Life Insurance: get help getting covered

Many people choose life insurance with a specific purpose in mind and an idea of who they want to leave their money to. 

Normally that would be your partner or children. But it might be someone else like a parent or a sibling, or even someone who’s just a special friend.

You may have a mortgage or other outstanding loans that need clearing if you're not around to do so. To leave money to fund private or university education for your children or dependents.

There are different types of life insurance depending upon your needs, so it’s important you get all the facts before you get a quote.

Remember though, that if you want any benefit to go to a specific person then you could consider writing the policy into trust. For more information on this you should speak to an independent advisor.

Depending on your age we can provide life insurance cover up to £750,000 if you were to die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness. You just need to decide how much cover you want or can afford each month.

Do some calculations or get someone to help you. You can also use our life insurance calculator help you. If you have a mortgage, think about what's left to pay. Then consider all the day-to-day living costs and other one-off costs your family might face over the time period they'd normally depend on you for.

Be realistic, include rent, utility bills, education costs, birthdays, weddings and holidays, These costs can add up.

The Money Advice Service has lots of calculator tools that can help.

You can choose how long you want to be protected and decide the length (or term) of the policy.

It can last any whole number of years between 5 and 40; but it must end before your 81st birthday.

When deciding your term, think about how long's left on your mortgage, when your children will be out of education and earning their own keep, and how old your partner's likely to be when they retire.

And remember, the length of the cover will have an impact on what you pay each month.

You can work this out in two ways. Decide how much you'd like your beneficiaries to receive and see how much that will cost. Or choose what you’d like to pay and see what cash sum that will buy.

Generally, the more you contribute the greater the amount your beneficiaries will receive. But consider the effect of inflation when making your calculations. 

The amount you are insured against isn’t index linked so its real value will fall over time, unless you choose an increasing cover policy (see below). So £100,000 today wouldn't be worth £100,000 in 20 years' time.

The Bank of England’s Inflation Calculator lets you see the impact of inflation over time.

Post Office Life Insurance is a life assurance policy that pays an amount of money (cash sum) if, during your chosen policy term, you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness that meets the definition, as per the Terms and Conditions. 

If we pay your cash sum your policy will end. If you're still alive at the end of your policy term and haven't been diagnosed with a terminal illness, your policy will end and you won't receive a pay-out.

Is your partner the main income earner? Would they need to continue working if you died? Life insurance could help them pay someone to do tasks you currently do around the house or elsewhere. Housework, preparing meals, looking after your children and so on.

Yes, you can. Joint life insurance protects two people under one policy with one monthly premium payment, but only pays out once if a policy holder dies within the term. Two single policies protect each policyholder separately but will mean paying two premiums each month. Which option is right for you?

What you pay depends not only on the amount of cover and your term, but also to an extent on you. Your age, medical history and lifestyle will be taken into account when calculating your monthly payments.

Life insurance costs more the older you get. That's because statistically you’re more likely to die as you advance in years. Because the insurer only pays out if you die, the younger and healthier you are the less life insurance costs. Smokers and people who lead unhealthy lifestyles or have a pre-existing medical condition will find life insurance more expensive too or may be unable to obtain cover. 

If you're applying for Post Office Life Insurance, we'll only ask you the questions we need to get your price. 

Please be honest when answering any questions we do ask, though. Giving incorrect or inaccurate information may reduce your pay-out in the event of a claim or worst case your policy may be cancelled and any claim refused. 

Your monthly payments will continue until the earliest of these:

• The end of the term of your policy
• Your death
• Our acceptance of your diagnosis of a terminal illness

If you make a claim after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, please don't stop paying your monthly payments until we've confirmed your terminal illness meets our definition, as per the Terms and Conditions. 

A cash sum payment will be made if you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, within the term of the policy.

We'll pay it out early if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness that meets the definition as per the terms and conditions with a life expectancy of less than 12 months. We only pay out for terminal illness once, and the policy will end once we do. The policy is not guaranteed to pay off your loan or mortgage (if this is the purpose of the policy). The policy has no cash-in value. The policy ends if you stop making monthly payments during the payment term. Your cash sum is dependent on your age, smoker status, length and type of cover your personal circumstances.

