Life insurance and critical illness cover for children
At Aviva, Post Office and Smart Insurance, children's cover is part of a parent's policy, not a standalone plan. Vitality's Life Cover isn't available for children. Aviva and Legal & General include children's cover with critical illness cover at no extra cost, paying the lower of 50% of your cover or £25,000.
In short
- Vitality's Life Cover isn't available for children. At Aviva, Post Office and Smart Insurance, children's cover comes with, or is added to, a parent's own policy.
- Aviva, Legal & General and Scottish Widows include children's critical illness cover at no extra cost. It costs extra on LV='s life with critical illness policy and Zurich's direct life and critical illness policy.
- Aviva and Legal & General pay the lower of 50% of your cover or £25,000 for a child's critical illness. They cover children from 30 days old to 18, or 21 in full-time education.
- The ABI's model wording for children's cover excludes conditions present at birth and symptoms that started before the child was covered. Aviva and Legal & General have both exclusions. LV= lists cover for conditions present at birth.
- A claim for your child doesn't reduce your own cover at Aviva, Legal & General or Royal London.
- Each UK nation helps with the cost of a child's funeral. England's and Northern Ireland's funds aren't means-tested (your income and savings don't matter). In Wales, families who register the death of a child under 18 can get £500, and in Scotland a child's burial or cremation usually costs nothing.
Can you buy life insurance for a child?
Not usually as a standalone policy. Children's cover comes as part of a parent's policy, and Vitality's Life Cover isn't available for children.
Aviva says its children's benefit isn't a standalone insurance policy. Post Office's children's cover must be added to a life insurance policy, and Smart Insurance's Children's Cover is an optional extra on Smart Family Life Insurance.
Cover sold under its own name still sits on an adult's policy at the insurers in this guide. Guardian's Children's Critical Illness Protection, for example, is added to an adult life, critical illness or income protection policy.
What you can get is cover for your children inside your own policy, such as children's critical illness cover. Aviva's makes a single payout if your child is diagnosed with a specified serious condition. It also pays £5,000 if a child dies during the policy term.
Does your child need life insurance?
Life insurance pays out a lump sum or regular payments when you die to support your dependants. MoneyHelper says it usually makes sense for couples or parents. It wouldn't suit someone with no dependants, because it only pays out on death.
The life insurance that protects your children financially is your own policy. MoneyHelper says cover is especially important while your children are young, so they're looked after if you're not around.
Children's critical illness cover deals with a different risk. Aviva says that if your child is critically ill, you or your partner are likely to need time off work to care for them.
Aviva lists hospital travel, adapting your home, childcare and lost income among the costs a payout might help with, along with family days out while your child recovers.
Free Parent Life Cover insures the parent
Aviva's Free Parent Life Cover, also offered through Tesco Insurance, gives each parent £15,000 of life cover for each child under 4. It lasts 12 months and pays out if the parent dies in that time.
How does life insurance for children work?
It comes as part of a parent's own policy. At several insurers, children's cover comes with critical illness cover and not with life insurance on its own.
At Legal & General, Children's Critical Illness Cover and Child Funeral Benefit come with Life Insurance and Critical Illness Cover, not with Life Insurance alone. LV= requires the parents or legal guardians to have a life with critical illness policy, and Royal London offers children's cover with its Life or Critical Illness Cover and its Critical Illness Cover.
Some insurers don't need you to have critical illness cover. Vitality's Child Serious Illness Cover can be added to any Life, Income Protection or Serious Illness Cover plan. Guardian's Children's Critical Illness Protection can go on any adult life, critical illness or income protection policy, and Post Office's is added to Post Office Life Insurance.
Some insurers include children's cover automatically at no extra cost. Others sell it as an add-on you choose.
