Best UK Life Insurance Cover Reviews For 2019

Anyone trying to find a decent life insurance plan for a good price has their work cut out. We know. We do it every day. Comparing over 300 companies with many types of policies from our leading database of providers. Some are industry leaders, others smaller and niche specific.

Then there are times we need to consult with the underwriters to make arrangements for insurance plans that just don’t fit the norm.

To name just one leading and stand out provider proved impossible. To put our mission into perspective, Genesage are independent insurance brokers partnered with a panel of over 300 insurance firms. Far too many to list, so we’re surfacing our finest 10% minority that stand out as the leading insurers for 2018 and the plans that offer comprehensive cover at very favourable rates.

The first challenge was to narrow the type of insurance.  It’s hard to miss the different types of policies we offer since as soon as you land on any page, our menu up top has 16 different links just on specific life insurance policies, with more being added.

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We can tell you that our most popular queries are narrowed down to just three types of life insurance though. General term life insurance, whole of life cover and the infamous guaranteed life plan, better known as the over 50s plan.

For each of our three most popular queries, no stand out insurance company could be listed. We scanned the terms, appraised the policies for value, and scoured reviews. On our quest to find the best, we discovered a consumer help group called Fairer Finance. They take a unique approach to list a detailed overview of a range of providers using customer’s experiences to assign a score to each insurer.

The scores are based on happiness, trust, transparency, complaints and statistical data of successful claims processed. So, we factored in their customer experience rating with our insights into the comprehensiveness of each policy offered by each insurer and what they want to charge to put the plan in place. We look for value for money and a comprehensive level of cover, and a great customer experience rating based on the consumer help groups data.

The above is what created this ultimate list of the most standout UK life insurance companies for 2019.

The Best Companies for Term Life Insurance 2019

If you don’t know, term life insurance is the most popular. The reason being it’s often a mortgage protection policy. When a family take a mortgage out, should one person die, the outstanding balance would be paid by the insurer, ensuring a family is not struggling to keep a roof over their head. You don’t need to own a home to have term cover though. You could use it to make sure your kids have enough left to see them through education. The only thing to remember is that these policies have no cash-in value. They are peace of mind protection only and not an investment vehicle.

All that said, if term cover’s what you’re interested in, these are the top ten-term insurance providers you’ll want to find out more about.


The UK’s Best Over 50s Plans 2019

These plans offer guaranteed acceptance because there’s no medical. You’ll see them advertised on television, in the newspaper and on your social media feeds. They’re a money spinner for insurance companies and only any good if you find it impossible to be accepted for a life insurance policy of any other type. It is rare, and if you are struggling, do get in contact with us before agreeing to an over 50s plan.

Here’s why…

You can easily pay in more than the plan will pay out to your family. To find out just how much you could overpay, search online for a” life expectancy calculator”. There’s a few of them around as they’re generally used for financial planning. That’s what you’re doing when you’re getting life insurance in place, so you may as well know how long you’ll likely be paying for.

Any quote you get for an over 50s plan, run the sums. Multiple the monthly premium by 12 and then by however many number of years your life expectancy is. You may just find your quote of £4.75 per month for a £550 pay-out is downright ludicrous!

If you must venture into the guaranteed territory, these are ten of the best over 50s providers to include in your comparison checks for quotes.


Britain’s Best Insurers for Whole of Life Cover 2019

While this plan, like all others has no cash-in value, it does play a huge role in financial planning. It’s a guaranteed payout to your loved ones. No terms, but plenty of strings so navigate these policies carefully.

The best use for these is for higher value insurance sums being paid out to your family. They can be set-up to be paid tax-free, therefore avoiding your family being stung with a hefty 40% IHT bill. Use a tax advisor for these though because it needs to be written in Trust to get the best value for your family.

Think of the Whole of Life insurance plan like the one you’ll be paying towards your family’s future for the rest of your days. The insurance plan is in place until you die and premiums will need to be kept up, although you can (and should) revise your policy periodically to ensure you’re still sufficiently insured. What your family need just now, likely won’t be what they need thirty years from now. When your sons/daughters are grown up with their own families, and their families have their own families. Funeral costs will be the least of their money worries.

