5 star rated decreasing life insurance from L&G

Decreasing Life
Insurance

  • Cover from only £5 a month
  • Choose a cover amount for your needs
  • Rated 'Excellent' on Trustpilot
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Our life insurance product has an ‘Excellent’ star label with ratings of 4.3 stars out of 5. Read reviews from customers like you.

What is Decreasing Life Insurance?

Our Decreasing Life Insurance, often called mortgage life insurance, is designed to help protect a repayment mortgage when you buy a home. It pays out a lump sum of money if you pass away while covered by the policy or are diagnosed with a terminal illness and your life expectancy is less than 12 months. With this type of insurance, the amount of cover reduces roughly in line with the way a repayment mortgage decreases. The payout could mean your loved ones get to stay in their family home without the worry of mortgage payments after you're gone.

This page was last reviewed by our expert Lisa Redman on 10 July 2025.

 

Benefits of Decreasing Life Insurance

Financial support

Your loved ones could pay off the repayment mortgage, meaning they get to stay in the family home.

Fixed premiums from £5 a month

Tell us about the cover you want for a personalised quote.

Peace of mind

Help reduce your family's stress and money worries at a difficult time.

How does Decreasing Life Insurance work?

  • Choose the cover you need. You choose the amount of cover you need and how long you need it for. If you’re using Decreasing Life Insurance to help protect a repayment mortgage, it’s important to make sure that the amount of cover matches your outstanding mortgage. 
  • Who is the policy for? To apply you need to be a UK resident aged between 18 and 74. If you choose to add Critical Illness Cover to your policy you can apply up to age 67. You can also decide if you want a policy in single or joint names.
  • Fixed costs. The monthly cost is fixed so you can budget accordingly. 
  • Get extra protection. You can add Critical Illness Cover when applying for an extra cost. 
  • Option to put your plan in trust. A life insurance trust lets you manage the way your beneficiaries receive their inheritance.
  • Get a cash sum if the worst happens. Your loved ones will receive a cash sum if a valid claim is made. They can use it to help pay off the mortgage.
Image showing how decreasing life insurance cash sum decreases over time

Getting a life insurance quote online is quick and easy

Or call us on 0800 316 5591

8:30am to 8pm Monday to Friday
9am to 1pm Saturday

We may record and monitor calls

Free £100 gift card

£100 gift card after you take out cover

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What Decreasing Life Insurance covers

Life insurance - cover at a glance

  • Cash lump sum payment – you choose how much cover you need and how long you need it for. We’ll pay out a cash sum if you were to pass away after a valid claim is made.
  • Guaranteed premiums which can be made monthly or annually. They won’t change unless you make changes to the policy.
  • Accidental Death Benefit at no extra cost. We’ll cover you while we process your application, giving you peace of mind that you’re covered in case of accidental death. Terms and conditions apply.
  • Free Life Cover included at no extra cost. If you’re moving home, we offer free life cover between exchange of contracts and completion of your property purchase. In Scotland we provide the free cover from when you complete missives for your chosen property until the date of entry. Terms and conditions apply.
  • Terminal Illness Cover – you're covered from day one of your policy starting. We will pay out if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness that meets our definition. See the Policy Booklet for more information.
  • Joint life separation – should you divorce/dissolve a registered civil partnership we can cancel your policy and set up two single policies. Terms and conditions apply.
  • Critical Illness Cover – for an extra cost you have the option to add this when you take out your life insurance policy.

Things you need to know

  • Not paying your premiums. If you stop paying premiums when due, your plan will be cancelled and you won't get anything back
  • No cash value. This is not a savings or investment product and has no cash value unless a valid claim is made.
  • Suicide or intentional self-injury in the first year. The policy will be cancelled if within the first year you die as a result of suicide or intentional and serious self-injury or an event where, in our reasonable opinion, you took your own life.
  • You're covered only for the policy term. You're covered for your chosen length of policy until the expiry date, unless the amount of cover is paid out, or the policy is cancelled by you or us. Cover will stop when the policy ends and no further premiums will be payable.
  • If your life insurance is to cover your mortgage, your policy may not completely pay off your outstanding mortgage unless you make sure your cover amount is adjusted to match any new mortgage arrangements. If you take out Decreasing Life Insurance you should also check that the interest rate on your mortgage does not become higher than the rate applied to the policy. The rate will be shown in your Personal Quote or the Policy Booklet.

