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LV= key person insurance, from its adviser pages
LV= key person insurance is, in LV='s words, life insurance taken out by a business on the life of a crucial person in the business.
It can include critical illness cover and pays the company or partners (LV= ↗).
Here is what LV= publishes about it.
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.
LV=
Life, optional critical illness
- Cover
- Life, optionally with critical illness (LV= ↗)
- Critical illness
- 87 conditions, 17 with enhanced payments (LV= adviser site ↗)
- Claims paid, 2024
- 95% of individual protection claims (LV= ↗)
- Sold through
- UK financial advisers (LV= adviser site ↗)
Summarised from LV='s own documents. Check each at its link.
About LV= key person insurance
LV= describes key person cover as life insurance a business takes out on the life of a crucial person in the business (LV= ↗).
It defines a key person as any member of staff who has a direct impact on the business's profits (LV= adviser site ↗).
The policy is paid directly to the company or partners (LV= ↗).
LV= calls itself a UK life and pensions mutual insurer with a history dating back to 1843 (LV= ↗).
“Key Person cover is life insurance taken out by a business on the life of a crucial person in the business.”
“A key person is any member of staff who has a direct impact on the business's profits.”Source: (LV= ↗)
LV= key person cover options
LV= offers the life cover three ways: level, inflation-linked or decreasing (LV= adviser site ↗).
Critical illness cover can be added (LV= ↗): it pays a lump sum on death or one of the specified conditions during the term, covering 87 conditions with enhanced claim payments for 17 (LV= adviser site ↗).
LV= marks the 87 with a footnote and points to its Business Protection key features document for the full list (LV= adviser site ↗).
LV= says the cover is not suitable for clients who want to protect their income if they cannot work through accident or sickness (LV= adviser site ↗).
For that, see key person income protection.
Why consider LV=? How it sizes cover
We do not rate insurers or say which to choose.
LV='s adviser site lists the options for the amount of key person cover, shown here, without stating any multiples (LV= ↗); the calculator uses the multiples other insurers publish, with their sources.
How to get LV= key person insurance
LV='s key person cover page is on its adviser site and is marked for UK financial advisers only (LV= adviser site ↗).
So LV= key person insurance is arranged through a financial adviser.
Amount
Work out the cover
Profits, salary, a loan, recruitment or start-up costs.
Adviser
Speak to an FCA-authorised adviser
Check the firm on the FCA Firm Checker first.
Choose
Level, inflation-linked or decreasing
With critical illness cover added if the business wants it.
LV= claims and regulatory data
LV= reported paying 95% of all individual protection claims for life insurance, critical illness and income protection in 2024, almost £137 million in total (LV= ↗).
The figure is for individual protection, not key person cover alone.
Before you buy, with any insurer
- Answer the application questions fully: the ABI names not disclosing existing medical conditions, and not meeting the policy definitions, as common reasons claims are declined (ABI ↗)
- Check the firm first: the FCA says to use its Firm Checker before you buy insurance (FCA ↗)
- The Firm Checker cannot confirm whether FSCS or Financial Ombudsman Service protection will apply (FCA ↗)
Compare your key person insurance options
Each page below sets out what one insurer publishes about its own key person cover, with a source beside every figure.
We do not rate or rank insurers.
The comparison puts the published terms side by side.
- Life, or life and critical illness
Aviva
Aviva key person insurance → - Life, critical illness, income protection
Legal & General
Legal & General key person insurance → - Life, critical illness, income protection
Royal London
Royal London key person insurance → - Life, critical illness, or both
Zurich
Zurich key person insurance → - Life, critical illness, loan cover
Scottish Widows
Scottish Widows key person insurance → - Through financial advisers
Vitality
Vitality key person insurance → - Now with Aviva
AIG Life
AIG Life key person insurance → - Closed to new individual cover
Canada Life
Canada Life key person insurance → - A personal accident variant
Hiscox
Hiscox key person insurance →
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.
- LV= key person cover (adviser) ↗What it is, who it pays, cover options, critical illness, sizing
- LV= about us ↗Liverpool Victoria, a mutual since 1843
- LV=: protection claims in 2024 ↗Share of individual protection claims paid
- ABI: protection claims in 2024 ↗Common reasons claims are declined
- FCA Firm Checker ↗Check a firm before you buy
- FCA Firm Checker guidance ↗What the Firm Checker cannot confirm
LV= key person insurance, 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.