Lloyds Bank life insurance review 2026

Lloyds Bank is a British bank within Lloyds Banking Group, which reports around 28 million customers. Its history goes back to June 1765, when Taylors & Lloyds opened as a private bank in Birmingham. Lloyds Bank says it has supported people, families and businesses across Britain for over 250 years.

Lloyds Bank doesn’t provide the insurance itself. Its life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection are provided by Scottish Widows, which is also part of Lloyds Banking Group. Lloyds Bank says Scottish Widows has been protecting what matters most for over 200 years.

If you buy by phone, the phone service is provided by Lloyds Bank Insurance Services Limited, another Lloyds Banking Group company that trades as Lloyds and Lloyds Bank.

Lloyds, Halifax and Bank of Scotland are part of the same family, and Scottish Widows Plan & Protect is sold through all three. Lloyds Bank says it’s bringing its brands together under one relationship brand in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with the Halifax brand changing to Lloyds.

For life insurance customers, this means you apply through Lloyds Bank, but the policy, the claims process and the published claims figures are Scottish Widows’.

Whether it’s the right choice for you depends on the cover you need and the price you’re offered, so it’s worth comparing plans before you decide.

Lloyds Bank life insurance pays out a cash lump sum if you die before your policy ends. When you apply, you choose the size of the lump sum and how long you want to be covered.

Cover bought online is for one person. By phone, Lloyds’ phone team can also arrange joint cover for two people. A joint Scottish Widows Protect policy pays out once when a claim is approved, and then ends.

Lloyds Bank says your loved ones could use the payout for mortgage repayments, bills, debts and living costs, or to help care for children or grandchildren. More generally, the money could help your family with:

• Mortgage or rent payments
• Household bills and everyday living costs
• Childcare, school or university costs
• Outstanding loans and credit cards
• A cash gift or inheritance for the people you love

Critical illness cover pays a cash lump sum if you’re diagnosed with an illness covered by your policy before it ends. Scottish Widows Protect life cover, arranged by phone, can also pay monthly cash sums instead of a lump sum.

You won’t get any money back unless a successful claim is made. The policies have no cash-in value at any time.

The price you’re offered depends on your circumstances and the cover you choose. Lloyds Bank says the cost of life insurance depends on things like:

Lloyds Bank advertises life premiums from £5 a month, which 6% of customers paid in 2024 for online single level Plan & Protect life cover without critical illness. For online single level Plan & Protect critical illness cover, Lloyds Bank gives example monthly costs of £9 for ages 18–25, £16 for 26–50 and £24 for 51–59. It says 50% of customers paid these prices or less between 31 January 2023 and 31 January 2024.

You pay a fixed amount each month by Direct Debit until the policy ends. The exception is increasing cover arranged by phone, where Scottish Widows says the premium goes up each year. For income protection, Lloyds Bank gives a fictional example of a non-smoking 30-year-old self-employed plumber paying £47.08 a month for up to £2,000 a month of level cover.

In general, cover costs less when you’re younger and healthier, and decreasing term usually costs less than level term for the same starting cover. Adding critical illness cover increases the price. Comparing quotes from several insurers is the simplest way to check what you’ll pay.

You can write a Lloyds Bank life insurance policy in trust, and Lloyds’ phone team or a solicitor can help you set one up. Lloyds Bank says the payout is free from income and capital gains tax but might be liable for inheritance tax, which writing the policy in trust can avoid. It says a trust also means the money will quickly go to the people you want it to reach.

Lloyds Bank says there should be no cost to set up a new policy directly in trust, and the payout may not need probate. To put an existing policy in trust, it suggests speaking to a financial adviser or solicitor. Whether the policy is new or existing, using a solicitor or financial adviser could mean extra fees. Once a policy is in trust, you can’t remove it.

Without a trust or another transfer of the legal right, a Plan & Protect Life Cover payout goes to your estate. Scottish Widows will then ask for documents showing the person claiming has a legal right to deal with the estate.

For Scottish Widows Protect policies, Scottish Widows offers a choice of eight trusts. Income protection can’t be written in trust. If you take out a Scottish Widows Protect Life or Life with Critical Illness policy on your own, you can nominate up to five beneficiaries before it starts. A beneficiary nomination can’t be removed, but placing the policy in trust overrides it.

