Life insurance for mums

Mums take out life insurance so their family has money for the costs they'd face without them. The Association of British Insurers (ABI) suggests thinking about cover when you get married, buy a house or have children. Reassured, a life insurance broker, says many mums use a policy to cover:

• mortgage payments, to help protect the family home
• future family living costs
• childcare costs, so a partner doesn't have to reduce their working hours
• funeral costs
• an inheritance for the children

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) puts the 2025 cost of raising a child to age 18 at £250,000 for a couple and £290,000 for a lone parent.

If you work, your family would lose your income when you pass away. If you stay at home, there's no salary to replace. But Reassured points out that your partner might need to cut their working hours or pay for extra childcare.

MoneyHelper says life insurance suits people with dependants such as school-age children, or a partner who relies on their income. It adds that it wouldn't suit someone with no dependants, and you might decide against it if your partner earns enough for your family to live on.

Is life insurance for mums a different product?

There's no separate type of policy for mums. You choose from the same kinds of cover as anyone else, though some brands are aimed at mums. Polly, a broker and a trading name of Clark Insurance UK Ltd, describes its service as insurance with mums in mind. Its partner brand, TOM, is for dads.

Polly says it was started because very few insurers were talking to mums and dads about life insurance. It doesn't offer joint life insurance, saying it wants all policyholders to benefit from a payout to their loved ones.

See family life insurance for how parents' cover works, life insurance for dads for a father's side, or life insurance for parents if you want to insure your own mum.

One way is to price what it would cost to pay someone else to do it. MoneyHelper notes that some life policies cover specific payments such as a mortgage, rent or childcare costs, while others pay a lump sum.

Start with a list of what you do each week, from childcare and school runs to cooking and cleaning. Then price it at local rates for each stage until your youngest no longer needs looking after.

The Coram Childcare Survey 2026 found these average weekly prices for 25 hours of childcare for a child under two:

Full-time care costs more. In England, for families not eligible for the working-parent funded hours, a 50-hour week at a nursery averages £372.06 for a child under two. It's a little less for older pre-school children:

If you're a working parent in England and eligible for the funded hours, Coram says part-time childcare (25 hours a week) is now, in theory, free during term time.

With Tax-Free Childcare, the government adds £2 for every £8 you pay into a childcare account. The top-up is up to £2,000 a year for each child, or £4,000 if your child is disabled. You'll usually need to be working, and your child must be 11 or younger (16 or younger if disabled).

Care doesn't stop when children start school. Coram's 2026 survey found these weekly averages for after-school care:

The amount you need depends on your debts, your mortgage or rent, your income and how many children or other dependants you have. What you pay depends on your age, health, lifestyle, whether you smoke, your family medical history, your job and the length of the policy.

As for how long, think about how many years your children would depend on you and how long your mortgage has left to run.

Our life insurance calculator can help you add up your family's costs. If covering everything costs more than you can afford, MoneyHelper suggests thinking about your priorities or choosing a lower level of cover. It says some protection might still be better than none. Other choices change how the cover works:

• Term life insurance runs for a fixed period (the term), such as five, ten or 25 years. Level term stays the same throughout. Decreasing term goes down each year, is designed for repayment mortgages and usually costs less than level term.
• Family income benefit pays regular payments instead of a lump sum if you die during the term. Our family income benefit calculator shows how the total compares with a lump sum.
• A joint life policy usually costs less than two single policies, but it pays out only on the first death. Two single policies pay out on each death.
• Many employee packages include death in service benefit, linked to your salary. That cover ends if you stop working for that employer.

Bereavement Support Payment and Guardian's Allowance

Your family might also qualify for Bereavement Support Payment or Guardian's Allowance, so check them when you size your cover:

At the higher rate, Bereavement Support Payment comes to £9,800 at most. It must be claimed within 3 months of the death to get the one-off payment and all 18 monthly payments.

If you lived together without being married, an extra condition applies unless you're claiming a backdated payment. When your partner died, you must have been getting (or told you were entitled to) Child Benefit for a child living with you, or been pregnant.

