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- Critical illness cover for mortgage
Critical illness cover for mortgage, do you need it?
Critical illness cover for a mortgage pays a tax-free, one-off sum if you are diagnosed with a condition the policy includes, and MoneyHelper says it can go towards your mortgage (MoneyHelper ↗).
This page covers level and decreasing cover, the other insurance that can help with repayments, and where to find help if illness affects your payments.
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 ↗)
Why consider critical illness cover for your mortgage?
MoneyHelper says to consider the cover if you and your family depend heavily on your income and don't have enough savings to tide you over a serious illness (MoneyHelper ↗).
You might not need it with savings for bills, rent or mortgage payments, or cover through your employer's benefits scheme (MoneyHelper ↗).
It is not a legal requirement to have life insurance when you get a mortgage (MoneyHelper ↗).
Buy
Cover set against the mortgage
Level, or decreasing in step with a repayment mortgage.
Diagnosis
A condition the policy includes
It must meet the policy’s definition; the ABI sets the minimum for cancer, heart attack and stroke.
Payout
A one-off, tax-free sum
Yours to use: on the mortgage, treatment, rent or changes to your home.
What the payment can be used for, from MoneyHelper (MoneyHelper ↗).
Critical illness cover for a mortgage: level or decreasing term?
MoneyHelper says decreasing term cover is designed to be used with repayment mortgages, where the outstanding loan decreases over time, and that level cover stays the same throughout the term (MoneyHelper ↗).
Insurers offer critical illness on both.
Aviva says its decreasing critical illness cover could help pay off a mortgage, debt or other loans (Aviva ↗).
Legal & General adds critical illness to Life Insurance or Decreasing Life Insurance (Legal & General ↗), and LV= says its decreasing cover is designed for reducing amounts owed on capital and repayment mortgages (LV= ↗).
How MoneyHelper and the insurers describe each, not a recommendation. Which suits your mortgage is a question for an FCA-authorised adviser.
Critical illness, income protection or payment protection
Three kinds of insurance can help with a mortgage during an illness, and they pay in different ways.
MoneyHelper says income protection is not the same as critical illness insurance, which pays a one-off lump sum (MoneyHelper ↗).
If illness means you cannot pay, where to turn
MoneyHelper's first step is to check whether you have insurance cover: certain types can help with mortgage repayments if your income has fallen because of redundancy, accident or sickness (MoneyHelper ↗).
It also suggests talking to your lender about options such as extending the mortgage term or switching to interest-only payments, and says some people on means-tested benefits can get Support for Mortgage Interest, a repayable loan (MoneyHelper ↗).
First
Check the cover you already have
Critical illness, income protection, payment protection or employer benefits.
Then
Talk to your lender early
Ask about a longer term or interest-only payments for a while.
If eligible
Support for Mortgage Interest
Help with interest for some means-tested benefits, as a repayable loan.
More on critical illness cover
What the policy covers, and how it pays, matter as much for a mortgage as for anything else.
- The basics
Critical illness cover
What it is, what the ABI says it must cover and how claims are paid.
Read the guide → - Before you compare
Compare critical illness cover
Definitions, payment rules and what insurers publish about their own policies.
Read the guide → - The price
Critical illness cover cost
What moves the premium, and the one published example we could verify.
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.
- MoneyHelper: what is critical illness cover? ↗What it pays, exclusions, premiums and who may need it
- MoneyHelper: what is life insurance? ↗Level and decreasing term cover, and mortgages
- MoneyHelper: what is income protection insurance? ↗Regular payments while you cannot work
- MoneyHelper: help with mortgage payments ↗Insurance that can help with repayments, and talking to your lender
- Aviva critical illness cover ↗Level and decreasing cover; children’s and additional claims
- Legal & General critical illness cover ↗Added to life or decreasing life insurance; pays once, then ends
- LV= life and critical illness cover ↗Mostly sold with life cover; additional payment conditions
- Vitality Serious Illness Cover ↗Pays a share of the cover by severity; can be taken without life cover
- ABI: protection insurers pay out £7.84 billion in 2025 ↗Critical illness claims paid, average payout and the cancer share
- ABI Guide to Minimum Standards for Critical Illness Cover ↗The three core conditions, the further conditions and their definitions
Critical illness cover for a mortgage, 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.