Search

Popular searches

Log into your account

Banking

Travel and Insurance

Posting

Life insurance for dads

Whether you're a new dad, a stay-at-home parent or juggling both, here's how life insurance can help protect what matters most to your family.

Get a quote Our Life Insurance

Becoming a dad changes how you think about the future. Alongside the sleepless nights and the day-to-day chaos, it's natural to start thinking more seriously about what would happen to your family financially if you weren't around. This is where life insurance can help: it's designed to give your loved ones a cash lump sum if you pass away earlier than expected, so money issues aren’t added to what they’ll already be going through.

There's no single type of policy built specifically for fathers, and the right cover for you will depend on your circumstances rather than the fact that you're a dad. This guide walks through why cover matters for dads of all kinds, what your options are, and how to work out what might suit your family.

In this guide:

Get a life insurance quote in minutes

Start now

Why dads need life insurance

Becoming a parent tends to be one of the moments people first consider taking out life insurance, and it's easy to see why. Often it’s the time when your income, your time and your day-to-day input all start supporting someone else's future, not just your own.

Providing for dependants

The most obvious reason dads take out life insurance is to help provide for their children if they were no longer here. A lump sum payout could help cover everyday costs, childcare, education and everything else that goes into raising a family, for as long as your children need that support.
Children aren't always the only dependants to think about, either. Some dads also help support their own parents financially, whether that's regular contributions or covering specific costs. If that sounds like your situation, it's worth factoring this into how much cover you think you might need, alongside more traditional dependants like a partner or children.

Cover for stay-at-home vs working dads

If you're the main earner in your household, the case for life insurance is fairly straightforward: your income currently supports your family, and a payout could help replace that if you were no longer around.

It's easy to assume that stay-at-home dads need less cover, or none at all, simply because there's no salary attached to the role. In reality, that’s often not the case. If you're the one managing childcare, school runs and the running of the household day-to-day, your partner would likely need to pay for some of that support if you weren't there to do it, on top of managing their own job and grief. Life insurance can help towards those costs, whether that's professional childcare, additional help around the home, or simply giving your partner some breathing room to adjust.

What types of life insurance are suitable for dads

The type of life insurance most suited to you will be less related to being a dad and more to do with your budget, what you’re looking to leave behind and personal preferences. Here’s a very short overview of what’s available to you through Post Office Life Insurance.

  • Level cover: Your cover amount and monthly premium stay the same for the whole policy term, so you know exactly what your family would receive. Whether you die a year into your policy or on the very last day of your term, the payout would be the same.
  • Decreasing cover: Your cover amount reduces over time, broadly in line with a repayment mortgage balance. Due to the payout reducing over time, it will always be more affordable than a comparable level or increasing cover policy, so it's one to consider if you want to keep your monthly costs down while ensuring your mortgage is covered
  • Increasing cover: Your cover amount rises each year in line with inflation (based on the Retail Price Index), up to a maximum annual increase. This is an option to consider if you have a specific figure you’d like to leave behind, as it helps your payout to retain its actual value. However, it's also likely to be the most expensive, as monthly premiums increase alongside the payout
  • Joint cover: If you have a partner, a joint policy covers you both under a single plan, paying out once on the first death, after which the policy ends. This can keep things simple if you’re both looking to get insured at the same time

You can also add optional critical illness cover, which pays out a separate lump sum if you're diagnosed with one of a defined list of serious conditions. Children's cover is another optional add-on, which pays out a lump sum if you’re child has a specified illness or injury. Neither is exclusive to dads, but both are worth considering alongside your main life insurance if you want a bit more protection in place. These add-ons come with an additional cost and can be added when you take out a policy or at a later date.

How much does life insurance cost?

Your monthly premium depends on a combination of factors: your age, your health and lifestyle (including whether you smoke), the type of policy you choose, the length of the term, and the amount of cover you'd like to leave behind. That premium is then fixed for the length of your policy, unless you've chosen increasing cover.

Becoming a dad in your 20s or 30s, which is when many people first start thinking about cover, can work in your favour here, since premiums are typically lower at this age than they would be if you waited until later in life.
Below is an illustration of how much your monthly premium might be based on a number of factors. To discover exactly how much life insurance would cost you, you can get a quote online. It only takes a matter of minutes.

Age30
Pre-existing health conditionsNo
Smoker statusNon-smoker
Alcohol units per week10
Type of coverLevel
Amount of cover£130,000
Term length25
Monthly premiums£9.84

How to choose the right level of cover

Working out the right amount of cover comes down to your mortgage, debts, income and who depends on you financially, and there's more than one way to approach the calculation. Our guide on how much life insurance you need walks through two different approaches, from a quick rule of thumb to a more detailed breakdown of your outgoings, with a worked example to help you see how it comes together.

As a dad, it's worth paying particular attention to ongoing childcare and day-to-day living costs when working through that calculation, alongside your mortgage or rent, since these often make up a significant part of what a policy needs to cover.

Can I get my dad life insurance?

If you're searching for life insurance on behalf of your own father, it's worth knowing upfront that you can't take out a policy on someone else's life without their knowledge and involvement. Your dad would need to be the one applying for cover, answering the health and lifestyle questions personally, since these determine his premium and are used to assess any future claim.

That said, there's plenty you can do to help. You could research policy types together, talk through how much cover might make sense for his situation, or sit with him while he gets a quote. With Post Office, getting a quote online takes minutes, so if your dad's put off by the idea of a long, form-heavy process, it's worth reassuring him that isn't the case here.

Why Post Office Life Insurance?

  • Get a quote online in minutes, so it's easy to fit into a busy family schedule
  • Cover available from £10,000 up to £750,000, depending on your age
  • Choose between level, decreasing or increasing cover, or a joint policy if you have a partner
  • Add optional critical illness cover and children's cover for extra protection alongside your policy
  • Terminal illness benefit included as standard: if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness and given less than 12 months to live, 100% of your lump sum is paid to you in advance
  • 24/7 access to a UK-registered GP1, plus health, wellbeing and bereavement support1 for you and your family
  • A provider supporting 140,000 customers in the UK today

1This service is separate to and does not form part of the Post Office Life Insurance contract. It’s available to you for free but may be withdrawn at any time. Health and Wellbeing Services are provided by MediPartner Limited

Key takeaways

  • Life insurance can help provide for children, partners and, in some cases, parents who depend on you financially
  • Stay-at-home dads may benefit from cover too, since replacing the childcare and household support they provide often comes at a cost
  • There's no dedicated ‘dad’ policy: it's about choosing between level, decreasing, increasing or joint cover to match your situation
  • Cost depends on your age, health and the level of cover you choose, and taking out cover earlier in life often means a lower premium
  • You can't take out life insurance on someone else's behalf, but helping your dad get a quote, or getting one yourself, can be done online in minutes

Get a life insurance quote in minutes

Start now

Commonly asked questions about life insurance for Dads

  • No. Post Office doesn't offer a policy designed specifically for fathers. The same range of life insurance, level, decreasing, increasing and joint cover, is available to any eligible applicant, and the right choice comes down to your own circumstances rather than the fact that you're a parent.

  • It's worth considering, even without a salary attached to the role. If you handle most of the childcare and household responsibilities, your family may need to pay for some of that support if you weren't around, and a life insurance payout could help towards those costs.
     

  • There's no policy aimed specifically at single dads, but the same considerations apply: think about who depends on you financially, how long they'd need support for, and whether you'd want a level, decreasing or increasing policy based on your circumstances, such as whether you have a mortgage or other debts to consider.