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Over 50s life insurance UK, how the plan works
Over 50s life insurance is a plan for people usually aged 50 to 85 that leaves your family a fixed cash sum, with no health questions (MoneyHelper ↗).
An over 50s plan is simple to buy.
MoneyHelper also warns it can be poor value, so this guide sets out how it works and what to weigh up first.
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.
What is an over 50s life insurance plan?
MoneyHelper describes an over 50s life insurance plan as a policy for people usually between 50 and 85.
You pay a fixed monthly premium and the policy guarantees to pay a cash lump sum to your beneficiaries when you pass away (MoneyHelper ↗).
The money is often put towards funeral costs, but your beneficiaries can spend it however they wish (MoneyHelper ↗).
It is a form of whole of life cover: Legal & General calls its plan a type of ‘Whole of life’ cover (Legal & General ↗), and Aviva says its plan is sometimes referred to as whole of life cover, lasting for as long as you live (Aviva ↗).
Eligibility
You must be over 50
The older you are, the more the monthly premium for the same payout.
Acceptance
No health questions
Acceptance is guaranteed. There is no medical check.
Premiums
A fixed premium
Paid for the rest of your life, or to the age the policy sets. It never changes.
Payout
A fixed sum for your family
If you keep up the monthly premiums, the policy guarantees to pay a fixed lump sum.
Steps summarised from MoneyHelper's guide (MoneyHelper ↗).
This page explains the plan. Comparing is next door.
This guide covers what an over 50s plan is and how it works.
If you already know that and want to weigh plans and cover types against each other, the comparison guide is the better page.
- Comparing
Best over 50s life insurance
For comparing over 50s life insurance: an over 50s plan vs term vs whole of life, and what to check.
How to compare → - Lifelong cover
Whole life insurance
For underwritten cover that lasts for life, often used for Inheritance Tax planning.
Read the guide → - Fixed term
Term life insurance
For cover over a set number of years, such as a mortgage term.
Read the guide → - Health
Life insurance with pre-existing conditions
For anyone assuming a health condition rules out regular cover.
Read the guide →
A guaranteed over 50 plan, with no medical
“Guaranteed” means you will be accepted.
MoneyHelper says you don't need to answer any health questions or get a medical check (MoneyHelper ↗), and that you will not be turned down when you apply, regardless of your health (MoneyHelper ↗).
That is why an over 50s plan is also sold as over 50 life insurance with no medical.
Who can apply in the UK. MoneyHelper says you must be between 50 and 85, depending on the policy (MoneyHelper ↗).
Insurers set their own limits.
Legal & General offers guaranteed acceptance with no medical for UK residents aged 50 to 80 (Legal & General ↗).
Aviva guarantees to accept you if you are aged between 50 and 80 and a UK resident (Aviva ↗).
The trade-off is the first year.
MoneyHelper says you are fully covered after one year (MoneyHelper ↗).
Both insurers pay back the premiums, not the cover, for a claim in the first 12 months other than from an accident (Legal & General ↗) (Aviva ↗).
Applying
No health questions
You are accepted if you meet the age and residence rules.
First 12 months
Premiums back, not the cover
At Legal & General and Aviva, unless it is from an accident, when the full cover is paid.
After a year
Fully covered
The fixed cash sum is paid whenever a claim arises, if the premiums are kept up.
Later life
Premiums stop, cover continues
Legal & General: premiums stop at age 90. Aviva: after 30 years or the policy anniversary after your 90th birthday, whichever comes first.
From MoneyHelper (MoneyHelper ↗), Legal & General (Legal & General ↗) and Aviva (Aviva ↗), each for its own plan. Other insurers' rules differ.
How much does over 50s life insurance cost?
We publish no prices.
MoneyHelper says the older you are, the more your monthly premium will be for the same payout (MoneyHelper ↗).
Legal & General says its premium depends on your age and smoker status, from £5 to £75 a month on its plan (Legal & General ↗), and Aviva from £5 to £100 (Aviva ↗).
Legal & General's published examples for its Over 50s plan: customers who don't smoke, paying £25 a month, quotes taken from its site on 8 June 2026 (Legal & General ↗). Its figures, not ours, and not a quote for you.
Pros and cons of over 50s life insurance
MoneyHelper sets out both sides, and the card lists them (MoneyHelper ↗).
MoneyHelper says lots of health conditions are accepted by regular, medically underwritten life insurance, and even with an existing condition it may be cheaper (MoneyHelper ↗).
To set an over 50s plan against term and whole of life cover, see how to compare over 50s life insurance.
Pros, as MoneyHelper lists them
- You are guaranteed to be accepted with no medical questions
- Your monthly payments stay the same and never go up
- You are fully covered after one year
Cons
- You might pay in more over time than your family gets back
- The payout stays the same and won't keep up with rising prices
- The money is paid only when your beneficiaries make a claim
From MoneyHelper's over 50s guide (MoneyHelper ↗).
