View life insurance companies: A to Z listing

Top life insurance providers

LV=

Vitality

Phoenix Life

Aviva

Beagle Street

Royal London

Sunlife

Direct Line

Post Office

A list of the life insurance providers in the UK

LV=

Liverpool Victoria (LV=) is one of the UK’s largest insurers. Since launching in 2007, it has grown to serve customers in several fields of insurance, but would appear to be among the most reliable life insurance providers.
As well as life insurance and income protection products, the company also offers retirement and pension advice.
It has won awards several times in a row for the best life insurance and income protection products. If you want award-winning life insurance products from an established provider, LV= is a good shout.

Vitality

Since launching in 2007, Vitality UK has become best known for its rewards system. You can be rewarded for engaging in healthy activities, such as visiting the gym or walking a minimum number of steps as tracked by a Vitality fitness tracker.
Its life insurance products come in the form of life cover, serious illness cover, mortgage protection cover and income protection cover, so there’s plenty of flexibility depending on your situation.
The company claims to cover more conditions than any other insurer. So, if you’re after a deep level of cover by an insurer that rewards you for being healthy, it’s worth getting a quote from Vitality.

Phoenix Life

The history of Phoenix Life can be dated all the way back to the 18th century, although the latest brand formed in 2002. The company focuses exclusively on life insurance products.
Its main selling point is the company’s expertise in managing and growing life insurance funds. This allows it to focus on providing exquisite customer service, rather than attracting new customers and creating new products.

If customer service is important to you, this company is worth exploring deeper.

Aviva

Since its formation via a merger between Norwich Union and CGU plc in 2000, Aviva has grown to become the UK’s largest overall insurer.
It prides itself on being on one of the UK’s most reliable life insurance providers, having paid out on 98.9% of claims in 2018.
Its life insurance policies are impressively flexible too. You can choose the length of cover, from short-term all the way until you’re 90 years old. You can invest in cheaper cover that decreases over time, which could be useful if your loved ones are paying off a repayment mortgage.
If you believe this flexible cover could be particularly useful for you, it’s worth investigating Aviva’s life insurance policies further.

Beagle Street

Beagle Street prides itself on the simplicity of its life insurance cover. Its online application form takes less than 10 minutes to fill out, and there’s no need for time-consuming medical tests to be taken. That’s not to say the cover isn’t extensive and reliable. Some 99.4% of claims were paid in 2018.
Cover comes with free assistance from a registered nurse if you suffer from a critical illness, plus you’ll be rewarded with a £100 Amazon gift card when you take out a policy.
This insurer was founded in 2002 as part of the BGL group, one of the UK’s largest consumer insurance chains. If these incentives catch your eye, you can be sure to receive quality life insurance too.

Royal London

Royal London was founded in 1861 and has grown to become the UK’s largest mutual insurer. This means decisions are more likely to be made with policyholders in mind, rather than shareholders.
Simplicity, affordability and flexibility are at the heart of Royal London’s life insurance policy. You can be covered within minutes, with premiums starting as low as £7 per month.
Policyholders offer the flexibility to reduce their cover, and therefore their premiums, whenever they feel the need to do so.

SunLife

SunLife life insurance is available exclusively for customers aged over 50. It can be harder for older people to get affordable life insurance, but SunLife focuses all its energy on making this happen.
In fact, it has been rated as the cheapest and most trusted insurer for over-50s.
Considering it’s one of the oldest and most well-known life insurance providers on the globe, this may come as no surprise.

Direct Line

Direct Line launched exclusively as a car insurance provider in 1985, but it has expanded and now offers one of the most comprehensive life insurance products.
It offers specialist cover for over-50s. You can also invest in cheaper decreasing term life insurance, where the level of cover decreases at the same speed as your pay off your mortgage. All policies come with a second medical opinion at no extra cost when you need one, and a speedy £10,000 advance payment whenever a claim has been agreed.

Post Office Money

The Post Office will consider applicants aged between 18-70. Cover starts from as little as £7 per month and there is plenty of flexibility offered to help you reduce your premiums while providing the correct level of cover for you.
It offers decreasing cover, which works well for policyholders paying off a mortgage. It also offers increasing cover which helps protect your loved ones against the effects of inflation. There’s specialist cover for parents, or over-50s.
This flexibility means there’s probably a low-cost policy that’s suitable for you.

The main life insurance companies

• LV=
• Vitality
• Phoenix Life
• Aviva
• Beagle Street
• Royal London
• Sunlife
• Direct Line
• Post Office Money

Life insurance companies by customer satisfaction score

We asked policy holders to rate their satisfaction with their insurance company, and whether they’d recommend it to a friend. We’ve shown both for each brand in the table below. Our independent survey of 750 insurance customers was carried out in December 2019.

Written by

Ronny Lavie

Editor

Ronny Lavie was a deputy editor at Finder, specialising in insurance content. She has almost a decade of experience writing about financial topics, including five months spent as the interim managing editor for the Fintech Times newspaper. Ronny has a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from London Middlesex University. See full bio