Ulster Bank life insurance review 2026

Here’s how Ulster Bank is rated by customers and by independent product experts. Its Trustpilot, Smart Money People and REVIEWS.io scores cover Ulster Bank as a whole, not only life insurance, so they reflect the bank’s service in general rather than its life cover.

Defaqto ratings for each Ulster Bank policy

Defaqto rates each product from 1 to 5 stars. All six of its ratings for Ulster Bank (NI) are listed under the Life Insurance Plan name: 5 stars in the life assurance (direct) category, 3 stars for level term and decreasing term life assurance, 4 stars for critical illness (direct with life cover) and 3 stars in the level term and decreasing critical illness categories. Ulster Bank’s own life insurance page shows the 5-star rating for Life Assurance (Direct).

Ulster Bank’s life insurance page also shows a Defaqto 5-star logo for an “Over 50’s Life Assurance Plan”. None of the six ratings Defaqto lists for Ulster Bank (NI) is an over 50s rating, but Defaqto rates Aviva’s Over 50’s Life Assurance Plan 5 stars, and Aviva provides Ulster Bank’s Over 50s cover.

Customer scores for Ulster Bank cover the bank as a whole, and Trustpilot notes that Ulster Bank hasn’t invited its customers to review. Smart Money People’s Ulster Bank Life Insurance page has no reviews yet. Life insurance claims are handled by Aviva, whose claims figures are set out below.

Ulster Bank refers customers to three Aviva products: the Life Insurance Plan (level, decreasing or increasing term cover), the Critical Illness Plan, which can only be bought with a Life Insurance Plan, and guaranteed acceptance Over 50s Life Insurance.

• Level term
  Ulster Bank’s family protection cover. The cover amount and premium stay the same throughout the policy term.
• Decreasing term
  Mortgage protection cover. The payout reduces each month, broadly in line with a repayment loan such as a mortgage, while premiums stay the same.
• Increasing term
  The payout rises each year in line with CPI, up to 10%, and premiums rise by 1.5 times the CPI increase.
• Critical illness
  A separate policy paying a lump sum for one of 52 critical illnesses, only available with a Life Insurance Plan.
• Over 50s
  Whole of life cover with guaranteed acceptance and no health questions.

Life Insurance Plan

The Life Insurance Plan provides life cover and terminal illness cover, for one person or two. You must be aged 18 to 77 when you apply (on a joint policy, the maximum age applies to the oldest person covered), be in the UK with a legal right to live there, and have your main home in the UK, which doesn’t include the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or Gibraltar.

You can choose up to £5 million of cover, and premiums start from £5 a month, paid monthly by Direct Debit. The policy summary and conditions say the policy can last from 1 to 50 years and must end before the oldest person covered turns 91, while Ulster Bank’s Aviva quote page gives the term as 5 to 50 years, or until you’re 90.

You can apply online and get a quote in a few minutes. After underwriting, Aviva may only be able to offer cover at a higher premium than first quoted, with certain benefits excluded, or both.

Level, decreasing and increasing cover

With level (family protection) cover, the cover amount and premium stay the same throughout the term. Decreasing (mortgage protection) cover is designed to help your loved ones pay off a repayment mortgage or long-term loan: the cover amount goes down every month, broadly in line with a repayment loan using a fixed interest rate of 8%, while your monthly premiums stay the same. Aviva says it usually costs less than level cover.

Premiums on level and decreasing cover are guaranteed, so they stay the same unless you make a change. With increasing cover, the cover amount rises each year in line with the Consumer Prices Index (CPI), up to a maximum of 10%, and premiums go up each year at 1.5 times the CPI increase, by no more than 15% a year. You don’t answer any more health and lifestyle questions for the yearly increase, and you can choose not to take it.

Critical Illness Plan

Critical illness cover can only be bought together with a Life Insurance Plan, but if you’re accepted it’s a separate policy. It pays a lump sum if you’re diagnosed with, or undergo surgery for, one of the 52 critical illnesses it covers, as long as you meet the definition and survive for 10 days. It has no death benefit.

You must be aged 18 to 64 to apply, and you can choose up to £1,000,000 of level, decreasing or increasing cover, for one person or two. The term can be 5 to 50 years and must end before the oldest person covered turns 76. On a joint policy, if one of you dies, the policy continues for the surviving person covered.

The plan only covers the critical illnesses defined in the policy. Cancer is covered, excluding less advanced cases, and some types of cancer aren’t covered. Additional critical illness benefit pays the lower of £25,000 or 25% of the cover amount for carcinoma in situ of the breast or low-grade prostate cancer, and the lower of £20,000 or 20% of the cover amount for the other additional critical illnesses. A claim for an additional critical illness doesn’t end the policy.

Children’s benefit pays up to £25,000 or 50% of the cover amount, whichever is lower, if a child is diagnosed with a covered critical illness, and £5,000 if a child dies during the policy term. It covers natural, step and legally adopted children, including future children, aged from 30 days to 18, or 21 if they’re in full-time education. Children aren’t covered for terminal illness.

Over 50s Life Insurance

Guaranteed acceptance cover for people aged 50 to 80 that lasts for as long as you live, rather than a set period. It’s covered in more detail in the over 50s section below.

Ulster Bank Life Insurance Plan vs Over 50s Life Insurance

Ulster Bank’s two life policies work in different ways. The Life Insurance Plan is term cover that is underwritten, while Over 50s Life Insurance is whole of life cover with guaranteed acceptance. Here’s how they compare:

Ulster Bank life insurance at a glance

The key limits for each type of policy. The cover you’re offered depends on your circumstances and the insurer’s assessment.

