Vitality life insurance UK

Many people are familiar with the Vitality brand, thanks to their TV advertising and marketing campaigns which often feature Stanley the adorable dachshund.

But is Vitality life insurance any good?

In this review, we explore the key features, benefits and expert ratings of Vitality life insurance to help you understand more about this product and what it offers.

We also look at the Vitality rewards programme and the types of discounts and savings you could access as a policyholder, from Apple Watch discounts to free cinema tickets.

Continue reading this in-depth Vitality life insurance review for your complete guide.

At Reassured, we can offer Vitality life insurance quotes online, as well as quotes from other major UK insurers, with prices from just 20p-a-day † . Get in touch for your free quotes.

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Vitality life insurance review [Quick summary]

  • Vitality life insurance is rated 5 stars on Defaqto and scored 4.3 stars (“Excellent”) on Trustpilot from over 46,390 reviews (correct as of 20/11/2024[1])
  • Vitality has a high pay out rate of 94.6% on all their life insurance and protection claims that were paid in 2023[2]
  • Term life insurance, whole of life insurance, serious illness cover and income protection options available as part of the Vitality Personal Protection Plan
  • Customers can earn rewards and discounts on gym memberships, spa breaks, fitness trackers, healthy food, sports clothing and more
  • Cover can be tailored to suit your circumstances and budget, allowing you to add other protection options and features (for an extra cost) if you wish
  • Prices start from £5 a month when buying directly from Vitality. It’s also possible to buy Vitality life insurance through Reassured from just £5 a month

Who are Vitality?

Vitality UK is an award-winning health and life insurance company that’s owned by Discovery, a lesser known but larger insurance company based in South Africa.

Launching in the UK in 2007, Vitality was a joint venture between Discovery and Prudential (a financial services provider), originally branded as ‘PruProtect’ and ‘PruHealth’.

In 2014, Discovery bought out Prudential and rebranded to Vitality.

Vitality is the first company to reward customers for living healthier lives, with the purpose to create ‘Shared Value Insurance’ which positively impacts the customer, the insurer, and the wider society in the long term.

Vitality now has more than 1.7 million customers in the UK[3] and more than 30 million customers worldwide across 40 markets[4].

Vitality life insurance reviews UK

Reading customer reviews for Vitality life insurance can help you determine if they offer a good quality product and service, which is just as important as getting a good price.

Generally, Vitality reviews on Trustpilot are positive, with 69% of customers rating them 5 out of 5 stars (based on both their health and life insurance products), as of 20/11/24.

Review siteScoreNumber of reviews
Trustpilot logo 4.2
('Excellent')		39,559

On Defaqto, Vitality’s life insurance products are rated 5 out of 5 stars by experts.

On Fairer Finance, Vitality is ranked 8th of out of 24 insurers based on their customer experience rating (81%).

Customer experience ratings are unique to Fairer Finance and are determined by:

  • How good the insurer is at handling complaints
  • How transparent the insurer is
  • The percentage of claims paid
Review siteScoreAnalysis
5 star defaqto rating Defaqto 5 stars

5 stars is the highest rating an insurer can receive on Defaqto.

Fairer Finance logo
  • 81% customer experience score
  • ‘Best Claims Payout’ provider

This isn’t the worst score (Zurich, 65%) but it’s not the best (Smart insurance, 86%).

Correct as of 20/11/24

Information is correct as of 10/05/24

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Vitality life insurance awards

Vitality has won numerous awards for their protection products and services.

Some of the most recent include:

  • Scottish Mortgage Awards - Protection Provider of the Year 2022
  • FT Adviser Service Awards - Protection & Pension Providers Winner 2021
  • MoneyFacts Awards - Best Critical Illness Cover Provider 2020-2021
  • Cover Excellence Awards - Outstanding Promotion of Protection 2021
  • Health Insurance Awards - Best Individual Protection Provider 2020

What types of life insurance does Vitality offer?

Vitality offers a ‘Personal Protection Plan’ which allows you to take out up to three types of life insurances simultaneously to help cover different expenses.

The polices you can choose from include:

Vitality term life insurance

This type of policy will pay out a lump sum if you pass away or are diagnosed with a terminal illness during a specified term.

Term life insurance is usually taken out to help cover a mortgage, as the term length and cover amount could align with an outstanding mortgage.