When you apply it is important that you answer our application questions honestly and accurately, as proving incorrect answers could mean that a claim is not paid.

The sum assured reduces each month in line with the amount owed on a repayment mortgage with a fixed interest rate of 8%.

Your sum assured will increase annually in line with retail price index, up to a maximum of 10%.

Our terminal illness means a definite diagnosis by the attending medical specialist of an illness that satisfies both of the following:

• The illness either has no known cure or has progressed to the point where it cannot be cured; and
• In the opinion of the attending medical specialist, the illness is expected to lead to death within 12 months.

You can choose to add critical illness cover to your Post Office Insurance policy, at additional cost, when you apply. You can find out more here.

Yes, like critical illness cover, you can add the optional children's cover, at additional cost, when you apply for your Post Office Life Insurance policy. You can find out more here.

The simplest way is to click the "get a quote" button on any of the Post Office Life Insurance pages.

You can buy Post Office Life Insurance online or over the phone, where you can choose to also apply for critical illness cover and or children's cover.

Please read all the details of the policy before applying, including the terms and conditions.

Yes. The critical illness cover amount is between £10,000 to £200,000 or no more than 100% of the life insurance policy cash sum.

No. Once we’ve paid a claim for a critical illness your critical illness cover will stop. However, the rest of your policy will continue and future monthly payments will reduce as you won’t be paying for your critical illness cover. As long as you keep paying, your life cover cash sum will stay in place for the duration of your policy.

No. Your critical illness cover is separate and not deducted from your life cover cash sum. Keep making your monthly payments and you'll still get 100% of your life cover cash sum if you die during the life of your policy.

Yes. You can add the critical illness cover after the policy start date.

You can remove, increase or decrease critical illness cover (subject to policy limits) from your Post Office Life Insurance. If you cancel your Post Office Life Insurance, the critical illness cover is also cancelled.

If you take our Post Office Life Insurance, with or without adding critical illness cover or children's cover, you won't get a medical consultation.

The cash sum you receive from a critical illness cover or children's cover is currently tax free. Tax rules may change in future.

Even if you don't have a mortgage, life insurance could help your family cover the cost of everyday living and maintain their lifestyle. Things like rent, private or university education costs, birthdays, weddings. Even domestic tasks if whoever's left behind works and has to pay someone to do them after you're gone.

We can supply trust forms but we'd suggest seeking advice before you complete them. Get unbiased help contacting professionals such as IFAs and solicitors.

Losing a loved one is a difficult time. The last thing those you leave behind need is a drawn out claims process. When the time comes, we'll make it easy for your personal representatives to claim the cash sum from your policy. 

If you've recently lost someone and need to claim, you can find all of the information you need here.

We'll need to know the policy number and details of the claim.

If you have written your policy under trust or you have assigned your policy to another person, we will pay the cash sum to the assignee or trustees.

The person making the claim must send all original documentation to us, showing they are entitled to receive the cash sum, before we will pay any cash sum to them.
This documentation must include any deed of assignment, trust deed, or deed altering the trust.

Full details of the claims procedure can be found in the Terms and Conditions, which will also be sent to you when your policy starts.

It's a service offered with Post Office Life Insurance at no extra cost, that provides one-to-one, long term support from a dedicated personal nurse adviser during bereavement and serious illness.

In these most difficult of times, an advisor from independent nursing service RedArc will provide support if you lose someone, and to your immediate family if you pass away.

They'll also be there for you if you're diagnosed with a serious illness such as cancer, cardiac condition, stroke or multiple sclerosis.

If it’s beneficial, a course of assessed therapy or counselling can also be provided. And you can use the service without ever having to claim on your policy.

This service, provided by RedArc is not part of the Post Office Life Insurance contract and can be withdrawn at any time.

This is a free access to the health and wellbeing services, designed with your physical and mental wellbeing in mind. You'll have access, at no additional cost, to 24/7 Online GP (UK registered), Nutrition and Fitness professional to get you to your goal, Mental Health and Health Check specialist 365 days a year.

There’s no cap on how many times you can use these services, and your partner and any children up to age 21 can take advantage too. You can get more information here.

This service, provided by Medipartner Ltd is not part of the Post Office Life Insurance contract and can be withdrawn at any time.