• Life insurance calculator: add up debts, living costs and childcare
• Term life insurance: level and decreasing cover for a set period
• Family income benefit: a monthly income instead of a lump sum

If you're a single mum, a policy could pay whoever looks after your children money towards their living costs. MoneyHelper says you might instead prefer a policy that pays your children a lump sum when they turn 18.

In 2025, the UK had 3.2 million lone-parent families (16.0% of all families), and 84.6% were headed by a lone mother. More than half of all lone-parent families (53.2%) were lone mothers with at least one dependent child.

Gingerbread's figures, last updated in March 2025, count 2 million single parents with dependent children in the UK. Two in three (66%) are in work. CPAG's 2025 figures show that a lone parent with three children, working full time on the minimum wage, can cover only 51% of basic costs (60% on the median wage).

Single-parent families are also less likely than couple families to have savings to fall back on:

• Single-parent families
• Couple families

• Children in poverty 43% 26%
• Families with children and no savings 36% 17%

Poverty and savings in single-parent and couple families

	Single-parent families	Couple families
Children in poverty	43%	26%
Families with children and no savings	36%	17%

Gingerbread's statistics, last updated in March 2025.

Child maintenance and separation

If you get child maintenance, MoneyHelper says you or your ex-partner could take out a policy that pays a lump sum. Or it could pay you an income for a set time, perhaps until the maintenance payments were due to end.

When you separate, you can't divide a life insurance policy: one of you has to take it over or cancel it. Reassured says not every insurer lets a joint policy be signed over to one person. If yours doesn't, you'll need to cancel it, and you'll each need a new policy.

Yes. Reassured, a broker, says you can take out life insurance at any point during your pregnancy, and that expecting a baby won't affect your eligibility or the cost of your premiums. You won't be asked extra questions about the pregnancy unless you have a pregnancy-related medical condition.

Reassured says it's sensible to tell the insurer you're pregnant when you apply. A few answers work differently during pregnancy:

• Insurers ask for your height and pre-pregnancy weight to work out your BMI (body mass index). Sainsbury's, for example, tells pregnant applicants for a policy with critical illness cover to give their weight from immediately before the pregnancy.
• Stopped smoking when you became pregnant? Reassured says insurers still treat you as a smoker if you've used cigarettes, nicotine products or a smoking device in the past 12 months. Zurich's Personal Protection terms, for example, count any tobacco or nicotine product used in the last 12 months, including e-cigarettes and nicotine replacement products.
• Tell the insurer if you've been diagnosed with a pregnancy-related condition such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes or anaemia. Reassured says that, depending on the condition and your other risk factors, an insurer could raise your premium for a while, postpone your application until the baby's born, or decline it if the risk is too great. If one insurer turns you down, you can still apply to others, who may accept you.

If you already have cover or have just had a baby

Reassured says you don't have to tell an existing insurer about a pregnancy or a new baby, though having a child may be a good time to check your cover still suits you. Under the 2012 Act, a change you didn't report after the policy started can't be a misrepresentation, although your policy terms might still ask you to tell the insurer.

Some policies have a life change or guaranteed increase option, which lets you add cover after you become a parent. Reassured says you'll need evidence of the birth, and other conditions apply. Time limits and caps differ between insurers:

Maternity leave and your premiums

Statutory Maternity Leave is 52 weeks. Statutory Maternity Pay (SMP) is paid for up to 39 weeks, with tax and National Insurance deducted. For the first 6 weeks you get 90% of your average weekly earnings before tax. For the next 33 weeks it's £194.32 a week, or 90% of your average weekly earnings if that's lower.

If you're self-employed, or employed but can't get SMP, you could get Maternity Allowance for up to 39 weeks instead. You can't get Statutory Sick Pay while you're getting SMP.

