Phoenix Life insurance: who Phoenix Life are, contact numbers and how to claim

No. Phoenix Life is closed to new customers and concentrates on the customers it already has.

Standard Life plc says Phoenix Life supports its existing customers with products and services including retirement and financial planning, savings and investments.

Phoenix Group plc changed its name to Standard Life plc on 2 March 2026. Standard Life plc says policies that refer to Phoenix Group plc remain valid and enforceable. It also says it has no plans to change the Phoenix Life brand, which will continue to look after customers.

The company behind the brand still writes some new business, but not under the Phoenix Life name. Phoenix Life Limited’s 2025 accounts say it writes protection business under the SunLife brand, as well as pension risk transfers and vesting pension annuities. Our SunLife review looks at that cover.

Phoenix Life CA Limited, the former Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (U.K.) Limited, is also closed to new business. It stopped selling new individual life and pensions business on 28 February 2001.

If you have a Phoenix Life policy, it probably started with another company. Phoenix Life says some customers don’t realise their policy is with it because the policy moved when Phoenix Life took on that company’s policies.

Phoenix Life says many customers transferred to it from companies including Abbey Life, Alba Life, Allianz Cornhill, AXA Wealth, Bradford Insurance and Britannia Life. Its lost-policies page also lists Britannic, Century Life, London Life, National Provident Life, NPI, Pearl, Phoenix Assurance, Royal & Sun Alliance, Royal Insurance, Royal Life, Scottish Mutual and Scottish Provident. Its contact page asks you to pick your policy’s previous company from a longer list.

Phoenix Life says a policy it has traced is likely to be an investment policy, a pension, a life policy or a mortgage endowment. Its contact pages have separate numbers for whole of life, endowment and term assurance policies first taken out with Scottish Provident or Scottish Mutual.

Phoenix Life says all its transfers and mergers are approved by the UK High Court and reviewed by its regulators. On 27 October 2023, for example, the policies of Phoenix Life Assurance Limited (called Pearl Assurance Limited until 2012) moved to Phoenix Life Limited, after High Court approval on 10 October 2023.

Policies from Standard Life Assurance Limited and Standard Life Pension Funds Limited transferred on the same day. Phoenix Life’s scheme guide for that transfer told Phoenix Life Assurance Limited policyholders that their policy number and terms and conditions wouldn’t change.

Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada (U.K.) Limited was renamed Phoenix Life CA Limited in November 2024. Phoenix Life told customers their policy number, benefits and terms and conditions would stay the same. From December 2024 they began to see the Phoenix Life name on letters, and they manage their policy online through CAMyPhoenix at ca.myphoenix.co.uk.

Phoenix Life CA Limited’s 2025 accounts say its life and pension plans were rebranded Phoenix Life and its annuities in payment Standard Life. Phoenix Life’s contact page has a separate team for whole of life policies that transferred from Canada to Phoenix Life in the UK in August 2026. For a pension, or any other policy that moved to Phoenix Life in December 2024, it points you to the Sun Life Financial of Canada team instead.

If you took out a protection product with Scottish Mutual before 2009, Phoenix Life’s contact page says it’s now with Royal London. Phoenix Life’s history says the healthcare and protection policies of Scottish Mutual and Scottish Provident moved to Royal London in 2008.

Phoenix Life branded Irish, German and Icelandic policies moved to Standard Life International dac, another company in the group, on 1 January 2025.

If you hold a term assurance policy, Phoenix Life’s guide says the premiums usually stay the same for the full term. If you miss a payment, the policy will usually end, though you can usually restart it within 13 months. You’d have to catch up on the missed premiums, and you’ll probably need a new assessment of your health.

Phoenix Life’s guides say you can’t cash in or surrender a term assurance or an income protection policy. A term policy only pays out on death, and income protection cover stops if you stop paying premiums.

• Look for the policy number. It’s on letters and documents about the policy, and Phoenix Life asks for it when you call or report a death.
• Had a tracing letter? If Phoenix Life has written to you about a policy it thinks you have, you can confirm your personal details on its lost policies page.
• Don’t know the original company? Call 0345 788 3311 or use Phoenix Life’s online form. It says it replies to the form within 5 working days.
• Old ‘penny’ policies. Industrial Branch policies were sold door to door, with an agent collecting the premiums at home. Phoenix Life’s were provided by Britannic Assurance, Pearl Assurance and Swiss Life and were sold until 1997. Without evidence such as an old policy document or premium receipt book, Phoenix Life says it may not be able to help.
• Unclaimed money. Phoenix Life gives examples of payouts after tracing, such as £22,607 paid on two whole of life policies taken out in 1974. Another example paid £104,879 to the beneficiaries of an endowment plan and a term assurance.
• Policies with other insurers. Phoenix Life points to the Association of British Insurers’ tool for finding missing life insurance policies. Our guide to lost life insurance policies explains other ways to search.

Phoenix Life has a Trustpilot score of 3.7 out of 5, which Trustpilot labels ‘Average’.

A Trustpilot score is for a company’s whole Trustpilot page, not for one type of policy. Ratings were checked on 3 October 2026 and may have changed since. Life Cover Quotes is not connected with Phoenix Life or Trustpilot.

Phoenix Life is closed to new customers, so you can’t take out a new Phoenix Life policy.

The company behind Phoenix Life, Phoenix Life Limited, writes new protection business under the SunLife brand. Our SunLife review looks at what SunLife sells.

If you already have a Phoenix Life policy, keep paying for it until any new cover is in place, so you’re not left without cover in between. An older policy may have terms you can’t get on a new one, and new cover is priced on your age and health today. Check what your existing policy pays, and when, before you cancel it.

Phoenix Life’s term assurance guide says the law on pension term assurance has changed, so a new contract can’t be started and a lapsed one can’t be reinstated.

Term life insurance pays out if you die within a set number of years. Over 50 life insurance is usually a whole of life plan with a fixed payout for people aged 50 and over. Critical illness cover pays out if you’re diagnosed with one of the serious illnesses a policy lists.

Guides to life cover

• Term life insurance: Cover for a set number of years, with level or decreasing cover.
• Over 50s life insurance: Guaranteed acceptance for ages 50–85, and what to check before you buy.
• Critical illness cover: A lump sum on diagnosis of a serious illness your policy covers.
• Whole of life insurance: Lifelong cover and how it differs from term cover.

Insurer reviews

• Royal London life insurance review
• SunLife life insurance review
• All insurer reviews: plain-English reviews of UK life insurers, listed alphabetically

Our guide to lost life insurance policies explains how to trace a policy with any insurer, and our guide to life insurance claims explains how claims usually work.