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Life insurance for mums

You might be a new mum, single mum, stay-at-home mum, working mum or the sole breadwinner. Whichever you are, life insurance can help ease worries about the future and what happens if you’re no longer around.

Baby girl in a pink outfit and matching headband, looking at her mum, holding her mum's hand

Just in case: protecting what matters

There’s no argument, motherhood can be stressful. Kids of any age can be demanding – even adult ones – and require almost constant attention. It can be difficult to turn your mind to the future, in particular a future where you are no longer around to support your children. As much as this is a future few of us want to imagine, it is sensible to plan for life's uncertainties.

Life insurance, for mums, is a way to bring about a degree of peace of mind when faced with this unsettling thought. Its entire purpose is to pay out a sum of money to beneficiaries when the policyholder dies, and therefore has your children’s needs at its core.

Why might I need life insurance?

Mums want their kids to grow up in a world that is safe and in which they are able to flourish, and it’s every mother’s ambition to provide this type of environment. It’s only natural that mums often tend to be central figures in their family's life, so losing a mother can mean major changes to how your partner, your children and your wider family are able to continue in their lifestyle.

It’s therefore important to consider how to minimise the impact to elements of your family’s lives when you're no longer around. This might be a situation when a mother is the family breadwinner, for example. Without the ongoing financial support she provides, the family may have to adjust to any number of more practical compromises.

Life insurance for stay-at-home mums is also a valid concern. If the partner of the child’s mother suddenly became solely responsible for the child, he/she would have to either provide childcare – which can cost significant sums of money – or rearrange his/her professional situation to take care of the child.

No life insurance policy could possibly compensate for the loss of a mother. What it can do is provide a financial safety net that allows children and partners to come to terms with their loss at their own pace, knowing financial concerns are at least partly taken care of.

There is an upside for mothers in this respect too: the peace of mind of knowing you have done all you can to prepare for a situation in which you're no longer around. Since it’s a situation that no one wants, having life insurance for a mother might mean you don’t need to let it play on your mind.

Put protection in place for what matters the most

What sort of life insurance is there for mums?

The first concern for a mother who wants to take out life insurance is whether or not you are paying a mortgage, as this will have a significant bearing on what type of future situation you are aiming to help your children with.

Decreasing term life insurance

If you're paying a mortgage, then decreasing term cover could be the most helpful. This type of policy often has the lowest premiums of the three most common term life options (for the same amount of cover) and is designed specifically to cover gradual repayment debts. The rate at which the payout amount on a decreasing term insurance goes down is designed to be broadly the same as how the outstanding balance of a capital and interest repayment mortgage decreases.

Therefore, should you die during the term of this policy, your mortgage obligations should not fall to your partner or children. Most providers have a cap on mortgage interest rates, meaning that mortgages with interest rates over that cap may not be fully covered by a payout.

Level and increasing term life insurance

For the raft of other costs that come with life, there is level term cover and increasing term cover. These have cash payouts, which can be put to whatever use the beneficiaries choose.

You might have a child who attends a fee-paying school, for example, and you wouldn't want them to have to alter their situation should you no longer be able to contribute. Therefore a cash payout can help to maintain stability in life if you were to pass on.

If you’re a parent, childcare may be an important concern. If mum were to die, could the remaining carer adjust their work patterns to attend to the kids? If not, they’ll need to pay for childcare, which life insurance may help cover. And, even if they can take time off or leave work, they may need financial security to cover lost earnings. Life cover can help provide it.

Critical illness cover and children’s cover

Could you keep paying the bills if you were diagnosed with a critical illness, like cancer or a heart attack? Adding optional critical illness cover to your life insurance, and spending a little extra for it, could help ease the financial burden on you and your loved ones at a difficult time, when you may not be able to work to provide for them.

Serious conditions can affect anyone. Policies with children's cover may help protect your little ones too. For an additional premium, this optional add-on to life insurance policies provides a one-off lump sum payment if any of your insured children suffer an accidental death or are diagnosed with a serious injury or illness. This can help support you and your family at a difficult time.

Safeguard your loved ones' tomorrows. Then focus on enjoying your todays

Post Office life cover options

  • Life Insurance

    Choose between level, decreasing or increasing term insurance, each designed to offer you peace of mind based on your circumstances.

  • Over 50s Life Cover

    If you're aged between 50 and 80, we could help you leave a cash sum for your family or towards your funeral costs.