Reassured can offer Vitality term life insurance through our online comparison service, as well as quotes from other leading UK providers. Prices start from just £5 a month † .

Vitality whole of life insurance

This type of policy will pay out a lump sum when you pass away, not if, as long as you pay your monthly premiums.

Whole of life policies are often taken out to help cover funeral costs, living costs for a partner or inheritance tax charges (40% on estates worth over £325,000).

At Reassured, our advised team can help you compare whole of life insurance policies and quotes from a panel of major UK insurers, including Vitality.

Prices start from £8 a month ± .

Vitality serious illness cover

This type of policy will pay out a lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness during a specified term.

It covers up to 174 illnesses, including heart attacks, strokes and kidney disease.

The amount that’s paid out will depend on the severity of your condition, between 25% - 100% of your total cover amount.

Vitality serious illness cover can be arranged through our award-winning service. Simply get in touch for your free quotes.

The table below shows some of the key features of Vitality life insurance policies:

Vitality term life insuranceVitality whole of life insuranceVitality serious illness cover
Minimum age you can take out a policy16 years16 years16 years
Maximum age you can take out a policy74 years74 years74 years
Term length5 - 70 yearsUntil you pass away5 - 70 years
Maximum age your policy term must end90N/A90
Includes terminal illness coverYesYesNo
Maximum pay out amount£20,000,000Not specified£20,000,000
Can be taken out as a joint policyYesYesYes
Add serious illness cover for an extra costYesYesNo (but can be combined with life insurance)

Please note: Reassured is only able to offer life insurance policies to applicants aged 18 and over

Vitality also offers income protection cover as part of their Personal Protection Plan, if you’re looking to safeguard your income in the event you are unable to work due to illness or injury.

We have a Vitality income protection review if you’d like to learn more about this product.

Reassured's advised team can compare income protection quotes from Vitality and rest the of the market to help you find the best deal available.

How does Vitality life insurance work?

Vitality life insurance works similarly to other life insurance policies available, however, there’s more choice when it comes to personalising your policy.

1. You select a Vitality Personal Protection Plan (term-based, whole of life, serious illness cover)

With Vitality term-based life insurance, you can choose whether your cover amount remains level, decreases or increases during the policy term.

All Vitality policies come with the following features as standard:

  • Immediate Cover. Provides you with some cover while your application is being assessed (if Vitality can’t make an immediate decision)
  • Mortgage Free Cover. Provides you with temporary cover for your mortgage before your policy starts and after you’ve purchased a home
  • Guaranteed Insurability Options. Allows you to increase your cover amount without providing any new medical information.

The Vitality Personal Protection Plan could be taken out as a single policy (for just yourself), or as a joint policy (for yourself and your partner).

2. You choose whether to upgrade your cover with extra protection options (for an additional cost on top of your premium)

Options include:

Extra protectionDescription
Child Serious Illness CoverProvides cover for your children in the event of serious illness
Waiver of PremiumAllows you to stop paying premiums if you’re unable to work due to illness or injury
LifestyleCare CoverProvides cover if you’re diagnosed with a later-life illness (e.g. dementia)
Premium StepOnly available with whole of life policies, it gives you a lower monthly premium initially, but it will increase each year by 2.5%

3. You choose a premium type

The options are:

  • Guaranteed premiums - Fixed premiums throughout the policy term
  • Premium step - As described above (only available with whole of life policies)
  • Reviewable premiums - Could increase or decrease throughout the term
  • Indexed premiums - Could increase in line with Retail Prices Index (RPI)

4. You choose whether to add Optimiser

This offers a reduced monthly premium (up to 40% depending on the policy type) if you maintain an active lifestyle and use the Vitality rewards programme.

If you add the Optimiser to your policy and your monthly premium is over £45, you can add ‘Vitality Plus’ for an extra £4.75 a month. Vitality Plus gives you access to more benefits.

We explain the Vitality rewards programme in more detail further on in this review.

How much is Vitality life insurance?

Vitality life insurance costs from £5 a month. However, exactly how much you’d pay will depend on your health, lifestyle and the policy you choose.

Monthly life insurance premiums are determined by the following factors:

Like with other insurers, whole of life insurance with Vitality is more expensive than term life insurance as it provides your family with a pay out when you pass away, not if.

