Critical illness calculator
Add up income, costs and your mortgage to see them together. Results are shown on screen.
About this calculator
Life insurance with critical illness cover pays out if you die, or if you’re diagnosed with one of the serious conditions listed in the policy — such as some cancers, heart attack or stroke.
This calculator adds up the figures you enter so you can see them together. The amount of cover you choose is up to you.
The estimate has four parts:
- Income while you recover: your annual take-home pay for the months you expect to be off work. With the starting figures that’s £32,000 × 12 ÷ 12 = £32,000.
- Mortgage: the balance you enter, if you choose to include it.
- One-off costs: the amount you enter, for example treatment, travel or changes to your home.
- Less savings: savings you could use are taken off. The estimate never goes below £0.
With the starting figures the estimate is £32,000 + £180,000 + £10,000 − £5,000 = £217,000. It isn’t rounded, and it doesn’t allow for pay rises, inflation, or any sick pay or benefits you might get while you’re off. Change any figure to see how the estimate moves.
Adding up what an illness could cost
There’s no set amount. One way to work it out is to add up what a serious illness could cost you, then take away what you could fall back on. The calculator does this with three kinds of cost:
- Income: your take-home pay for the time you might be off work or working less. Treatment and recovery times vary a lot, so it can help to try a few different numbers of months.
- Your mortgage: some people choose enough cover to clear it, so the monthly payments stop. If you rent, you could add a year or more of rent to your one-off costs instead.
- One-off costs: things like changes to your home, travel to hospital, private treatment or extra childcare.
Then think about what you already have. If you’re employed, Statutory Sick Pay is up to £123.25 a week for up to 28 weeks, and your employer may pay more under its own sick pay scheme. Savings, income protection or cover through work can also reduce the amount you need.
Insurers also set limits. Legal & General’s critical illness cover can be less than your life cover but not more, and Post Office’s can be up to 100% of your life cover, to a maximum of £200,000. Our guide to how much critical illness cover you need goes through each part in more detail, with average claim amounts.
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How much is critical illness cover per month?
The price depends on you and the cover you choose. Lloyds Bank, for example, says the cost of critical illness cover depends on age, gender, health, occupation, lifestyle and the amount of cover. Adding critical illness cover to life insurance costs more than life cover on its own.
Post Office publishes example monthly prices for £100,000 of life cover on its own and with £30,000 of critical illness cover added. They’re for healthy non-smokers on a 21-year level term. At each age shown, the example price with critical illness cover is roughly double the life cover “from” price:
| Age | £100,000 of life cover | With £30,000 of critical illness cover |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | from £7.54 a month | £16.33 a month |
| 41 | from £15.51 a month | £34.70 a month |
| 51 | from £37.88 a month | £80.80 a month |
Post Office gives the life cover prices as “from” prices and dates the critical illness prices 2026.
Lloyds Bank gives example monthly costs for its Plan & Protect critical illness cover of £9 for ages 18–25, £16 for 26–50 and £24 for 51–59. It says half of its customers paid these prices or less for single level cover bought online between 31 January 2023 and 31 January 2024; the page doesn’t say how much cover the prices are for. Lloyds Bank also says premiums start from £5 a month, which 8% of its customers paid for critical illness cover bought online between June 2023 and May 2024.
These are examples from insurers’ own websites, not quotes. The price you’re offered depends on your answers to the insurer’s questions and on its underwriting.
Critical illness claims paid by insurers
Insurers publish the share of critical illness claims they paid each year. The table shows the latest figure each insurer has published, in alphabetical order. The figures aren’t directly comparable: each insurer counts claims in its own way, and some include children’s or disability claims.
| Insurer | Year | Claims paid | What the figure covers |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aviva | 2025 | 90.7% | Critical illness, children’s benefit and total permanent disability claims |
| Guardian | 2025 | 90% | Adult critical illness claims |
| Legal & General | 2025 | 92.9% | Critical illness claims |
| LV= | 2025 | 90% | Critical illness claims |
| Royal London | 2025 | 89.3% | Critical illness claims |
| Scottish Widows | 2025 | 91.9% | Critical illness claims |
| Vitality | 2025 | 87.3% | Serious Illness Cover claims |
| Zurich | 2025 | 93.8% | Critical illness claims |
Some insurers also say why claims weren’t paid. In 2023, 6.8% of Royal London’s critical illness claims were declined for not meeting the policy definition, and 6 of the 7 adult critical illness claims Guardian declined were for misrepresentation. That’s why it’s worth reading the definitions and answering the health questions fully and accurately when you apply. Our guide to critical illness payout rates explains why claims are declined and how to make one.
