Here you can find answers to common questions about our Over 50s Life Cover and Life insurance. You can also find out how to make a claim, if you have lost a loved one or been diagnosed with a terminal illness. How to get in touch with us.
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Post Office Life Insurance is a life assurance policy that pays an amount of money (cash sum) if, during your chosen policy term, you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness that meets the definition, as per the terms and conditions. If we pay your cash sum your policy will end. If you're still alive at the end of your policy term and haven't been diagnosed with a terminal illness, your policy will end and you won't receive a pay-out.
Is your partner the main income earner? Would they need to continue working if you died? Life insurance could help them pay someone to do tasks you currently do around the house or elsewhere. Housework, preparing meals, looking after your children and so on.
Yes, you can. Joint life insurance protects two people under one policy with one monthly premium payment, but only pays out once if a policy holder dies within the term. Two single policies protect each policyholder separately but will mean paying two premiums each month. Which option is right for you?
You can choose to add critical illness cover to your Post Office Life Insurance policy, at additional cost, when you apply. Find out more about critical illness cover.
Yes, like critical illness cover, you can add the optional children's cover, at additional cost, when you apply for your Post Office Life Insurance policy. Find out more about children's cover.
What you pay depends not only on the amount of cover and your term, but also to an extent on you. Your age, medical history and lifestyle will be taken into account when calculating your monthly payments. Life insurance costs more the older you get. That's because statistically you’re more likely to die as you advance in years. Because the insurer only pays out if you die, the younger and healthier you are the less life insurance costs. Smokers and people who lead unhealthy lifestyles or have an existing medical condition will find life insurance more expensive too or may be unable to obtain cover. If you're applying for Post Office Life Insurance, we'll only ask you the questions we need to get your price. Please be honest when answering any questions we ask, though. Giving incorrect or inaccurate information may reduce your payout in the event of a claim or, worst case, your policy may be cancelled and any claim refused.
If you make a claim after being diagnosed with a terminal illness, please don't stop paying your monthly payments until we've confirmed your terminal illness meets our definition, as per the terms and conditions.
A cash sum payment will be made if you die or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, within the term of the policy. We'll pay it out early if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness that meets the definition as per the terms and conditions with a life expectancy of less than 12 months. We only pay out for terminal illness once, and the policy will end once we do. The policy is not guaranteed to pay off your loan or mortgage (if this is the purpose of the policy). The policy has no cash-in value. The policy ends if you stop making monthly payments during the payment term. Your cash sum is dependent on your age, smoker status, length and type of cover your personal circumstances. When you apply it is important that you answer our application questions honestly and accurately, as proving incorrect answers could mean that a claim is not paid.
The sum assured reduces each month in line with the amount owed on a repayment mortgage with a fixed interest rate of 8%.
Even if you don't have a mortgage, life insurance could help your family cover the cost of everyday living and maintain their lifestyle. Things like rent, private or university education costs, birthdays, weddings. Even domestic tasks if whoever's left behind works and has to pay someone to do them after you're gone.
In some circumstances, yes. Trusts come with important legal implications, and should only be entered into after thorough discussion with an impartial legal or financial consultant. Once you have placed your policy in trust, it is very difficult to undo this, so being certain of what you are doing beforehand is crucial.
There are several kinds of trust available, so it is also important to think long-term about how you want your money to be handled when considering this path.
Get unbiased help contacting professionals such as IFAs and solicitors.
You choose how much cover you'd like to take out to leave behind for your loved ones when you're gone. You're guaranteed to be accepted if you're aged 50-80 and a UK resident. You're also not required to complete a health check, applying for cover is simple and straightforward. Depending on your age, you could leave up to £10,000 cash sum. See below table for maximum cover amounts.
| Age at application date | Maximum cover amount |
| 50-69 | £10,000 |
| 70-74 | £9,000 |
| 75-80 | £6,000 |
The cash sum you choose will remain fixed throughout the duration of your cover, unless you select the Increasing Cover Option.
Depending on your age at the time of making the application, you can apply for a maximum cash sum of £10,000. You can have more than one Post Office Over 50s Life Cover policy but the total amount of cover across all of these policies can't be more than the maximum cash sum and maximum payment amount limits. If an application takes you above these limits, we'll reduce the cash sum of your most recent policy, or cancel it, to ensure the maximum limits aren't exceeded. We'll write to you to confirm we've done this.
The amount of premium payable will depend on the cover amount you choose; your age, and smoker status, whether you have a single plan or a joint plan; and whether you have selected the Increasing Benefit option. Premiums are payable monthly. You may pay more in premiums than the cash sum will pay out.
If you select this option, the cash sum you choose will increase automatically by a fixed amount each year on the anniversary of your cover. Your premiums will also increase automatically by a fixed amount each year on the anniversary of your cover. Please refer to Post Office Over 50s Life Cover Terms and Conditions for further information about Increasing Cover Option. You can however, opt-out of any annual increases, but if you opt-out of 3 increases in a row, the increasing option, the increasing option will be removed and the cover would remain level thereafter i.e. your cash sum remains the same through out the cover term.
Your Over 50s Life Cover policy comes with a protected benefit which means if you stop paying your monthly premiums, we will still pay-out at least half of the cover amount on your death (as long as you're at least halfway through paying for your cover. The halfway point is calculated from the policy start date and the policy anniversary after you turn 95).