Aviva life insurance review 2026

Aviva scores 4.3 out of 5 on Trustpilot across all its products, and 3.88 out of 5 for life insurance on Smart Money People. Fairer Finance gives Aviva an 84% customer experience score for life cover, while Defaqto rates its life policies from 2 to 5 stars. The Trustpilot and Reviews.io scores cover the whole company rather than life insurance alone.

Defaqto ratings for each Aviva policy

Defaqto gives 5 stars to Life Insurance+ and the Over 50’s Life Assurance Plan, while Aviva’s other life policies score between 2 and 5 stars. Aviva’s own pages say its life insurance and its over 50 cover are rated 5 stars by Defaqto. The table uses Defaqto’s product names.

Outside life cover, Defaqto gives 5 stars to Critical Illness+ and Income Protection+, and 3 stars to Living Costs Protection. It rates the Critical Illness Plan (decreasing) 4 stars as a direct standalone policy and 3 stars in its standalone category.

Recent customer reviews on each site give more detail than the headline score.

Aviva sells protection policies in three ways: directly through Aviva UK Digital, through financial advisers, and under the Quotemehappy.com brand. Directly, it offers the Life Insurance Plan, Over 50s Life Insurance, the Critical Illness Plan and Living Costs Protection. Through financial advisers, it sells Life Insurance+, Simple Life Insurance and Whole of Life Insurance+, among others.

• Level term
  With the Life Insurance Plan, the premium and the payout stay the same until the policy ends.
• Decreasing term
  With the Life Insurance Plan, the cover reduces every month, broadly in line with a repayment mortgage, and usually costs less than level cover.
• Critical illness
  The Critical Illness Plan covers 52 conditions. It doesn’t pay out on death.
• Over 50s
  Lifetime cover for ages 50 to 80 with guaranteed acceptance that doesn’t ask about your health, and full cover after one year.
• Whole of life
  Whole of Life Insurance+, through advisers, with level cover from £30,000 to £10,000,000.
• Income protection
  Living Costs Protection pays £500 to £1,500 a month for up to 12 months per successful claim.

Life Insurance Plan (direct)

The direct Life Insurance Plan lets you choose level, decreasing or increasing cover. With level cover, your premium and payout stay the same until the policy ends, though Aviva points out that inflation reduces what the payout is worth over time. Increasing cover rises each year with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) by up to 10%, and its premiums rise at 1.5 times the CPI increase, up to 15%.

Decreasing cover reduces every month using a fixed interest rate of 8%, broadly in line with a repayment mortgage. Aviva sells it as mortgage protection to help pay off a repayment mortgage or long-term loan, although it can’t link the policy directly to your mortgage.

You can apply if you’re aged 18 to 77 and live in the UK with a legal right to live there; the Channel Islands, Isle of Man and Gibraltar don’t count. Terms run from 1 to 50 years and must end before the oldest person covered turns 91. On a joint policy, the maximum entry age applies to the older person. Aviva lists cover of up to £5,000,000, with premiums from £5 a month paid monthly by Direct Debit.

Over 50s Life Insurance (direct)

Over 50s Life Insurance is whole of life cover for UK residents aged 50 to 80, with guaranteed acceptance, and it doesn’t ask about your health. It’s covered in detail in the over 50s section below.

Critical Illness Plan (direct)

Aviva’s direct Critical Illness Plan covers 52 conditions and requires you to survive for 10 days after diagnosis. Along with the main conditions, you can claim a lower payout for 11 additional critical illnesses, including low-grade prostate cancer and less advanced breast cancer. It doesn’t pay out on death, and if one person on a joint policy dies, cover continues for the other.

Children are covered from 30 days old until their 18th birthday (or 21st in full-time education) for the lower of £25,000 or 50% of your cover amount. The plan also pays £5,000 if one of your children dies during the policy term. You can apply at ages 18 to 64 for a term of 5 to 50 years ending before you turn 76, with cover up to £1,000,000.

Living Costs Protection (direct income protection)

Living Costs Protection is Aviva’s direct income protection plan, paying £500 to £1,500 a month for up to 12 months per successful claim after a four to 26-week deferred period. It’s for UK residents aged 18 to 59 who work at least 16 hours a week. Terms run from 5 to 52 years ending before your 71st birthday, and the policy doesn’t cover redundancy or unemployment.

Free Parent Life Cover

Parents of children under four can get £15,000 of free life cover for each child, lasting 12 months and paying out if the parent dies during that year. It’s open to permanent UK residents aged 18 to 66 without giving bank details, and doesn’t pay out for death from alcohol abuse, drug abuse or suicide.