Policy documents

See a full list of what is and isn't covered in our policy documents before you apply. If you are an existing customer please refer to your policy documents for details of your cover.

Get a free Decreasing Life Insurance quote online today

Why get life insurance with L&G?

We've been protecting families like yours for over 185 years. You can trust us to provide expert cover and supporting benefits.

Defaqto 5 Star Rated

5 Star Defaqto rated cover - the highest rating possible!

There when you need us

In 2024 we paid out £583 million in life claims, helping more than 14,000 people and their families.

Wellbeing Support

We've partnered with RedArc Assured Limited to bring you our Wellbeing Support service, offering phone-based services to support your mental health and wellbeing.

Care Concierge

Free access to our team of Care Experts, this confidential and impartial telephone advisory service can help you or loved ones understand and find adult and later life care. Find out more.

Decreasing life insurance with critical illness cover

Would your loved ones be able to pay the mortgage if you were critically unwell? If the answer is no, you could consider adding Critical Illness Cover to your Decreasing Life Insurance policy. 

Your policy could pay out a cash sum If you are diagnosed with, or undergo a medical procedure for one of the specified critical illnesses that we cover during the length of your policy, and you survive for 14 days from diagnosis.

By adding Critical Illness Cover to your Decreasing Life Insurance, you can get some extra reassurance that you and your family could still manage financially. 

Additionally, while some people have an employee benefits package, they can lose these entitlements if they leave their job. But if you have Decreasing Life Insurance with Critical Illness Cover, you can keep this protection in place even if you switch jobs.

Do I need decreasing life insurance?

If you own a property, a mortgage is likely to be the biggest debt you leave behind should the worst happen, so having a policy in place can help give you and your loved ones peace of mind.

How to get a decreasing life insurance quote

It takes around 2 minutes to get your personalised decreasing life insurance quote. You'll need the following details:

  • Your personal details - date of birth, contact details and smoker status.
  • Details of the cover you need - what type of life insurance and how much do you need, how long you want cover to last.
  • Who do you want to cover - is the life insurance policy for you alone or you and another person.

Get a free Decreasing Life Insurance quote online today

Decreasing Life insurance FAQs

You must be a UK resident and at least 18 years of age at the time of applying and the policy must not end before your 29th birthday. The maximum age for buying a Decreasing Life Insurance policy is 74, and your policy must end before age 90. The minimum length of the policy is 5 years, and the maximum length is 50 years.

Please read our Policy Summary PDF for more details. If you are an existing customer please refer to your policy documents for details of your cover.

We recognise that sometimes your protection needs change, so you can request any of the following changes to the policy:

  • extend or reduce the period of cover
  • increase or decrease the amount of cover
  • remove a life from a joint policy


We also offer 'Joint life policy separation'. This allows a joint policy to be split into two new single policies if a couple divorce, dissolve their registered civil partnership or change a joint mortgage into one name or take out a new mortgage in one name. Your request must be made within 6 months of the event being finalised.

These changes could affect the premiums that you pay and we would have to assess any change based on your circumstances at the time.

Terms and conditions apply. Please read the Policy Booklet PDF for full details. If you are an existing customer please refer to your policy documents for details of your cover.

You can add Critical Illness Cover for an extra cost when taking out Life Insurance or Decreasing Life Insurance. It could pay out a cash sum if you’re diagnosed with or undergo a medical procedure for one of the specified critical illnesses that we cover, and you survive for 14 days from diagnosis. We cover many types of cancer, heart attack and stroke. However, some types of cancer are not included and to make a claim for some illnesses, you need to have permanent symptoms.

Please remember that these policies are not savings or investment products and have no cash value unless a valid claim is made.

If you buy Life Insurance or Decreasing Life Insurance with or without Critical Illness Cover directly from L&G, you could be eligible for a gift card six months after your policy start date provided you haven’t cancelled your policy and your payments are fully up to date. If you have previously held and cancelled a L&G life insurance policy, with or without Critical Illness Cover within the last 18 months, you will not be eligible for this offer. 