| Insurer | How you get children's cover |
|---|---|
| Aviva | Included as standard with its critical illness cover, at no extra cost |
| Beagle Street | An optional benefit with Life Insurance with Critical Illness or an Additional Critical Illness policy |
| Guardian | Built into Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials; Children's Critical Illness Protection can be added to any adult life, critical illness or income protection policy |
| Legal & General | Automatically included, at no extra cost, when you add Critical Illness Cover to a life policy; not included with life insurance on its own |
| LV= | An additional cost on its life with critical illness policy, and children aren't covered unless you add it; through advisers, Life and Enhanced Critical Illness includes standard children's cover at no added cost (some conditions excepted) |
| Post Office | Added to Post Office Life Insurance for an extra premium of at most 54p a month per child (for £30,000 of cover on a term of 21 years or more) |
| Royal London | With its Life or Critical Illness Cover and its Critical Illness Cover, you choose Standard or Enhanced Children's Critical Illness Cover, or no children's cover |
| Scottish Widows | Automatically included with all Scottish Widows Protect critical illness policies, at no extra cost |
| Tesco Insurance | Its Critical Illness Plan, provided by Aviva, pays for children diagnosed with a covered critical illness |
| Vitality | Child Serious Illness Cover is an optional benefit on any Life, Income Protection or Serious Illness Cover plan |
| Zurich | On its direct policies, children's cover costs extra and is available on a life and critical illness policy only |
From each insurer's own web pages, key facts and policy documents. Direct and adviser versions of the same policy can differ.
Who is covered, and does a claim affect your own cover?
At Aviva, Legal & General and LV=, children's cover includes your natural, step and legally adopted children. Aviva and Legal & General also cover future children, provided at Legal & General that they're diagnosed with a covered illness before your policy ends.
A claim for your child sits alongside your own cover. At Aviva it counts as a partial claim, so your policy carries on and your full cover amount could still be paid out later. Legal & General says children's claims won't reduce your cover or change your premiums. At LV= and Royal London, your main cover stays in full.
- Critical illness cover: how the cover for you works
- Family life insurance: cover that protects your children if you die
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How much does children's critical illness cover pay?
The policies in the table below pay 50% of your own cover, up to a cap of between £25,000 and £50,000. Beagle Street pays less: the lower of 25% of your sum assured (the amount your policy pays out) or £25,000.
| Insurer | Payout for a child's critical illness | Ages covered | If a child dies |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aviva Critical Illness Plan | Lower of 50% of your cover or £25,000 | 30 days old to 18th birthday (21st in full-time education) | £5,000 |
| Guardian Combined Life and Critical Illness Essentials | Lower of £25,000 or 50% of your cover | 30 days old to 18th birthday (21st in full-time education) | £5,000 towards a funeral |
| Legal & General Critical Illness Cover | Lower of 50% of your cover or £25,000 | 30 days old to 18th birthday (21st in full-time education) | £4,000 towards funeral costs |
| LV= children's critical illness cover | 50% of your cover, up to £35,000 | Birth to 23rd birthday | £5,000 towards a funeral |
| Royal London Standard Children's Critical Illness Cover | 50% of your cover, up to £30,000 | Birth to 22 (23 in full-time education) | £5,000 |
| Royal London Enhanced Children's Critical Illness Cover | 50% of your cover, up to £50,000 | Birth to 22 (23 in full-time education) | £10,000 |
| Scottish Widows Protect | Lower of £30,000 or 50% of your cover | After birth and before age 22 | £10,000 Children's Life Cover (30 days old to 22nd birthday) |
| Tesco Insurance Critical Illness Plan | Up to £25,000 or 50% of your cover, whichever is lower | 30 days old to 18th birthday (21st in full-time education) | £5,000 |
| Zurich Life Protection | Lower of £25,000 or 50% of your cover, for a Full Payment condition | Birth to 22nd birthday | £5,000 if a child dies after they are 30 days old |
"Your cover" is the amount of cover on the parent's policy. Listed alphabetically; terms differ between products, so check the policy summary of the policy you are quoted.
Upgraded cover and fixed-sum options
Some insurers sell upgraded children's cover for an extra cost. Others let you pick a fixed amount for your children instead of a share of your own cover:
- Aviva: Critical Illness+ offers an upgraded children's benefit at an additional cost.
- Guardian: Life Protection policyholders can add Children's Critical Illness Protection of £10,000 to £100,000 (capped at the parent's cover amount). It includes £10,000 for funeral costs if a covered child dies.
- Legal & General: Children's Critical Illness Extra, available through advisers at extra cost, pays 100% of your original cover up to £40,000 and covers children from birth to their 23rd birthday.
- Post Office: £10,000 to £30,000 per insured child. It pays if a child dies within 90 days of an accident that happened after the start date. It also pays for listed conditions such as cancer, bacterial meningitis, blindness, deafness, encephalitis, loss of hands or feet, or paralysis.
- Royal London: Enhanced Children's Critical Illness Cover adds 13 children's critical illness conditions and covers total permanent disability and terminal illness. It pays £10,000 if a child dies, against £5,000 on Standard cover.