At several insurers, cancer was the most common reason for a critical illness claim in 2025. It made up 64.5% of Legal & General’s claims, 64% of Royal London’s, 65% of Scottish Widows’ and 64% of Zurich’s.
Conditions covered by some policies
Each policy lists the conditions it covers and defines how serious each one must be before it pays. Most cover some cancers, heart attack and stroke, but the number of conditions varies a lot between policies. Some examples, in alphabetical order:
| Insurer | Policy | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Aviva | Critical Illness Plan | 52 conditions |
| LV= | Life and Critical Illness Cover | 41 conditions in total, including total permanent disability: 39 full payment and 2 additional payment conditions |
| Post Office | Critical Illness Cover | Four conditions: cancer (excluding less advanced cases), coronary artery bypass grafts, heart attack of specified severity and stroke with permanent symptoms |
| Royal London | Critical Illness Cover | 78 definitions plus total permanent disability: 46 pay the full amount and 32 additional conditions pay 50% of the cover, up to £35,000 |
| Vitality | Serious Illness Cover | 114 conditions at the 1X level, up to 174 conditions at the 3X level |
| Zurich | Life Insurance with Critical Illness | 39 conditions, plus 2 additional payment conditions (less advanced breast and prostate cancer) that pay up to £25,000 |
More conditions doesn’t necessarily mean better cover for you: how each condition is defined matters too, and additional payment conditions pay less than the full amount. Some policies also only pay if you survive a set time after diagnosis. Post Office’s critical illness cover, for example, pays if you survive at least 30 days. Our guide to the conditions critical illness cover includes explains the core conditions and what is usually left out.
Critical illness cover or income protection?
Critical illness cover pays a one-off lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a condition listed in the policy. You can use the money however you like, whether or not you’re able to work.
Income protection pays a regular monthly income if illness or injury stops you working, after a waiting period you choose, until you go back to work or the policy ends. It can pay out for a wider range of illnesses and injuries, but it doesn’t pay a lump sum.
Some people have both, and others choose one: our guide to income protection vs critical illness cover compares them in more detail. The income protection calculator estimates a monthly amount, and the life insurance calculator works out what your family might need if you died.
Critical illness cover questions
It’s insurance that pays a lump sum if you’re diagnosed with one of the serious illnesses listed in the policy, such as some cancers, heart attack or stroke. You can buy it on its own or with life insurance, and you can use the money however you like.
There’s no set figure. One way is to add up the income you’d lose while you recover, any mortgage or debts you’d want to clear and one-off costs such as changes to your home, then take away savings you could use. The calculator above does this for you. Treat the result as a starting point: a broker can help you check the numbers, and our guide to how much critical illness cover you need goes through each part.
It depends on your age, health, whether you smoke, and the amount and length of cover. As an example, Post Office’s indicative price for £100,000 of life cover with £30,000 of critical illness cover is £16.33 a month at age 31, £34.70 at 41 and £80.80 at 51, for healthy non-smokers on a 21-year level term.
Most policies cover some cancers, heart attack and stroke. Beyond that it varies a lot: Post Office’s critical illness cover pays for four conditions, while Vitality says its Serious Illness Cover covers up to 174. Check the definitions in the policy documents as well as the list of conditions.
Often, but not always. Legal & General includes children’s critical illness cover automatically with its critical illness cover, and Scottish Widows includes children’s cover up to age 22 at no extra cost on its critical illness policies. LV=’s Life and Critical Illness Cover doesn’t include it, but it can be added at extra cost, and Vitality offers Child Serious Illness Cover as an optional benefit.
No. Critical illness cover pays a lump sum when you’re diagnosed with a condition listed in the policy. Income protection pays a monthly income if illness or injury stops you working, until you go back to work or the policy ends. Some people have both.
Post Office says the cash sum from its critical illness cover is currently tax free. Tax rules can change, so check the policy documents for your own cover.
Sources
The facts on this page come from these sources.
- GOV.UK: Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): overview (opens in a new tab); Statutory Sick Pay (SSP): what you'll get (opens in a new tab) · gov.uk, accessed 26 September 2026.
- Insurer documents: Aviva, Guardian, Legal & General, Lloyds Bank, LV=, Post Office, Royal London, Scottish Widows, Vitality, Zurich. Each insurer’s policy documents, claims figures and announcements are listed in our review of that insurer.
Related pages
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Critical illness cover
A lump sum on diagnosis of a serious illness your policy covers.
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Income protection
A monthly payment if you can’t work due to accident or illness.
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Family life insurance
Cover that helps your family with everyday costs.