After the first 6 weeks, SMP may be less than your usual pay. It helps to plan your premiums before your pay drops, because cover can end if they go unpaid. Under Legal & General's Critical Illness Cover terms, for example, a policy is cancelled if a premium is still unpaid 60 days after it was due. Some policies also have their own rules for maternity leave:

• Waiver of premium: when an insurer pays your premiums for you

Critical illness cover pays a tax-free lump sum if you're diagnosed with a condition listed in your policy. Income protection pays a regular income if illness or an accident stops you working. The ABI says a critical illness payout could help pay off a mortgage, pay for treatment or pay household bills, and HMRC says it isn't taxable as income.

A critical illness policy pays out once and then ends. The conditions covered vary: the most comprehensive policies cover 50 or more, others far fewer. Some policies also make a smaller payment for less severe conditions, or if one of your children has a specified condition.

After a critical illness claim, Legal & General pays up to £1,000 towards a registered childminder if you have a child under 5, for childcare in the 18 months after diagnosis. Some policies also cover specified pregnancy complications:

If you work full time, part time or are self-employed, you can also apply for individual income protection. It typically pays 50% to 65% of your income. There's often a waiting period (also called the deferred period) before payments start, most commonly 4, 13 or 26 weeks, or a year. If you're employed, Statutory Sick Pay is up to £123.25 a week for up to 28 weeks. If you're self-employed, you won't get sick pay.

• Critical illness cover: a lump sum if you're diagnosed with a covered condition
• Life insurance for children

A trust can get the payout to your family sooner, and your will is where you name who should look after children under 18. Without a named beneficiary or a trust, single life cover pays into your estate (the money and property you leave behind). That can take a long time, and Inheritance Tax may apply.

Writing the policy in trust

With life insurance in trust, the policy isn't treated as part of your estate and can be paid outside probate (the legal process of dealing with an estate) and Inheritance Tax. Probate can take months, so a trust can mean your family gets the money much more quickly.

A trust deed can set out when your children get the money. In a bare trust, a child is entitled to all the capital and income at 18 in England and Wales, or 16 in Scotland. MoneyHelper suggests having at least two trustees (the people who manage the trust).

A trust holding only life policies that pay out on death, illness or disability doesn't need to be registered, unless it has a UK tax liability. After you die, it stays excluded for two years. That gives the trustees time to pay the money out before the trust has to register.

Making a will and naming a guardian

If you die without a will, the law decides who gets what. Scotland and Northern Ireland have different rules. Getting married cancels any will you made before, and GOV.UK suggests reviewing your will every 5 years and after any major change, such as having a child.

In England, unmarried partners who haven't registered a civil partnership can't inherit from each other without a will. Under England's intestacy rules (the rules when there's no will), a child under 18 can't receive their inheritance until they're 18. Until then, a trustee manages it in a trust.

In England and Wales, a parent with parental responsibility can appoint a guardian for their child in case they die. The appointment must be in writing, dated and signed, and the guardian then has parental responsibility. In Scotland, it must be in writing and signed by you, and it takes effect only once the guardian accepts it.

• Life insurance in trust: how a trust works and who it suits
• Life insurance beneficiary rules

Before you apply, check what your family would need to pay for and how the payout would reach them.

1. Add up your family's costs and workplace cover Compare your mortgage or rent, debts, income and childcare costs with any death in service benefit from your job, which stops if you leave that employer. If covering everything costs too much, MoneyHelper suggests focusing on your priorities or choosing a lower level of cover.
2. Choose the policy type, term and structure Decide between a level or decreasing lump sum and regular payments from family income benefit. If you have a partner, weigh a cheaper joint policy that pays only on the first death against two single policies that pay out on each death.
3. Have your pre-pregnancy weight and health details ready If you're pregnant, insurers ask for your height and pre-pregnancy weight to work out your BMI, and about any pregnancy-related conditions such as high blood pressure, gestational diabetes or anaemia. You're still treated as a smoker if you've used cigarettes, nicotine products or a smoking device in the past 12 months.
4. Set up a trust and update your will Ask for the policy to be written in trust, so it can be paid outside probate and Inheritance Tax, and choose at least two trustees. Use your will to name who should look after children under 18, and review it every 5 years and after having a child. Tell your trustees and your children's guardian that the policy exists and where the documents are kept.