of time to lock-in lower premiums.

Compare life and critical illness cover online quotes through Reassured to see if we can offer you the best price.

Do I have to have life and critical illness cover for mortgage protection?

You’re not legally required to have critical illness and life cover for mortgage protection, but it could be a good idea.

Having both forms of protection in place can help to ensure that your debt is repaid, and your home is protected if you became unwell or pass away.

Unfortunately, anyone can develop a critical illness during their lifetime. Statistics in the UK show that:

  • A person is diagnosed with cancer at least every 90 seconds[1]
  • A person has a stroke every 5 minutes[2]
  • A person is admitted to hospital due to a heart attack every 5 minutes[3]
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Who can take out life and critical illness cover?

If you’re a UK resident aged between 18 and 75, then you can apply for life insurance with critical illness cover through Reassured.

Life insurance as a standalone policy is available to those aged between 18 and 84.

How much is life and critical illness cover?

The cost of life insurance and critical illness cover combined starts from just £10 a month through Reassured.

Monthly premiums are determined by your:

  • Age
  • Health & wellbeing (including family medical history)
  • Lifestyle (for example, your smoking status, alcohol consumption and hobbies)
  • Your occupation
  • Policy type, level of cover and term length

In the table below, we compare example life insurance with critical illness cover quotes from different insurers.

Quotes are based on non-smoker, in good health, taking out a level term policy over 20 years with a sum assured of £50,000:

Age Legal & General LV= Aviva
20£8.05£8.93£9.16
25£11.07£11.57£11.35
30£14.71£16.93£14.66
35£20.60£20.11£19.46
40£28.48£27.09£27.87
45£40.04£41.68£39.52
50£61.21£61.32£57.63

Comparing life and critical illness cover quotes online through our award-winning broker service can help you to find the right policy at the right price.

Click through to our online form today for your FREE quotes.

Types of life insurance with critical illness cover

There are two main types of life insurance with critical illness cover.

You can choose the option that’s most suitable for you:

Level term cover

With this type of cover, the pay out amount (sum assured) you choose will stay the same throughout the policy term.

This means it can be ideal for helping to cover debts or costs that won’t change over time, such as an interest-only mortgage or day to day living expenses.

Decreasing term cover

With this type of cover, the pay out amount will reduce throughout the policy term. This is because it’s designed to help cover a repayment mortgage, which also reduces as you pay it off.

Your policy term and pay out amount can align with your outstanding mortgage or other debts you have.

Joint life insurance and critical illness cover

If you’re part of a couple, you may consider joint life insurance with critical illness cover.

This provides protection for both partners should either of you pass away during the set term.

With a joint policy:

  • You fill in one application with both partner’s details
  • You pay one monthly premium
  • Your policy will pay out once if either partner passes away

Contact the experts at Reassured if you need help choosing the right policy for you.

How much life insurance and critical illness cover do you need?

This depends on what you’d like your policy to cover and your budget.

For example, you may consider:

  • Your outstanding mortgage
  • Your family’s living costs, such as transport, food shops and utilities
  • Childcare or future education costs
  • Your funeral expenses or the cost of private medical treatment if you become unwell

Life and critical illness cover calculator

Use our handy calculator to work out how much life and critical illness cover you may need. Simply fill in the costs you’d like your policy to cover.

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£129,130 is the average mortgage debt in the UK.

Life insurance with critical illness cover could help to keep your loved ones in the family home should you fall ill or pass away before paying off the mortgage.

Source: Finder.com
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£2,700 per month is the average UK household budget, life insurance with critical illness cover could help to replace your income and cover necessities such as bills and living expenses if you fell critically ill or passed away.

Source: Nimblefins.co.uk
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£2,277 is the average credit card debt per household in the UK.

Factoring in any debts into your sum assured could provide you with peace of mind that you could continue with payments if you were to fall ill, or that the debts could be settled after your passing.

Source: Themoneycharity.org.uk
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Should anything happen, you’ll want to ensure that necessary costs are protected for your children.