Life Insurance+ (through advisers)

Sold through advisers, Life Insurance+ offers life cover or life and critical illness cover on a level, decreasing or increasing basis. Both include terminal illness cover. Life cover has guaranteed premiums, while life and critical illness cover offers guaranteed or reviewable premiums. It can cover one person, or two on a first-event or second-event basis; second-event cover pays only when both people have died or met the terminal illness definition.

Terms run from one to 50 years, and life-only cover has no maximum payout, except that increasing cover is capped at £20,000,000 at the start. For life-only cover, the maximum entry age is 77 for cover below £50,000 and 89 for £50,000 or more, ending by age 90. Life and critical illness cover is open up to age 64 and must end by 75 with guaranteed premiums, or by 90 with reviewable premiums.

Life and critical illness cover includes 32 critical illness conditions, two additional conditions and children’s benefit as standard. Upgraded critical illness benefit adds £100 a night from the eighth consecutive night in hospital (up to 30 nights) and £5,000 per pregnancy affected by covered complications. Family income cover is also available, paying equal monthly instalments from when a claim is accepted until the end of the policy term.

Simple Life Insurance (through advisers)

Simple Life Insurance is sold through advisers, gives instant decisions as standard and has guaranteed premiums from £3.50 a month. It offers level or decreasing cover with terminal illness benefit included, for ages 18 to 59 over terms of one to 40 years ending before age 71. Maximum cover depends on your starting age: £750,000 (ages 18–39), £400,000 (40–49), £300,000 (50–54) or £200,000 (55–59).

Whole of Life Insurance+ (through advisers)

Aviva positions Whole of Life Insurance+, sold through advisers, to help cover inheritance tax liabilities or leave a gift. It’s available for ages 18 to 85 on a single, joint first-death or joint second-death basis, with level cover from £30,000 to £10,000,000 or increasing cover from £30,000 to £5,000,000. Premiums start at £5 a month by direct debit and stay fixed unless you choose increasing cover or change the policy.

Aviva sells whole of life cover directly only to ages 50 to 80, but a financial adviser or broker could help under-50s get it.

Quotemehappy.com

Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited also underwrites and administers life insurance as Quotemehappy.com. Its life policy pays a lump sum of up to £750,000, for ages 18 to 59 and terms of 1 to 50 years (up to age 90). Premiums start from £3.50 a month with no admin fees, and critical illness cover goes up to £500,000.

Aviva Simple Life Insurance vs Life Insurance+

Through financial advisers, Aviva sells Simple Life Insurance, which gives instant decisions as standard, and Life Insurance+. Life Insurance+ offers life cover or life and critical illness cover, guaranteed or reviewable premiums, and extras you can pay to add.

Aviva direct policies at a glance

These are the main limits for the policies Aviva sells directly. The cover you’re offered depends on your circumstances and Aviva’s assessment.

The Life Insurance Plan comes with terminal illness cover and the DigiCare+ health app. It also gives free cover while you’re buying a home, or while Aviva waits for more information on your application. Depending on the plan you choose, these benefits are included:

You can also pay to add extra benefits on eligible policies, including:

Aviva Trusts are available for the Life Insurance Plan and Over 50s Life Insurance, though not for the Critical Illness Plan or Free Parent Life Cover. With the Aviva Discretionary Gift Trust (Protection), trustees receive the payout for potential beneficiaries including children and grandchildren. The Aviva Survivor Trust for joint policies lets trustees pay the surviving partner if they’re alive 31 days after their partner’s death. A third option is the Aviva Bare Trust, where the beneficiaries and their shares can’t be changed once it’s set up.

Aviva says money paid from a trust will usually be exempt from inheritance tax and can often reach beneficiaries more quickly. Provided there’s at least one surviving trustee, Aviva says it may be able to pay a claim sooner than if the policy isn’t in trust. Without a suitable life insurance trust, the payout may be subject to inheritance tax.

To set up a trust, you fill in the application form and send it to Aviva, or email it to protection@aviva.com. You automatically become a trustee, and you can appoint any adult of sound mind, or a trust company, as a trustee. Existing policies can be put in trust too, unless you’ve assigned the policy to a lender as security for a loan.

Using the Discretionary Gift Trust doesn’t stop you keeping any terminal illness or critical illness benefits, and Aviva says most of its protection trusts are excluded from HMRC registration. Once a Life Insurance Plan is in trust, you can’t use the separation benefit. Because a trust can’t simply be cancelled once it’s set up, Aviva recommends getting legal and financial advice first.

Read how trusts work, and what other insurers offer, in our guide to life insurance in trust.