- Vitality: up to £100,000 of Child Serious Illness Cover, which applies to all your children and across all your VitalityLife plans.
- Zurich: on its Personal Protection policy, you choose £10,000 to £100,000 of Children's Cover, at one of two levels, until your child's 22nd birthday.
Children's cover can come with smaller payments too. Legal & General pays £100 for every night a covered child spends in hospital in the three months after a critical illness diagnosis, up to £1,000.
Legal & General also pays £5,000 if a covered child is admitted to hospital with physical injuries for at least 28 consecutive days straight after an accident.
How many children's claims are paid?
Insurers publish their own claims figures. Cancer was the most common reason for Aviva's children's claims in 2024 (32.4%), particularly blood cancers.
| Insurer | Year | What the insurer reports |
|---|---|---|
| Aviva | 2024 | Over £7.6 million paid to 361 families, average payout £21,321 |
| Guardian | 2025 | £807,617 paid across 40 claims, 100% of claims |
| Legal & General | 2025 | Children's Critical Illness Cover payments totalled £4.7 million |
| LV= | 2025 | Almost £804,000 paid for 32 children |
| Zurich | 2025 | 71 children's cover claims worth £1.7 million, 93.4% of claims |
Each insurer's own published figures. They count claims in different ways and are not a like-for-like comparison.
Which ages are covered, and what is excluded?
Cover starts at birth, 10 days or 30 days old, and ends between your child's 18th and 23rd birthdays, depending on the insurer.
When cover starts and stops
LV=, Royal London, Scottish Widows and Zurich cover children for critical illness from birth. At Scottish Widows and Zurich, the payment if a child dies applies from 30 days old. Beagle Street's cover starts at 10 days old, and Aviva, Guardian's Essentials plan, Legal & General's standard cover and Tesco Insurance start at 30 days.
Cover ends on your child's 18th birthday at Beagle Street. At Aviva, Guardian, Legal & General and Tesco Insurance it ends at 18, or 21 in full-time education. Scottish Widows and Zurich cover children to 22, Royal London to 22 (23 in full-time education), and LV= and Legal & General's Extra option to 23.
Children's cover only applies while your own policy runs. Legal & General, for example, covers a child diagnosed before the end of your policy.
Tell the insurer when your children grow up
LV= covers any number of children once you add children's cover. It asks you to tell it when your youngest child turns 23, or you could be paying for cover you can't claim on.
Conditions present at birth and survival periods
The Association of British Insurers (ABI) sets model wording for children's cover in its Guide to Minimum Standards. Under that wording, a claim isn't covered if:
- the child's condition was present at birth
- the symptoms first arose before the child was covered
- the child dies within 28 days of meeting the definition of the illness
Insurers may leave any model exclusion out, but if they include one they must use the ABI's wording. Aviva, Legal & General and Tesco Insurance exclude conditions present at birth and symptoms that started before the child was covered.
LV= lists cover for conditions present at birth. It won't pay, though, if you knew of an increased risk of the illness, or symptoms had arisen, before the policy started.
Some policies only pay if your child survives for a set time after diagnosis (the survival period). Aviva requires a child to survive for at least 10 days and Legal & General 14 days, while LV= says it has no 14-day survival period.
Some conditions covered for you aren't covered for your children. Aviva and Tesco Insurance don't cover children for terminal illness, and Legal & General won't pay a children's claim for Total and Permanent Disability. Royal London covers terminal illness on both its Standard and Enhanced children's cover, and total permanent disability on Enhanced.
Claim limits and claiming for yourself first
Aviva accepts one claim per child, and cover continues for any other child. Legal & General also pays one claim per child, and its children's cover ends once two claims in total have been made.
Insurers can also cap what they pay for one child across several policies. Legal & General pays at most £50,000 for one child across all its policies. Scottish Widows pays up to £60,000 across all policies when both parents have their own Protect policies.
Claiming for yourself first can stop children's cover paying out. At Beagle Street, it stops once a critical illness claim is paid for you. Aviva won't pay the children's benefit if you've already made, or could make, a claim for the main critical illness benefit.
- Critical illness cover conditions: the illnesses policies cover and how they are defined
Can your child keep cover when they grow up?
Sometimes. LV=, Zurich and Royal London's Enhanced cover let a covered child take out their own policy later.