This offer is only available if you apply directly to L&G. If you apply through a Financial Adviser, or any website other than L&G’s, such as a comparison site, you will not be eligible for the gift.

Read the full terms and conditions.

Yes, you can cancel your life insurance policy at any time. After applying for cover you'll have 30 days to contact us to change your mind if you decide not to continue with the policy. You can also do this if you register and login into My Account, however this must be done within the first 30 days of your policy starting.

If you cancel within 30 days we will return any premiums paid. If you cancel after 30 days you won't get anything back.

If you’d like to discuss your cancellation, you can speak to a member of our team on 0333 242 7101. You can write to us at: Cancellations Department, Legal & General Assurance Society Limited, City Park, The Droveway, Hove, East Sussex BN3 7PY.

When you applied for protection, you told us how long you needed cover to last. Your policy will remain live for this length of time as long as your premiums are up to date.

The easiest way to view and manage your policy is to access My Account where you can log in or register. Or use the Policy Documents Request Form to get a policy summary by email. We can only send to the email address that we currently hold on our records. Find out more about our Privacy Policy.

You could also check your bank statements for payments to other insurance companies.

Even though your policy may have been set up at the same time as you took out a mortgage, or made another financial commitment, they are separate products.

Your policy would pay out in the event of a valid claim during your policy term, whether or not you still have that mortgage or financial commitment in place.

It is at the discretion of your beneficiaries how they choose to use the proceeds in the event of a valid claim.

Wellbeing Support service

We know that the pressures of everyday life can sometimes be stressful, and can impact your wellbeing in lots of ways. From day one of your policy you'll have access to our dedicated Wellbeing Support service.

 

  • Dedicated support and help from a dedicated nurse can range from a reassuring chat, information, advice and guidance, to a clinical assessment and organising additional services.
  • Day one support. Support is included as standard from day one of your policy for you or your immediate family living at home.
  • Get the help you need. You don't need to claim on your policy, you can simply get in touch with your nurse directly.

Care Concierge

Care Concierge is personal service to help understand and find adult and later life care. There's a lot to consider when looking for care, and it's important that you or your loved one get the support they need.

 

  • With free access to our friendly team of Care Experts, this confidential and impartial telephone advisory service can help you or loved ones navigate adult and later life care.
  • Available to the policyholder, their partner, children and parents.
  • Tailored 1:1 impartial advice. Our Care Concierge team have extensive knowledge of the care industry and are completely impartial, allowing you to make an informed decision on the care option that is right for you.

Related information and products

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Get extra protection with Critical Illness Cover which can be added for an extra cost when you take out your life insurance policy.

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When you take out our Life Insurance we include a number of additional benefits at no extra cost, such as Free Life Cover and Terminal Illness Cover (where life expectancy is less than 12 months), giving you extra peace of mind. Terms and conditions apply.

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If you're looking for life cover that doesn't decrease over time to help protect your family or  mortgage, take a look at our Life Insurance where the amount of cover stays the same throughout the length of the policy.

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Use our life insurance calculator to help you work out how much cover you might need.

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From information about different types of life insurance to articles about looking after your health and well-being - check out our wide variety of articles and guides.

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Making life insurance quotes easy

Getting life insurance quotes is one of those things that probably gets pushed to the bottom of the list. You may think it's going to be too complicated or time-consuming or you simply keep putting it off because it's not something you want to think about.

Ready to get a decreasing life insurance quote?

Call us on:

0800 316 5591

8:30am to 8pm Monday to Friday
9am to 1pm Saturday

We may record and monitor calls.

Our Life Insurance product reviews

As of 10 July 2025, 1,079 customers have rated our life insurance giving the product an average star rating of 4.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot. The score of 4.3 corresponds to the star label ‘Excellent’. It includes reviews from customers who’ve claimed on a policy.

Reviewed by our expert
Lisa Redman

Lisa Redman

Senior Propositions Manager, Retail Protection

Lisa works in UK Retail Protection Proposition Development team and is responsible for identifying and assessing new product and proposition enhancements to meet customer needs, with a strong emphasis on regulatory compliance ensuring all required governance is completed.

More about Lisa