At Reassured, we can help you compare quotes from many other leading insurers to help you find an affordable policy.

Our team are committed to helping you save time and money.

The table below shows some example monthly premiums for life insurance arranged through us.

Quotes are based on a non-smoker, in good health, taking out £250,000 of decreasing term cover over a term of 20 years:

Age AIG logo Aviva Legal & General
20£5.82£5.64£6.04
25£6.09£6.18£6.99
30£7.51£7.55£8.65
35£10.19£10.39£11.58
40£15.83£16.14£17.49
45£24.35£34.39£25.80
50£38.68£56.04£40.56

Get in touch today to receive our best available quotes.

What is the Vitality rewards programme?

The Vitality rewards programme is unique to Vitality and could help you to earn back the cost of your monthly premium with savings and discounts at various reward partners.

It’s designed to help you understand more about your health and to live a healthier lifestyle.

The rewards programme is available to all policyholders, but the types of savings and discounts you’d have access to will depend on the cost of your monthly premium and whether you maintain an active lifestyle during your policy term.

Using a Vitality approved fitness tracker (such as an Apple Watch or Fitbit) and the Vitality Member App, you can track your activity and earn Vitality points, which help to boost your ‘Vitality status’.

The higher your Vitality status, the more rewards you’ll be able to benefit from.

There are four statuses (with Platinum being the highest):

  1. Bronze
  2. Silver
  3. Gold
  4. Platinum

You can earn up to 8 Vitality points a day and up to 40 a week, with points only being awarded for one exercise activity per day using a Vitality approved fitness tracker.

Here are some examples of activities and the points you could earn:

Number of pointsMaximum points per week
Walking 7,000 steps340
Walking 10,000 steps540
Walking 12,500 steps640
Gym workout (at Nuffield, PureGym or Virgin Active partner gyms)535
Attending a Vitality 5k Parkrun event840

You can also earn Vitality points for generally taking care of your health, for example:

  • Not smoking
  • Getting up to date vaccinations (such as influenza and pneumococcal)
  • Losing weight (through WeightWatchers)
  • Using Headspace for mindfulness
  • Having regular dental check-ups
  • Completing the online Vitality health review
  • Getting an annual Vitality health check (measures BMI, blood pressure, cholesterol and random blood glucose)

If you’re eligible and you’ve included the Optimiser with your policy, you could also save up to 40% on your monthly premium, as well as have access to more rewards in the programme.

Although to make the most of this feature and keep your reduced premium, you’ll need to keep active and track your activity for the entire policy term to boost your Vitality status.

This could be a good perk for some people, but for others this lifestyle may be difficult to sustain, particularly in the future (although when you get older, the number of points you need to earn to boost your status decreases, so the goals are more achievable).

Vitality has this savings tool to help you discover your Vitality status, and how much you could save if you were a rewards member.

Vitality life insurance benefits

Vitality life insurance benefits include a range of savings and discounts for major UK brands, including:

  • Apple Watch (save on payment plans)
  • Fitbit (up to 36% of a range of devices)
  • Odeon or Vue cinemas (free tickets)
  • Nuffield Health Gym (up to 50% off monthly gym membership)
  • Champneys (75% off spa days and stays)
  • Runners Need (up to 50% off sports shoes)

The benefits you have access to will depend on your monthly premium and whether you’re paying for the Vitality ‘Optimiser’ (an extra £4.75 a month for eligible policyholders).

Those without the Optimiser have access to ‘Vitality Select’ which includes a reduced number of benefits, such as discounts at Champneys, Garmin and Runners Need.

Those with the Optimiser have access to ‘Vitality Plus’ which offers more benefits, including discounts for Apple Watch, free cinema tickets, and free Café Nero drinks.

It’s important to note that varying terms and conditions apply across all Vitality benefits, and benefits you’re eligible for could change during your policy term.

Vitality life insurance Apple Watch: How to claim?

Vitality have partnered with Apple to offer their customers the latest series Apple Watch to help them track their activity and earn Vitality points.

You should be eligible to claim the Apple Watch benefit if:

  • You take out a Vitality life insurance policy with a monthly premium over £45
  • Your policy includes Vitality Plus benefits for an extra £4.75 a month
  • You sign up to Vitality Rewards Programme (become a Vitality Member)
  • You’re over the age of 18 (as you need to sign up to a credit agreement)

The Apple Watch costs between £39 - £169 upfront (depending on the device you choose), and the monthly payment can be between £0 - £10.