Depending on the policy you choose, these benefits come with Ulster Bank’s Aviva cover:

Life Insurance Plan payouts are currently free from UK income tax and capital gains tax, but may be subject to inheritance tax unless the policy is in a suitable trust. Aviva says trusts help make sure the money reaches the right people at the right time and tax efficiently, and that anything placed in a trust isn’t counted as part of your estate when you die. The Ulster Bank policy summary points to aviva.co.uk/life/trusts for more information.

Aviva Trusts are available for the Life Insurance Plan and Over 50s life insurance, but not for the Critical Illness Plan. Aviva offers two: the Aviva Discretionary Gift Trust (Protection), for single or joint policies, where trustees receive the payout for potential beneficiaries including children and grandchildren; and the Aviva Survivor Trust, for joint policies, where trustees can pay the money to your surviving partner if they’re still alive 31 days after your death.

To set one up, you fill in Aviva’s application form and send it to Aviva, and Aviva says to get legal and financial advice first. A trust has tax and legal implications and can’t simply be cancelled once it’s set up, and a policy can’t go into trust if it has been assigned to a lender, such as your mortgage provider, as security for a loan. For a policy held in trust, Aviva pays the trustees, who pass the money on to your chosen beneficiaries. Separation benefit can’t be used on a joint policy that has been placed under trust.

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

Claims on Ulster Bank life insurance are handled by Aviva, which provides, underwrites and administers the policies, so the claims record that applies is Aviva’s. Its figures cover all its individual protection policies, including Over 50s plans and Aviva Protection UK (formerly AIG Life) policies, not only those sold through Ulster Bank. For 2025, Aviva reported:

Life claims paid

98.7%

Critical illness claims paid

90.7%

Paid in life and terminal illness claims

£860.7m

Aviva claims paid by year

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

In 2025, Aviva paid 40,277 individual life and terminal illness claims. Since 2024 its figures have included claims on former AIG Life policies. In 2023, it paid more than £101m in terminal illness benefit to 729 customers, and cancer was the most common reason for its life insurance claims, at 43% of them.

Where Aviva declines a life claim, the leading reason is misrepresentation of relevant information, in particular health and lifestyle information given when applying. It’s worth answering every question fully and honestly when you apply.

How to make an Ulster Bank life insurance claim

Claims are made to Aviva. Ulster Bank’s page for existing customers gives the Aviva Life Insurance Team on 0800 141 3428 for claims, open Monday to Friday 8.30am to 5.30pm and Saturday 8.30am to 2pm. It helps to have the policy number, but it isn’t essential, and Aviva’s claims team registers the claim straight away and explains how the process will work.

The Ulster Bank Life Insurance Plan policy summary gives Aviva’s claims number as 0800 015 1142 (+44 1603 603 277 from outside the UK), which is also the UK life insurance claims line on Aviva’s own website. You can start a claim by phone or with Aviva’s online form, and Aviva may ask for a death certificate and other documents. It helps 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. Over 50s claims can be made online at aviva.co.uk/makeaclaim.

If your policy is with Aviva (formerly AIG Life), Ulster Bank gives a separate claims line: 0330 390 0511, Monday to Thursday 9am to 6pm and Friday 9am to 5.30pm, excluding bank holidays. For the Life Insurance Plan, Aviva’s policy documents say it pays for any information it asks for from third parties when assessing a claim. A Life Insurance Plan held in trust is paid to the trustees, and a joint plan to the surviving policyholder; if both die at the same time, the money goes to the estate of the youngest.

Key policy terms

A few terms that are worth knowing before you apply. Always check the policy conditions for the exact product you’re offered.

Before you take out a policy, it’s worth reading the policy summary and policy conditions for the exact product you’re offered. The Life Insurance Plan and Critical Illness Plan documents name Ulster Bank as the distributor, and the Over 50s documents are Aviva’s:

• PDF
  Life Insurance Plan policy summary (AL22008) (opens in a new tab)

  Who can apply, the types of cover, included benefits and what isn’t covered.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Life Insurance Plan policy conditions (AL22009) (opens in a new tab)

  The full terms of the Life Insurance Plan, including definitions, exclusions and cancelling.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Critical Illness Plan policy summary (AL21005) (opens in a new tab)

  A summary of the Critical Illness Plan, including children’s benefit and additional critical illness benefit.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Critical Illness Plan policy conditions (AL21006) (opens in a new tab)

  The full terms of the Critical Illness Plan and the definitions of each covered illness.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Over 50s Life Insurance policy summary (DA03015) (opens in a new tab)

  How the Over 50s plan works, including premiums, the first 12 months and exclusions.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Over 50s Life Insurance policy conditions (DA03016) (opens in a new tab)

  The full terms of the Over 50s plan, including the premium limit and what is paid in the first year.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Insurance: important information about us (opens in a new tab)

  How Ulster Bank’s arrangement with Aviva works, the products in its range and how it is paid.

  PDF · ulsterbank.co.uk

• PDF
  About our services and costs: Life Insurance Plan and Critical Illness Plan (GN14050) (opens in a new tab)

  The service you receive and the commission Aviva pays Ulster Bank.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  About our services and costs: Over 50s Life Insurance (GN14053) (opens in a new tab)

  The service you receive and the fee and commission paid on the Over 50s plan.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Gift card promotion terms (NW10064) (opens in a new tab)

  The terms of the Love2shop gift card offer, February 2026 version.

  PDF · aviva.io

• PDF
  Aviva protection trusts guide (AL53005) (opens in a new tab)

  Aviva’s guide to its protection trusts and inheritance tax.

  PDF · aviva.io

Documents are published by Aviva and Ulster Bank and open on their websites. They may be updated, 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.