Owing to the long-term nature of Whole of Life insurance, you’ll notice the top ten providers are household names you’ve likely heard of. These are the companies who have been around long enough to be established and earn trust that they’ll be around for the long-haul. If you’re unsure about Vitality Life being on the list of established insurance companies, they were formerly Prudential and Discovery trading under PruProtect. Discovery took full ownership in 2014 and rebranded the company into Vitality Life, so they have been around for a while.

Here are the other nine that make the cut as being classed the best for Whole of Life insurance plans…


Some Facts You Ought to Know About Life Insurance

  • Insurers Are Not Obliged to Insure Every Applicant!

Insurance companies review all applications made before providing a conditional offer. They may not offer cover at all. If your application is rejected, it’s due to a risk factor. It could be any number of health conditions, or it could be your lifestyle habit of slacklining across the 449ft deep Cheddar Gorge or wingsuit flying / effectively freefalling from tens of thousands of feet.

Normally, rejections are triggered by health problems, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, or any number of mental health problems.

It’s not so much the health that’s an issue. It’s the underwriting of the policy. Medical records need to be obtained from GPs, which aren’t free and there’s no guarantee you’ll accept the offer proposed.

If you’re in good health and don’t do crazy stuff in your spare time, it’s unlikely you’ll be rejected.

The Three Things You Should Consider Before Applying for Life Insurance

  • Special Circumstances

As noted above, insurers can reject your application. If you have any health condition, it’s best not to approach cheap and cheerful insurance providers. Namely, Legal and General, who are consistently good with pricing. They’re good at keeping premiums low because they keep the costs down. That’s not to say they don’t take on medium to high-risk insurance policies, it’s just they will offer them at a premium, but for standard rates, good health and low risk of claiming is more likely to be approved.

If you can think of any health or lifestyle question that your answer may flag you as a higher risk, it may be best to approach a specialist insurance firm catering to whatever medical condition you’ve been diagnosed with.

  • The Type of Policy You Require

The three most popular types of insurance policies and the best providers for each are listed, but that’s not to say they’re best for you. You could be an emergency responder, a roofer, serve in the Armed Forces or any other higher risk profession. Your line of work can push your premiums up if accepted. There are insurance providers who specialise in high-risk policies.

  • The Amount of Money You Should be Insured For

Once you know the type of policy, you then need to figure how much money you need your policy to pay to your family. For term insurance, it could be as simple as what’s left to pay on the mortgage. That would at least keep the family home from having to be sold.

Other debts should be considered too though. Both secured and unsecured debts including any finance agreements you’ve entered into long-term such as being a guarantor on someone else’s mortgage as that would leave your family home exposed, should the other loan be defaulted.

Term life insurance can also be used to insure a sum of money to guarantee there’s enough there to continue raising kids without falling into financial difficulty. Figures released from the Child Poverty Action Group for 2017, estimated the cost of raising one child to work out to just over £10,000 per year for a single-parent home.

Another thing to consider is funeral expenses as those are not cheap. FuneralZone.co.uk estimate costs for a burial to be over £4,000. Some insurance providers offer life insurance with funeral costs, but it should be noted that not all the costs will be covered. There may still be the costs of any wake, extra transport and catering which may not be covered by the policy.

  • Always Ask about Flexibility!

The amount you need to be insured for may fluctuate throughout the term of a policy. It could be that you take a term life insurance policy to pay the mortgage and have a buffer to provide a lump sum to pay towards the cost of childcare and education.

Life happens, families grow, and as they do, most will upsize their property to add another bedroom. That’s a higher mortgage and another addition to the family, which will have a bearing on the sum you’re insured for.

There are two ways you can go about increasing policy sums. Ask your existing provider or take out a top-up policy. It’s often best to take out an additional life insurance policy than it is to tweak an existing policy.

All the insurance providers listed in the charts above score highly for customer satisfaction and offer a degree of flexibility. It may be that the company has no problem altering the terms, whereas for others, they may require another health assessment to assess the level of risk they’d be taking on.

Whatever your life insurance needs, the best insurance providers listed above should be able to cater to your requirements. If you’d rather have expert guidance to ensure you have the right level of cover offering the finest peace of mind guarantee, with affordable premiums, do get in contact with any member of our team by telephoning 0203 150 1349.

Or fill out the form below and we’ll provide all the information and assistance you need.