Yes. In 2025, Aviva accepted 98.7% of individual life insurance claims and 90.7% of critical illness claims. Its published 2025 figures combine Aviva policies with former AIG Life policies (now Aviva Protection UK), and the life totals include Over 50s plans and terminal illness payouts:

Life claims paid

98.7%

Critical illness claims paid

90.7%

Paid in life and terminal illness claims

£860.7m

Average life claim paid

£21,368

Aviva claims paid by year

Source: Aviva’s published individual protection claims statistics for 2020 to 2025. Life figures include terminal illness; critical illness figures include children’s benefit and total permanent disability. From 9 April 2024 the figures include former AIG Life policies, and 2020 was the first year to include a book of Over 50s and Whole of Life policies.

Across all individual protection policies in 2025, Aviva accepted 96.9% of claims received and paid more than 51,000 claims totalling over £1.3 billion. From January 2021 to December 2025, it settled 97.6% of individual protection claims, paying 258,829 claims worth £5.99bn. Its largest terminal illness payout in 2025 was £2.7m, and excluding over 50s cover, the main reasons for life claims were cancer (43.1%) and cardiovascular conditions (20%).

In 2025, 1.3% of life and terminal illness claims were declined: 1% for misrepresentation and 0.3% because the policy definition wasn’t met. Aviva says misrepresentation of health and lifestyle information was the leading reason it declined life claims.

Answering every question fully and honestly when you apply helps make sure your policy pays out when it’s needed.

How to make an Aviva life insurance claim

You can start a life insurance claim by calling Aviva on 0800 015 1142 or using its online claim form. Try to have the name of the person who has died, your relationship to them, the cause of death, the policy number (if you have it) and your contact details ready. Aviva may ask for supporting documents and needs to see the original death certificate rather than a copy.

Once Aviva has agreed to pay a life claim and has everything it needs, it aims to pay out within five working days. If the policy is in trust, it may be able to pay more quickly, as long as there’s at least one surviving trustee. Successful critical illness claims are usually paid within five working days.

Aviva’s bereavement services for eligible protection policyholders include counselling, a support line, legal services, fast-tracked funeral payments, a bereavement guide and children’s support from Grief Encounter. These services are non-contractual and Aviva can change or withdraw them. Aviva has also partnered with Macmillan Cancer Support to help customers with cancer claims.

Aviva’s contact page also lists a Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest life insurance customer service line on 0800 056 3432. See our Royal Bank of Scotland and NatWest reviews.

Key policy terms

Aviva’s direct Life Insurance Plan and Over 50s Life Insurance both have a 30-day cooling-off period with a refund of premiums paid. Most of the terms below apply to those two plans, so check the policy conditions for the exact product you’re offered.

You can read the policy summary and full policy conditions for the exact Aviva product you’re offered before you apply. Life Insurance+, Simple Life Insurance and Whole of Life Insurance+ are sold through financial advisers.

• PDF
  Life Insurance Plan policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  A summary of the direct Life Insurance Plan: cover types, benefits and key limits.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Life Insurance Plan policy conditions (opens in a new tab)

  The full terms of the Life Insurance Plan, including house purchase cover and separation benefit.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Over 50s Life Insurance policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  How the over 50s plan works, including the first-year rules and when premiums stop.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Over 50s Life Insurance policy conditions (opens in a new tab)

  The full terms of the over 50s plan, including definitions and exclusions.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Critical Illness Plan policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  The direct critical illness plan, the conditions it covers and children’s cover.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Life Insurance+ policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  A summary of the Life Insurance+ range, its limits, included benefits and optional extras.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Life Insurance+ policy conditions (opens in a new tab)

  The full terms of the Life Insurance+ contract, including definitions and exclusions.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Simple Life Insurance policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  A summary of Simple Life Insurance, including who can apply and the cover limits.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Whole of Life Insurance+ policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  How Whole of Life Insurance+ works, including cover types and premiums.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Protection trusts and inheritance tax guide (opens in a new tab)

  Aviva’s guide to its protection trusts and how they work with inheritance tax.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Technical guide to protection at Aviva (opens in a new tab)

  Detailed product rules, such as eligibility, limits and how benefits work.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Life Insurance Plan gift card terms (opens in a new tab)

  Terms of the Amazon.co.uk Gift Card offer for new Life Insurance Plans.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Over 50s gift card terms (opens in a new tab)

  Terms of the Amazon.co.uk Gift Card offer for new Over 50s Life Insurance Plans.

  PDF · aviva.io

Documents are published by Aviva and open on Aviva’s website. Aviva may update them, and the version you receive with your policy is the one that applies.

This review is for general information only. Life Cover Quotes does not endorse any specific insurance company.