You need to earn over 40 points per month to benefit from the reduced monthly cost of your Apple Watch. If you earn over 160 points per month, it will reduce to £0.

Some things to consider with this reward:

  • You’ll need to sign a credit agreement for 36 months with Etika Finance UK Ltd
  • You need to earn between 40 points and 160 points per month to get the reduced repayments (160 points per month to pay zero a month)
  • You can only claim one Apple Watch when taking out a joint policy
  • Other terms and conditions apply which can be found on the Vitality website

Is Vitality life insurance worth it?

Whether Vitality life insurance is worth it for you will depend on your personal circumstances and preferences.

Once you get your head round the rewards and benefits, it could be a great option for those who want to get the most out of their life insurance policy.

Although, you’d need to maintain a healthy lifestyle and engage with the rewards programme to access your best possible rewards.

While everyone wants to be healthy, the benefits available with Vitality life insurance may not hold much value for some people.

Furthermore, when shopping for life insurance it’s important to consider the pros and cons of the policy itself, and whether it best suits your needs and budget, before signing up.

We have highlighted the main advantages and disadvantages of Vitality life insurance to help you decide if it could be worthwhile for you:

PROsCONs
Policies can be tailored to suit your needs and circumstances, with optional features and benefitsThe policy structure is more complicated than other policies available on the market
All Vitality customers have access to the rewards programme at no extra cost, which offers discounts at major UK brandsThe rewards programme and point system may not always be easy to understand, which could be off-putting for potential customers
You could save money on gym memberships, fitness trackers and healthy food during your policy term and earn back some of your premiumsTo be eligible for the full range of rewards (including the Apple Watch and free cinema tickets), your monthly premium must be over £45 and you need to pay an extra £4.75 a month
Vitality serious illness cover is more comprehensive than traditional critical illness cover (covering up to 174 illnesses)You need a Vitality approved fitness tracker to track your activity and start earning points
Vitality has a good life insurance pay out rate, paying out 99.7% of all their life insurance claims in 2022Vitality reward partners could change at any time while your policy is active

How to cancel Vitality life insurance

If you need to cancel your Vitality life insurance, you can do this easily by getting in touch with Vitality:

Phone: 0800 030 4903

Email: VitalityLife_CreditControl@vitality.co.uk

Post: VitalityLife, PO BOX 619, Darlington, DL1 9FH

There’s no Vitality life insurance cancellation fee.

Please note, it’s important to think carefully before cancelling your Vitality policy, as this will stop your protection and benefits, and you’ll lose any premiums you’ve paid (if the 30 day cooling off period has ended).

If you’re having trouble with the cost of your monthly premium, then you could save money by amending your policy instead of cancelling altogether.

For example, you could:

  • Cancel your Vitality Plus to save £4.75 a month (if applicable)
  • Reduce your cover amount or remove additional features or covers
  • Reduce your policy length
  • Remove PremiumStep

What is the Vitality life insurance contact number?

The contact details for Vitality life insurance are as follows:

General enquiries
Telephone: 0345 602 3523

Claims
Telephone: 0345 601 0072
Email: lifeclaims@vitality.co.uk

Start your life insurance journey today by comparing quotes through Reassured

Life insurance quotes vary significantly between different insurers, so it’s important to compare multiple quotes before buying a policy.

At Reassured, we can provide Vitality life insurance quotes, as well as quotes from a range of other policies from top UK insurers including:

Life insurance could provide vital financial security for your family if the worst happened to you, helping to cover a range of financial commitments, such as:

  • Mortgage or rent payments
  • Household bills
  • Family living costs
  • Childcare costs
  • Outstanding debts
  • Funeral expenses

Our award-winning team are on hand to help you decipher the world of life insurance and provide you with our best quotes today.

Contact us for your free, no-obligation life insurance quotes.

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Sources:

All the information in this article is taken directly from the insurers website and is correct as of 10/05/24

[1] https://www.defaqto.com/star-ratings/life-protection?search=vitality

[2] https://www.vitality.co.uk/media/vitality-pays-117m-in-protection-claims-in-2023/

[3] https://www.vitality.co.uk/

[4] https://www.vitalitygroup.com/company/

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