A few insurers let a covered child take out their own policy later without medical underwriting (the insurer looking at their health):
- LV='s Junior Option lets your child start their own policy at 23 without medical underwriting. They can take up to half the cover of your policy, to a maximum of £35,000, within 6 months of their 23rd birthday. They can't use it if LV= has already paid a critical illness claim for them under any LV= policy.
- With Royal London's Enhanced Children's Critical Illness Cover, your child can take out their own plan without giving medical information. They have six months from the end of their cover under your plan.
- Zurich's Children's Conversion Benefit lets your child set up their own policy with up to £25,000 of cover between their 18th and 22nd birthdays. On its direct policies, Zurich says this is free of underwriting.
Otherwise, a young person can apply for their own life policy from age 16 on Vitality's Term Life Cover, 17 at LV=, or 18 at Aviva, Barclays and Legal & General.
A savings or investment plan for a child is a different product. It builds up money for your child and doesn't pay out if they become seriously ill.
If you want money to go to your children when you pass away, that comes from your own life insurance, which you can write in trust. MoneyHelper says a trust deed can set when the money is made available, for example when your children reach a certain age.
What help is there with a child's funeral costs?
Each of the four UK nations has its own help with the cost of a child's funeral. It's separate from any insurance.
| Nation | What is available | Means-tested? | How and when to claim |
|---|---|---|---|
| England | The Children's Funeral Fund for England can help pay burial fees, cremation fees (including the doctor's certificate) and up to £300 for a coffin, shroud or casket, for a child under 18 or a baby stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy | No | The burial or cremation provider can claim the fees directly; claims within 6 months of the funeral |
| Northern Ireland | The Child Funeral Fund pays a one-off lump sum of £3,441, for a child who had not reached their 18th birthday or was stillborn after the 24th week of pregnancy | No, and you don't need to be getting benefits | Call the Bereavement Service helpline, within six months of the funeral |
| Scotland | Burying or cremating a baby, child or young person aged 17 or under usually costs nothing; Funeral Support Payment, which also covers stillborn babies, adds £1,327.75 towards other funeral costs | Funeral Support Payment needs you to live in Scotland and you or your partner to get certain benefits | Apply until 6 months after the funeral |
| Wales | Local authority and community council burial and cremation fees are waived for children under 18, and families get £500 towards the funeral and related costs. The child must have been under 18 (including a stillbirth after the 24th week), the death registered and the family home in Wales | No: a universal offer regardless of income or savings | Offered to the person (usually the parent, carer or guardian) registering the child's death, and in most cases arranged at the same time; if you don't take it then, you have 12 months from the registration |
From GOV.UK, GOV.WALES, mygov.scot and nidirect, checked on 3 October 2026.
Some of these payments won't cover the whole cost. The Welsh Government says its £500 is unlikely to cover the total cost of a funeral. Funeral Support Payment in Scotland usually won't cover the full cost either, mygov.scot says.
In England, the Children's Funeral Fund applies when the burial or cremation takes place in England. Northern Ireland's fund covers a burial or cremation anywhere in the UK or the Republic of Ireland. It has to follow a service or ceremony in Northern Ireland.
For other funeral costs in England, you might be able to get a Funeral Expenses Payment if you or your partner get certain benefits. In Scotland, the benefits that qualify for Funeral Support Payment include Universal Credit, Income Support, Pension Credit and Housing Benefit. Income-based Jobseeker's Allowance and income-related Employment and Support Allowance count too.
Wales's £500 payment and Northern Ireland's Child Funeral Fund aren't taxable. Northern Ireland's fund also doesn't affect any benefits you receive.
Some parents' policies also make a payment if a child passes away. Legal & General pays £4,000 towards funeral costs, Aviva and LV= pay £5,000, and Scottish Widows' Children's Life Cover pays £10,000.
What to check before you apply
Children's cover is one part of your own policy, so compare it alongside the cover for yourself.
- Is it included, or extra? Check whether children's cover comes at no extra cost, as at Aviva, Legal & General and Scottish Widows, or costs extra, as on LV='s life with critical illness policy and Zurich's direct policy.
- Does it need critical illness cover? Legal & General and LV= give children's cover only when your policy includes critical illness cover. Guardian, Post Office and Vitality let you add it to life insurance.
- How much does it pay? Check the share of your cover (50% at Aviva and Legal & General, 25% at Beagle Street), the cap in pounds, and any total limit if both parents hold policies.
