Quick guides

If you are employed, you might have a certain amount of life cover and/or sickness benefit built into your employee benefits package. Naturally, this will depend on your specific employer, so you should check with them to see if, and for how much, you're covered. Here are some of the benefits that might be provided:

Sickness benefit

Your employer may have a scheme that continues to pay you even if you're ill for a long period of time. However, this might only provide you with a percentage of your usual earnings and the amount typically decreases the longer you're off work.

Death in service benefit

This type of life cover pays out a cash lump sum to your loved ones if you die whilst you're in employment. If you do have this cover, you'll need to check whether the pay-out would be enough to provide your loved ones with the financial security you want for them if they had to manage without your income. It is also worth noting that this cover only lasts as long as you are employed, if you leave or are made redundant your cover will cease and will only be reinstated providing you find alternative employment in which death in service is offered.

Do you need life cover?

If your employer doesn't provide death in service benefit, or you think your loved ones may need a greater amount to help with their living expenses, then Aviva life insurance could provide that financial security. The right life cover would pay them a cash lump sum if you were to die during the plan, which could make all the difference to help them manage financially.

If you want level life cover for a fixed number of years, for example until your children become independent, or to help cover an interest-only mortgage, you should consider Level Life Insurance. If you want to help cover a repayment mortgage or any other loan that reduces as you make your monthly repayments, you should think about Decreasing Life Insurance. Or, if you want cover that lasts the rest of your life you could consider Guaranteed Whole of Life Insurance.

Most of our life insurance plans don't have a cash-in value, so if you end the plan early before the end of the plan term you won't receive any money back. The only exception is a Guaranteed Whole of Life plan, where there may be a cash-in value if you choose to pay either by a single premium or for a limited premium term, but this will be less than you've paid in.

WC05075 04/2012