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

Claims on Lloyds Bank life and critical illness policies are handled by Scottish Widows, which reported paying 99% of life claims and 91.9% of critical illness claims in 2025. Those figures cover Scottish Widows as a whole, including policies sold directly, through Halifax and Bank of Scotland, and through advisers and comparison sites. For 2025, Scottish Widows reported:

Life claims paid

99%

Critical illness claims paid

91.9%

Paid in life and critical illness claims

£219m

Scottish Widows claims paid by year

Source: Scottish Widows published claims statistics for 2023, 2024 and 2025. The figures cover all Scottish Widows protection policies, not only those sold through Lloyds Bank.

Lloyds Bank’s website still quotes Scottish Widows’ 2024 combined figure of 98% of life and critical illness claims paid, totalling £236 million. Its FAQs quote 2023, when Scottish Widows paid 98% of claims, or £243 million in total.

In 2025, the average life claim Scottish Widows paid was £57,115 and the highest was £1.3 million. Cancer accounted for 65% of its critical illness claims, followed by heart attack (9%) and stroke (7%).

In 2025, 229 Scottish Widows claims weren’t paid, and 69% of those were due to missing or incorrect information. Lloyds Bank warns that if anything you tell it is wrong, it might not be able to pay your claim. Scottish Widows also checks around 5% of policies after they start by getting a GP report to verify application answers.

How to make a Lloyds Bank life insurance claim

You make a claim to Scottish Widows using the online claim form on its website or by calling the number for your policy, which is listed on Scottish Widows’ website. Scottish Widows then contacts you to explain the next steps. It helps to have the policyholder’s full name and date of birth ready, though you can start a claim without the policy number.

Scottish Widows usually asks for the death certificate for a life claim, or copies of GP or hospital specialist notes for a critical illness claim. If the policy isn’t held in trust, it also asks for documents showing a legal right to deal with the estate.

If you’ve already told Lloyds Bank about a death, you don’t need to tell Scottish Widows separately. You can take the death certificate to any Lloyds Bank, Halifax or Bank of Scotland branch. Scottish Widows says it gets back to you within five working days of being told about a death. It has also signed the Funeral Pledge, so it can advance up to £10,000 to a funeral director if there are delays in closing accounts while waiting for probate.

For health claims, Scottish Widows says you should keep paying your premiums until it has agreed to pay the claim. You can also call Scottish Widows’ Lloyds Bank health claims line on 0345 601 4389 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm).

Key policy terms

Key terms such as the suicide exclusion and whether you can change your cover depend on whether you buy Plan & Protect or Scottish Widows Protect. Always check the policy documents for the plan you’re offered.

Before you take out a policy, it’s worth reading the policy summary and terms for the exact product you’re offered. These official documents from Scottish Widows are published on the Lloyds Bank and Scottish Widows websites:

• PDF
  Plan & Protect Life Cover policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  What the online life cover policy covers, who can apply and what stops it paying out.

  PDF · lloydsbank.com

• PDF
  Plan & Protect Life Cover terms and conditions (opens in a new tab)

  The full terms of the online life cover policy, including claims and cancelling.

  PDF · lloydsbank.com

• PDF
  Plan & Protect Body Cover policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  A summary of the online critical illness policy and the illnesses it covers.

  PDF · lloydsbank.com

• PDF
  Plan & Protect Body Cover terms and conditions (opens in a new tab)

  The full terms of the online critical illness policy, including the early help payment.

  PDF · lloydsbank.com

• PDF
  Scottish Widows Protect Personal Protection policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  The life and critical illness plan arranged by phone, including children’s cover and optional extras.

  PDF · scottishwidows.co.uk

• PDF
  Scottish Widows Protect Personal Protection policy provisions (opens in a new tab)

  The full policy terms for Scottish Widows Protect life and critical illness cover.

  PDF · scottishwidows.co.uk

• PDF
  Scottish Widows Protect Income Protection policy summary (opens in a new tab)

  How the income protection policy works, including waiting periods and limits.

  PDF · scottishwidows.co.uk

• PDF
  Free Accidental Death Cover (opens in a new tab)

  The free accidental death cover included with Scottish Widows Protect life cover while you apply.

  PDF · scottishwidows.co.uk

• PDF
  Free Mortgage Cover (opens in a new tab)

  The free mortgage cover included with Scottish Widows Protect personal policies.

  PDF · scottishwidows.co.uk

Documents are published by Lloyds Bank and Scottish Widows and open on their websites. They may be updated — 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.