- Which ages are covered? Check whether cover starts at birth, 10 days or 30 days old, and whether it stops at 18 (21 in full-time education), 22 or 23.
- What is excluded? Ask how the policy treats conditions present at birth: Aviva and Legal & General exclude them, and LV= lists cover for them. Check for a survival period too, such as 10 or 14 days.
- What happens when a claim is made? A claim for your child won't reduce your cover at Aviva, Legal & General or Royal London. At Aviva and Beagle Street, though, children's cover can't pay out once you've claimed for yourself.
- Can your child keep cover later? Ask whether your child can take out their own policy without medical underwriting when the children's cover ends.
A broker can call to go through how children's cover differs between the policies you're quoted. Our broker partner, Reassured, compares life insurance quotes from a panel of leading insurers. Its quotes are free, with no obligation.
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Life insurance for children FAQs
Not usually as a standalone policy. Vitality's Life Cover isn't available for children. At Aviva, Post Office and Smart Insurance, children's cover comes with, or is added to, a parent's policy.
For your own policy, the minimum age is 16 on Vitality's Term Life Cover, 17 at LV=, and 18 at Aviva, Barclays and Legal & General. Before then, a child can be covered on a parent's policy from birth at LV= and Royal London, 10 days old at Beagle Street, or 30 days old at Aviva and Legal & General.
MoneyHelper says life insurance usually makes sense for couples or parents. It wouldn't suit someone with no dependants, because it only pays out on death. Children's critical illness cover on your policy meets a different need. Aviva says a parent is likely to need time off work if a child is critically ill.
It depends on the insurer. Aviva, Legal & General and Scottish Widows include it with their critical illness cover at no extra cost. LV='s life with critical illness policy and Zurich's direct policy charge extra for it.
Yes, at Aviva, Legal & General and LV=, whose children's critical illness cover includes natural, legally adopted and stepchildren.
Yes, at Aviva and Legal & General. Aviva's children's benefit covers any future children, and Legal & General covers future children diagnosed with a covered illness before the policy ends.
Not at Aviva, Legal & General, LV= or Royal London. Aviva's policy carries on, Legal & General won't reduce your cover or change your premiums, and LV= and Royal London keep your main cover in full.
Not at Aviva, Legal & General or Tesco Insurance, which exclude conditions present at birth, as the ABI's model wording does. LV= lists cover for conditions present at birth, but won't pay if you knew of an increased risk or symptoms had started before the policy began.
Insurers can cap the total for one child across all their policies. Legal & General pays up to £50,000 per child across all its policies. Scottish Widows pays up to £60,000 when both parents have their own Protect policies.
No. Neither the Children's Funeral Fund for England, Northern Ireland's Child Funeral Fund nor the £500 payment in Wales is means-tested. Scotland's Funeral Support Payment is different: you or your partner must get certain benefits. Burying or cremating a child aged 17 or under in Scotland usually costs nothing, though.
Sources
The facts on this page come from these sources.
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- GOV.UK: Support for child funeral costs (Children's Funeral Fund for England) (opens in a new tab) · gov.uk, accessed 2 October 2026.
- nidirect: The Child Funeral Fund (opens in a new tab) · nidirect.gov.uk, accessed 2 October 2026.
- Welsh Government: Child funeral and other related costs - information (opens in a new tab) · gov.wales, accessed 3 October 2026.
- mygov.scot: "Funeral Support Payment: if the person who died was 17 or under" (opens in a new tab); "Funeral Support Payment: who can apply and when" (opens in a new tab) · mygov.scot, accessed 2 October 2026.
- MoneyHelper: What is life insurance? (opens in a new tab); How to know what kind of protection insurance you need (opens in a new tab); Life insurance for new parents (opens in a new tab) · moneyhelper.org.uk, accessed 26 September 2026.
- Royal London: Key facts of Personal Menu Plan, July 2026 (44KF0892) (opens in a new tab) · adviser.royallondon.com, accessed 25 September 2026 and 3 October 2026.
- Reassured: Reassured homepage (opens in a new tab); Contact Reassured (opens in a new tab) · reassured.co.uk, accessed 2 October 2026.
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Insurer documents:
Aviva,
Barclays,
Beagle Street,
Guardian,
Legal & General,
LV=,
Post Office,
Royal London,
Scottish Widows,
Smart Insurance,
Tesco Insurance,
Vitality,
Zurich.
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