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Critical illness cover
Critical illness cover cost

Critical illness cover cost UK, what moves the price

Critical illness cover cost depends on you and on the cover.

MoneyHelper lists your age, smoking, health, job and the level of cover (MoneyHelper ↗).

No insurer we checked publishes a price with its assumptions, so this page shows the factors, and the one published example we could verify, from a broker.

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.

See the example ↓What moves the price →

Average individual critical illness payout, 2025£67,000What a claim paid on average, per the ABI. Not a price.

Source, to check at the link: (ABI ↗)

01 · The factors

What determines critical illness cover cost?

MoneyHelper says the cost of critical illness cover is affected by your age, whether you smoke or have smoked, your health, weight and family medical history, your job, and the level of cover (MoneyHelper ↗).

For protection insurance generally it adds the product, how long you take it out for, lifestyle, any add-ons and whether the policy is single or joint (MoneyHelper ↗).

If you are at risk of a particular condition because of existing health issues, MoneyHelper says that illness could be excluded (MoneyHelper ↗).

Critical illness is often an add-on itself: Legal & General adds it to life insurance for an extra cost (Legal & General ↗).

What the price depends on, per MoneyHelper

Your ageListed first by MoneyHelper for critical illness cover.
SmokingWhether you smoke or have smoked.
Your healthYour current health, weight and family medical history.
Your jobSome occupations are higher risk, which makes premiums higher.
The level of coverHow much the policy would pay.
The term and add-onsHow long the policy runs, and any add-ons you include (listed for protection insurance generally).

MoneyHelper, critical illness (MoneyHelper ↗) and protection insurance generally (MoneyHelper ↗)

02 · One example

Critical illness cover cost by age, one broker's example

The only premium table we could verify comes from a broker, Drewberry, not an insurer.

It uses its own quote engine for a healthy non-smoking company director with office-based duties, accurate as of August 2025, and names no insurer (Drewberry (broker) ↗).

It prices cover a company takes out on a director, so read it for the shape, not the figures.

Key person insurance cost →

Monthly premium, £150,000 level cover, 10 years

Aged 35£32.56 a month

Aged 45£72.21 a month

Aged 55£158.57 a month

A broker's published example, August 2025, as printed; not a quote and not an insurer's price. Check it at the link: (Drewberry (broker) ↗)

03 · Fixed or not

Guaranteed or reviewable premiums

The monthly figure can change after you buy, and the table shows how MoneyHelper describes each kind (MoneyHelper ↗).

A reviewable premium that starts lower may not stay lower.

Guaranteed

Reviewable

After you buy

Fixed for as long as you have the policy (MoneyHelper ↗)

Usually reviewed every five years (MoneyHelper ↗)

What to ask

Is this premium guaranteed for the whole term?

When is it reviewed, and on what basis?

Swipe to compare

04 · Tax

Is critical illness cover tax-free?

For a personal policy, MoneyHelper describes the payment as tax-free and one-off (MoneyHelper ↗).

When a company insures a key person, HMRC's rules apply instead, and the table sets out the difference (HMRC ↗).

Key person insurance tax →Key person critical illness →

Personal policy

Key person policy

Who is paid

You

The business (Legal & General ↗)

Payout

Tax-free, one-off (MoneyHelper ↗)

Trading income, if premiums were deducted (HMRC ↗)

Premiums

Paid by you

Deductible only for a trade purpose (HMRC ↗); capital, not deductible, if the policy has an investment content (HMRC ↗)

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05 · Next

More on critical illness cover

The price is one question.

What the policy covers, and how it pays, decide what you get for it.

06 · Sources

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.

Questions

Critical illness cover cost, answered

It depends on you and the cover, and no insurer we checked publishes a price with its assumptions.

One broker, Drewberry, publishes premiums from its quote engine for £150,000 of level life and critical illness cover over 10 years, for a healthy non-smoking company director with office-based duties, accurate as of August 2025: £32.56 a month at 35, £72.21 at 45 and £158.57 at 55.

Your price comes only from a quote. Drewberry (broker) ↗

Combined life and critical illness cover pays on a covered diagnosis as well as if the person insured passes away, so it responds to more events.

No insurer we checked publishes how much more it costs.

In one broker’s published example (August 2025), £150,000 of level cover over 10 years cost £7.26 a month for life cover alone at 35, and £32.56 with critical illness added. Drewberry (broker) ↗

MoneyHelper lists what the price depends on: your age, smoking, health, weight and family medical history, your job and the level of cover; for protection insurance generally, also the term and any add-ons.

Of those, the level of cover, the term and the add-ons are choices.

Guaranteed premiums stay fixed; reviewable ones are usually reviewed every five years.

MoneyHelper suggests advice from an independent financial adviser or specialist broker. MoneyHelper ↗

MoneyHelper describes the payment from a personal critical illness policy as tax-free and one-off.

Cover a company takes out on a key person is different: HMRC’s manual says where the premiums were deductible, the payout is a trading receipt, and allows a deduction only where the sole purpose is meeting a loss of trading income. MoneyHelper ↗

Beta · information only

Pricing cover for a business? Size the key person cover first.

The premium follows the amount. The calculator works through the earnings, profit and loan methods UK insurers publish.

01Earnings, profit and loan methods

02Insurers’ published multiples, with sources

03No email, no quote, no sales call

Information, not advice

We are not an insurer, broker or regulated adviser, and we do not give quotes or recommend a policy. For regulated advice, use an adviser authorised by the FCA.

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