It pays on diagnosis, not death
You are alive and the money is yours to use — to clear the mortgage, to stop working for a year, to pay for help at home, or to adapt the house.
Critical illness cover
Two policies at the same price can pay very differently.
A lump sum if you are diagnosed with one of the conditions the policy lists, at the severity it defines. The list and those definitions are most of the work.
No client fee · No obligation
What it does
In plain termsThe list is not the same everywhere
Every insurer publishes its own list of conditions and its own definition of each. Some cover forty conditions, some over a hundred, and the headline number matters far less than the wording behind the common ones.
Partial payments matter
Many policies pay a smaller amount for earlier-stage conditions — low-grade cancers, some heart procedures — without ending the policy. That is often where real claims land.
What it will not do
Said before you buy, not afterIt will not pay for every illness
Only the conditions listed, at the severity stated. A serious illness that is not on the list, or that does not meet the definition, is not a claim however unfair that feels.
It will not pay straight away
Most policies have a survival period, commonly fourteen to thirty days from diagnosis, and cancer claims usually require a specialist diagnosis rather than a suspicion.
It will not cover what you did not declare
Family history counts here as much as your own. Insurers ask about parents and siblings for a reason, and an undisclosed history can undo a claim years later.
Straight answers
Asked every weekHow much cover do people take?
Often less than the full mortgage, because the premium is the thing people cancel. A figure that clears two or three years of outgoings, kept for twenty-five years, is worth more than a bigger figure dropped in year two.
Should I add it to life cover or keep it separate?
Combined is cheaper but usually pays once — the first claim ends both. Separate policies cost more and both can pay. We price it both ways so the difference is a decision rather than a default.
Are the children covered?
Most policies include children’s critical illness at no extra cost, typically up to a capped amount. The conditions covered and the ages differ, and it is one of the things we actually compare rather than assume.
What if I have had cancer, or a family history?
An insurer may apply an exclusion or a higher premium rather than decline. Which insurer you approach first matters a great deal, and that is where advice earns its place.
Is it not better to just save the money?
If you could save £100,000 by next year, yes. Most people cannot, and the diagnosis does not wait for the savings. That is the whole argument for insurance.
Can I see why you picked one insurer?
Yes, in writing, with the condition definitions we compared. If the reasoning cannot be read back in five years, it was not advice.
Which insurer you approach first matters a great deal, and that is where advice earns its place.
Insurance policies are subject to eligibility, underwriting, terms, conditions and exclusions. Benefits may not be paid in all circumstances. Cover is not guaranteed to be available, and premiums depend on your age, health and the cover chosen. This page is general information about how the cover works. It is not advice and it does not take account of your circumstances — what is right for you is decided after we have asked about them.
How we are paid. We act on your behalf, not the insurer’s. You pay us no fee; we are paid commission by the insurer when the policy starts, and that commission does not vary by which insurer you choose. You can ask us what it is at any point before you decide.
It pays while you are still here to use it.
The question worth asking is not how much, but which conditions and at what severity. Two policies at the same premium can differ by dozens of definitions, and that is the part we read for you.
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Critical illness pays on a listed condition. This one pays when you cannot work at all.
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