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Compare critical illness cover UK, definitions first
A critical illness cover comparison starts with the wording.
The ABI says anyone considering the cover needs to know what conditions will trigger a payout, and to compare products (ABI ↗).
This page shows what the ABI requires, what varies, and what five insurers publish about their own policies.
Every claim here is our summary of a named external source, linked beside it. Sources change: check the wording at the link before you rely on it.
Source, to check at the link: (ABI ↗)
How to compare critical illness cover: the wording
Every policy called critical illness cover must include cancer, heart attack and stroke to the ABI's minimum definitions (ABI ↗), and those three account for 80% of claims (ABI ↗).
Above that floor, policies differ.
Insurers choose which further conditions to include; where they include one, they must use the ABI definition (ABI ↗).
MoneyHelper warns that definitions and exclusions can vary between insurers, and that some policies make a smaller payment for less severe conditions or if one of your children has a listed condition (MoneyHelper ↗).
So compare in this order.
Core
The three core definitions
Cancer, heart attack and stroke: every policy has them, but read the wording.
Further
Which further conditions are in
The ABI defines them; each insurer picks which to include.
Exclusions
What is left out
MoneyHelper names non-invasive cancers, high blood pressure and broken bones as common exclusions.
Extras
What is paid on top
Smaller payments for less severe conditions, and children’s cover.
Price
Guaranteed or reviewable
MoneyHelper says reviewable premiums are usually reviewed every five years.
What every policy must cover
The ABI's Guide sets the three core conditions and a list of further conditions with model definitions.
A policy may include any, all or none of the further conditions (ABI ↗).
That is why a longer list is not the same as better cover: the definitions decide whether a claim is paid.
The ABI names not meeting the policy definitions as a common reason for declined claims (ABI ↗).
Must be covered, to the ABI's minimum definitions
ABI Guide; check at the link: (ABI ↗)
Further conditions with ABI definitions, if the policy includes them
- Aorta graft surgery
- Benign brain tumour
- Blindness
- Coma
- Coronary artery by-pass grafts
- Deafness
- Dementia including Alzheimer’s disease
- Heart valve replacement or repair
- Kidney failure
- Loss of speech
- Loss of hand or foot
- Major organ transplant
- Motor neurone disease
- Multiple sclerosis
- Paralysis of limb
- Parkinson’s disease
- Third degree burns
- Total permanent disability
- Traumatic brain injury
Headings from Chapter 4 of the ABI Guide. Insurers need not include any of them; where they do, they must use the ABI definition: (ABI ↗)
Compare UK critical illness cover providers, in their own words
Five insurers, on the points their own consumer pages publish.
We do not rate them, count their conditions or show prices.
"Not on the page we read" means we found nothing on that point in the page linked, not that the insurer has no terms.
Swipe or scroll the table on a phone.
Every cell carries its source; check it there before you rely on it.
Each insurer's own description of its own product, read on 28 September 2026; not a recommendation. Claims figures are counted differently by each insurer and are not directly comparable. Vitality's product is called Serious Illness Cover and pays by severity, so it does not line up row for row.
Critical illness claims, across the market
The ABI says 90.2% of new critical illness claims were paid in 2025, across individual and group policies, and that almost two-thirds (65%) of critical illness claims were for cancer (ABI ↗).
The FCA's market study into life, critical illness and income protection found that competition generally delivers good outcomes for people who hold these products, with high claims acceptance rates (FCA ↗).
Its concern is the people with no cover: it says 58% of people hold no protection products (FCA ↗).
Seven checks before quotes are comparable
Two quotes are only comparable if they cover the same things on the same terms.
Tick anything you have not checked.
Nothing you tick is stored or sent.
Answer the application fully.
MoneyHelper says the insurer will check your medical history when you claim, and a claim might be rejected if you did not answer truthfully or accurately (MoneyHelper ↗).
Tick anything still open
If nothing here applies, the quotes you hold should be like for like.
More on critical illness cover
Before buying, the FCA tells consumers to check the firm on its Firm Checker (FCA ↗).
Critical illness cover for a company's key person is a different policy: it pays the business (Legal & General ↗).
- The basics
Critical illness cover
What it is, what the ABI says it must cover and how claims are paid.
Read the guide → - The price
Critical illness cover cost
What moves the premium, and the one published example we could verify.
Read the guide → - Your home
Critical illness cover for a mortgage
Level or decreasing cover, and what to check before you rely on it.
Read the guide → - Pays the business
Key person critical illness
When the company insures someone it depends on, and is paid on their diagnosis.
Read the guide → - Pays the business, monthly
Executive income protection
A monthly benefit to the company while an employee cannot work.
Read the guide →
Check it for yourself
Every claim on this page is our summary of one of the documents listed here.
We last checked them against the live sources on 28 September 2026.
The documents are the authority, not this page.
Insurers and HMRC update them, so validate any figure or condition at its link before you rely on it.
- ABI Guide to Minimum Standards for Critical Illness Cover ↗The three core conditions, the further conditions and their definitions
- MoneyHelper: what is critical illness cover? ↗What it pays, exclusions, premiums and who may need it
- ABI: protection insurers pay out £7.84 billion in 2025 ↗Critical illness claims paid, average payout and the cancer share
- FCA Pure Protection Market Study, final report ↗The regulator’s findings on life, critical illness and income protection
- Legal & General critical illness cover ↗Added to life or decreasing life insurance; pays once, then ends
- Aviva critical illness cover ↗Level and decreasing cover; children’s and additional claims
- LV= life and critical illness cover ↗Mostly sold with life cover; additional payment conditions
- Royal London critical illness cover ↗Sold through independent financial advisers; additional illnesses
- Vitality Serious Illness Cover ↗Pays a share of the cover by severity; can be taken without life cover
- FCA Firm Checker ↗Check an adviser or broker is authorised
Comparing critical illness cover, answered
Not financial advice. This page is general information. Before buying insurance, the FCA tells consumers to check the firm on its Firm Checker (FCA ↗). For free guidance, see MoneyHelper.