An over 50s plan or a funeral plan?
They are different products.
MoneyHelper says a funeral plan lets you pay in advance for some of your funeral, at today's prices (MoneyHelper ↗).
If you are considering a funeral plan, it says to check it isn't an over 50s insurance plan, even if it is advertised as a way to pay upfront for your funeral (MoneyHelper ↗).
MoneyHelper also says the FCA has warned that some over 50s plan promotions are misleading people into thinking they were buying a policy that would cover funeral costs in full (MoneyHelper ↗).
Alternatives to over 50s life insurance
MoneyHelper says over 50s cover can be an expensive way to plan for your funeral, and lists other ways to help your family pay (MoneyHelper ↗).
If you already have a plan and have paid in for a while, it says it might make sense to keep paying, but to weigh how much longer you will pay against what your beneficiaries will get (MoneyHelper ↗).
- Save
Save regularly instead
If you can avoid touching it, MoneyHelper says you will build up more than most over 50s plans provide (MoneyHelper ↗).
- Existing money
Use money you already have
Most banks release funds for funeral costs before probate is granted, and a joint account holder keeps access (MoneyHelper ↗).
- Work
Check work benefits
Many employers provide death in service benefits, often three to four times salary (MoneyHelper ↗).
- State
Bereavement Support Payment
A spouse or partner may qualify if you pass away before State Pension age: £2,500 plus 18 monthly payments of £100, or £3,500 and 18 payments of £350 with dependent children (MoneyHelper ↗).
Before you buy, and if it goes wrong
MoneyHelper says to check and compare terms before you buy, including how long the waiting period is and whether the policy pays out where drug or alcohol abuse is involved (MoneyHelper ↗).
The FCA tells consumers to use its Firm Checker before buying insurance (FCA ↗).
MoneyHelper's over 50s guide gives 14 days to cancel after taking out a plan (MoneyHelper ↗); check the cooling-off period in your own policy documents.
First
Complain to the insurer
For example if you were given bad advice, weren’t told the drawbacks, or a claim isn’t paid.
After eight weeks
Go to the Financial Ombudsman
If the insurer hasn’t fixed it, the ombudsman service is free.
Deadline
Usually within 6 months
Of the insurer’s final response.
Complaint steps summarised from MoneyHelper (MoneyHelper ↗).
Is the payout taxed, and should it go in trust?
MoneyHelper says life insurance payouts are not taxed but may be added to the value of your estate and be subject to Inheritance Tax, and that you can consider putting the policy in trust, which has pros and cons (MoneyHelper ↗).
Legal & General says you may want to place its plan in trust (Legal & General ↗).
Keep your paperwork safe and tell your next of kin about the policy (MoneyHelper ↗).
The rules only. We do not work out anyone's Inheritance Tax: reliefs, gifts and the home allowance change the answer, so check GOV.UK or a solicitor or adviser for your own estate.
Run a business? There is a business version
If you still work as a company director, your company can pay for life cover on you.
HMRC's conditions for a relevant life policy include a sum payable on death under a set age that does not exceed 75 (HMRC ↗).
This site is mainly about cover a company buys, and the cards show who each policy pays.
- Pays the business
Key person life insurance
Cover the company owns on someone it relies on, so the payout goes to the business (Legal & General ↗). It needs no trust (Royal London ↗).
Read the guide → - Pays the family
Relevant life insurance
Life cover the company pays for on a director or employee, paid to their family through a trust (Royal London ↗).
Read the guide → - The full set
Business protection insurance
Key person, shareholder protection, loan cover and the director policies, side by side.
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: Life insurance for over 50s ↗How over 50s plans work, pros and cons, what to check, complaints
- Legal & General: Over 50 life insurance ↗Its over 50s plan terms and a published cover example
- MoneyHelper: What is life insurance? ↗Types of cover, joint or single, cost factors, trusts, buying and cancelling
- GOV.UK: Inheritance Tax ↗The £325,000 threshold, the 40% rate and the main exemptions
- HMRC Inheritance Tax Manual, IHTM20012 ↗How life policies and their premiums are treated for Inheritance Tax
- Aviva: Putting life insurance in trust ↗Advantages, disadvantages and how to set one up
- Legal & General: Putting life insurance in trust ↗Trust types, pros and cons, and what happens after set-up
- FCA: check a firm before you buy ↗Use the Firm Checker before buying insurance
- HMRC Employment Income Manual, EIM15045 ↗Relevant life policy conditions, including the age limit
- Legal & General key person insurance ↗Key person cover is owned by, and pays, the business
- Royal London relevant life FAQs ↗Relevant life: the employer pays, the family is paid through a trust
- Royal London business protection guide ↗Why key person cover needs no trust
- Aviva: Over 50 life insurance ↗Its plan: ages, no health questions, the first 12 months, when premiums stop
- MoneyHelper: Planning and paying for your funeral ↗Funeral plans, and how they differ from over 50s plans
Over 50s life 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.