This could include childcare (on average £7,729 per year) or school associated costs (up to £1,756 per school year).

Sources: Daynurseries.co.uk & Theguardian.com
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If you were to fall critically ill, it’s likely you’d need to take a significant time off work in order to recover.

While you’d be entitled to sick pay and/or government support, this may not be sufficient to cover all your key costs.
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The price of private medical treatment can vary depending on the severity of the condition and the type of treatment required. It could be wise to add an additional sum to cover these costs.
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If you don’t claim on your policy for a critical illness and you pass away within the policy term, your loved ones could use the pay out to help cover the cost of your funeral.

The current average cost of a funeral in the UK is £4,141, with the overall cost of dying up to £9,658.

Source: SunLife.co.uk
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You could factor in an amount to leave to your loved ones to spend as they wish after your passing. Alternatively, you could make a cash gift to a charity of your choice.
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Your total cover estimate

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How to find the best life and critical illness cover

  • Compare multiple quotes. The cost of life and critical illness cover varies between different insurers, so comparing quotes can help you find a suitable deal
  • Choose the right cover. Make sure that your sum assured (cover amount) and term length are adequate for your needs before securing your policy. If you’d like to keep the cost down, you could consider decreasing term cover (for your mortgage) or taking out a joint policy with your partner.
  • Secure a policy sooner rather than later. Life insurance with critical illness cover will cost more as you get older, so buying a policy now when you’re younger (and likely in better health) may help you to save money in the long run
  • Lead a healthy lifestyle. You can secure your best possible premiums by maintaining a healthy lifestyle when applying for your policy. For example, not smoking, eating a well-balanced diet and regular exercise are great ways to reduce your risk to insurers

Life and critical illness cover for your children

Many critical illness policies offer the option to add children’s critical illness cover for an extra cost - or with some policies, children’s cover is included as standard.

This can provide you with an additional lump sum pay out if your child falls unwell with one of the illnesses listed in your policy, without affecting your own cover.

Children’s critical illness cover can also come with additional benefits, including free life cover or funeral cover. The exact features and benefits of each policy varies between different insurers.

See our best critical illness cover UK guide to discover the most comprehensive policies available on the market.

Why compare life and critical illness cover online quotes through Reassured?

  • UK’s largest life insurance broker * , with more than 15 years industry experience and over 1 million families protected to date
  • Service rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot with over 80,000 customer reviews
  • Fee-free, no obligation quotes from a panel of the UK’s best life insurance providers
  • Dedicated UK-based experts and FCA regulated service, ensuring that our customers are always put first
  • Life insurance from £5 a month † or life with critical illness insurance from £10 a month

Life insurance and critical illness cover FAQs:

What’s the difference between life insurance and critical illness cover?

Life insurance offers a financial safety net for your family if you pass away. It pays out a lump sum upon your death.

Critical illness cover offers financial protection for you and your family if you become seriously ill. It pays out a tax-free lump sum if you make a valid claim for an illness that’s listed in your policy.

When does life and critical illness cover payout?

When your policy pays out will depend on whether you make a claim for a critical illness or if your family claim after your death.

If diagnosed with a critical illness, a survival period must pass before you can make a claim. This is usually 10 or 14 days after your diagnosis.

If you pass away, your family can make a claim immediately following your death. A pay out will be made once the insurer has been able to assess and accept the claim.

Can you get critical illness cover on its own?

Yes, it’s possible to obtain critical illness cover as a standalone policy with some insurers.

This can be more expensive than taking out life insurance and critical illness cover as one policy but can offer extra protection for you and your family.

Reassured are unable to offer critical illness cover without life insurance.

Sources:

[1] https://www.macmillan.org.uk/healthcare-professionals/news-and-resources/blogs/cancer-care-decades-behind

[2] https://www.stroke.org.uk/stroke/statistics

[3] https://www.bhf.org.uk/what-we-do/news-from-the-bhf/contact-the-press-office/facts-and-figures

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