Life insurance payouts: the facts

Souce: L&G claims statistics for 2025

The right cover from the very start

If you’re applying for life insurance, you deserve certainty – not a surprise. If we need more information from you, we'll be in touch once you have applied. We have an experienced team of more than 180 UK-based underwriters to help us write-up your policy and work out how much it should cost. And once your policy is in place, your family will have the confidence in knowing that a life insurance payout can be processed smoothly should the worst happen.

Life insurance for every need

If you need help and support on setting up life insurance, we can help you choose a policy that suits your circumstances.

• Life Insurance – the amount of cover you choose and the amount you pay each month remain the same for the length of the policy, unless you make any changes. If you want to cover more than just a mortgage, this ‘level term’ policy could be right for you.
  
  
• Decreasing Life Insurance – your cover amount will decrease roughly in line with your repayment mortgage. If lower monthly premiums are a priority and you're looking to protect a repayment mortgage, you may want to consider a ‘decreasing’ policy. 
  
  
• Critical Illness Cover – this add-on pays out a cash sum if you’re diagnosed with, or undergo a medical procedure for one of the conditions covered and you survive for 14 days after the diagnosis. 
  
  
• Children’s Critical Illness Cover – for any parent, the critical illness of a child is simply unthinkable. To help alleviate some of the stress, our Children’s Critical Illness Cover is automatically included with Critical Illness Cover.  
  
  
• Terminal Illness Cover - If you have a life expectancy of less than 12 months following the diagnosis of a terminal illness, your life insurance payout could be paid out in advance. 

Learn more about the types of life insurance we offer. 

Does a life insurance payout cover cancer?

Life insurance is designed to payout if you die while covered by the policy. So if you were to pass away following a cancer diagnosis and a valid claim is made, your loved ones would receive the payout. Some types of cancer are also covered by our Critical Illness Cover, so your policy could payout after your diagnosis, for you to use the money as you wish.

Source: L&G claims statistics for 2025 

Does age affect a life insurance payout?

Once you have a policy, your age won't affect making a valid claim. Where possible, we want as many people as possible can get life insurance if they need it, regardless of age.  

• You can take out L&G life insurance from the age of 18.  
• The maximum age for taking out a Life Insurance policy is 77.
• For Decreasing Life Insurance, the maximum age is 74. 

A policy length can’t end before your 29th birthday and must end before age 90.

Source: L&G claims statistics for 2025 
*The maximum age to claim for products taken out today is 90.

What to expect from L&G

We’re proud to look after our customers – and their loved ones – both during and after a policy’s lifespan.  
 
During the claim 
If you were to pass away, rest assured we’ll make the claims process as easy as possible for your loved ones. They’ll simply need to complete our online claims form, upload their documents at a time of their choosing, then track progress from any device. 
 
Beyond the claim 
Even after a claim has been made, our role doesn’t end there. As a L&G customer, you'll still have access to: