
How our Group Critical Illness cover can help
If an employee is diagnosed with a specified critical illness, or they have an operation that we cover, we'll pay them a tax-free lump sum. That way, they don't have to worry about their finances on top of their health, and can use the money as they wish.
We automatically cover your employees' children and help if they're diagnosed with a specified critical illness or one of the child-specific conditions covered in our policy.
Child cover included
We automatically cover your employee's children, providing help if they're diagnosed with a specified critical illness, including child-specific conditions.
Focus on wellbeing
Our wide range of wellbeing services and Wellbeing Training can help you create a healthier, happier workforce.
Spouse / Partner cover available
If you choose to offer Aviva Flex-pertise™ your employees can add critical illness cover for their spouse or partner.
Why choose us?
Our Group Critical Illness cover can help your employees during difficult times.

Wide range of conditions covered
You decide what type of cover and the level of benefit you want to provide your employees. With standard and extended options, we offer cover for a wide range of serious conditions.
We also offer ongoing cancer cover as standard, meaning we'll support your employees if it's their second or subsequent diagnosis of cancer as defined under the policy.

Child cover comes as standard
As well as covering children for the conditions which cover the employee, we also cover children for:
- Cerebral palsy
- Cystic fibrosis
- Down’s syndrome
- Edwards’ syndrome
- Hydrocephalus – treated by surgery
- Muscular dystrophy
- Osteogenesis Imperfecta
- Patau syndrome
- Spina bifida
Intensive care benefit and cover for a loss of independent existence are also included.
More about the cover and your options
There are plenty of ways we can help you and your employees in the event of an illness.
What's included
What's not included
You can find more details on the cover included in our technical guide (PDF 480KB).
Wellbeing services
Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace
We can help your insured employees stay healthy with the Aviva DigiCare+ Workplace app provided by Square Health. It gives them the guidance they need to help detect, manage and prevent physical and mental health problems.
Expert legal services
Free and discounted legal services provided by Red Apple Law, to give employees some peace of mind, knowing they've got life's essentials in order and to help them plan ahead.
Aviva Line Manager Toolkit: Mental Health
Video modules and materials to help line managers spot the warning signs of poor mental health, identify reasonable adjustments and manage professional boundaries.
Mental health guidance for employees
A suite of bite-sized videos, articles and advice to help employees manage mental ill health, stress and anxiety.
Get Active
Helps insured employees stay fit and healthy with discounts for online workouts and more than 3,000 health and fitness clubs nationwide. It also offers a variety of discounted products and services, including those which can help with the daily living adjustments a cancer diagnosis can bring.
RedArc
RedArc is a nurse advice and support service available to insured employees who make a claim through Group Critical Illness cover. The service offers employees and their families long-term practical and emotional support over the telephone from a dedicated Personal Nurse. It's completely confidential.
Stress Helpline
Provided by Care first, the Stress Helpline offers insured employees over the age of 16 the chance to talk in confidence to trained counsellors about issues they feel are causing them stress.
The helpline can be a good place for employees who need help with personal or work-related stress issues. Talking and sharing can be the first step in helping to work through problems and resolve them, aiming to achieve the best outcome for employees and employers.
Wellbeing Library
An online library of useful content, hints and tips. Includes guides and tools to help with all kinds of situations from family and relationships, money or work, to mental or physical health conditions.
Cancer Care Support
Everyone's cancer journey is unique, which can be challenging for an employer when it comes to supporting employees who are living with cancer.
To help you understand more about managing cancer in the workplace, we've worked with Macmillan Cancer Support to put together a guide that highlights different areas you need to think about. It covers topics from understanding cancer to how it may affect someone at work, from talking about cancer in the workplace to supporting employees caring for others with cancer, and much more.
Wellbeing services are non-contractual benefits which Aviva can change or withdraw at any time. Terms apply to some wellbeing services.
To be eligible for wellbeing services employees must be permanent residents of Great Britain, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man. Red Apple Law legal services are available to use in England, Scotland, and Wales. There is varied or limited service availability in Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, and the Isle of Man. For full details please visit our dedicated Wellbeing services page.

Support your employees and business with Aviva Group Protection
Help retain employees, access expert support, and improve productivity, with our Group Protection’s practical and financial benefits. Aviva’s got it covered.
Group Critical Illness customer stories
Take a look at some of our customer stories and see what people have to say about the expertise and support they received.
Transcript for video Alex's story
I’m Alex, I’m 57 years old, and in March 2024 my life changed. I was diagnosed with aggressive prostate cancer.
I was working, and still continue to work, for a small family run firm, with about 15 employees, as a financial adviser.
I’ve always been active. I remain an active member of the local rugby club and have a great social life, and my health seemed fine.
At the time, I had no symptoms for cancer, but my partner had been badgering me to ensure that I go and get the PSA test, to check for prostate levels in my blood.
The nurse wasn’t keen at first as it’s not a normal, automatic test.
What they found with the test results, the GP said ‘I’m not too concerned, but I think it’d be worth sending you for an MRI scan’.
At the time, I didn’t expect to be diagnosed with prostate cancer, I felt fine. But I was remarkably sanguine when they told me the news. I guess I’d prepared myself for the worst and hoped for the best.
My mind immediately turned to ‘what’s the best route for me?’
I decided that the radiotherapy route was the best route.
I also began monthly hormone therapy injections. It basically puts your hormones into the menopause state, which is an interesting experience, and thankfully just temporarily.
I had other treatments too.
I needed to pay for travel for lots of my appointments and to take time of time off work, which my employer was fantastic about.
But at the time, it was the treatment that was important, not the finances. I wasn’t thinking about how is this going to impact on my financial side.
I didn’t tell many people originally, because, I think with cancer, it’s one of those ones where, you know, you’re going on this journey on your own, to a certain extent, and, I just told a few close confidants.
It was one of my colleagues who reminded me about the critical illness cover that I have with Aviva. And that nudge was a little ironic, given it’s a policy I recommend to all my clients, but I wasn’t necessarily thinking about it for myself at that immediate moment in time.
And I must admit, I was blown away by how simple it was to claim. I completed a short form, and my case manager did the rest.
I then got notified that my claim had been accepted and payment was made.
It allowed me to have support for the costs of going to these treatments, for medical costs, and also give me the option, should I wish, to do things like pay off a mortgage, to take the pressure off you financially.
It alleviated some of the stress associated with such serious illnesses as cancer.
So I’m glad the policy was there for when I needed it. You hope never to have to claim on a critical illness, I’d rather not have claimed on the critical illness policy, but when I need to, it was there for me.
Having now become a statistic, I now know at first-hand how important it is to have that critical illness in place.
For more information on Aviva Group Critical Illness cover, contact your employer, financial adviser or your usual Aviva contact. Or visit us online, at aviva.co.uk or search Aviva advisers.
Transcript for video Kirsty's story
My whole understanding of what insurance policies and insurance companies can do has changed.
Hi, my name is Kirsty. I'm in my early fifties and I was quite happily going through life, working,
living at home with my dog, out and about.
Around about my 50th birthday in the march, I got a call for a mammogram and they discovered
a primary but advanced tumour, and I remember sitting with the breast care nurse who was
lovely, and I remember her asking me to put my arms above my head as she drew onto the affected breast and told me that I had a large lump in there.
And I just remember looking out of the window trying to catch my breath, looking at the people walking by and thinking, life is never going to be the same.
Everything changed. It's been really hard. It's been two years out of my life now.
So the last thing you want at that point in your life is to have to worry about whether or not you're going to be able to feed yourself, heat the house, run the car… and that's where the insurance policies came in.
So one of the policies was the income protection. That was just a real lifeline in many ways.
There's a lot of expense that I wasn't expecting to have, like little silly things that all stack up like car parking at the hospital, maybe extra dog walking and maybe a cleaner. So that's been a big eye opener for me.
I also had critical illness cover. It's been a huge source of support in the sense that it's given me peace of mind. I hadn't even realised that there was more to the policy than just ‘just’ paying me out, paying money.
I was really surprised to get the rehab support, I had no idea that that would be included when I thought of insurance policies, I just thought of finance.
My whole understanding of what insurance policies and insurance companies can do has changed.
Group Income Protection offers early intervention and rehabilitation support services, these are non-contractual benefits that Aviva can change or remove at any time.
Group Income Protection pays out if during the policy term, you’re unable to work due to illness or injury and suffer a loss of earnings as a result.
Group Critical Illness pays out if, during the policy term, you’re diagnosed with one of our list of critical illnesses that meets our definition, and you survive for at least 14 days.
For both products, there is no cash in value at any time Your financial adviser or employer can explain how the products work and when they would pay out.
Transcript for video Emma's story
I went for the results, and the consultant’s first words when I sat down in the office were, “I’m really sorry. It’s not good news.”
I'm Emma, I'm a children's nurse. I’m currently working in education. I have grown-up children 23 and 25, and I'm currently undergoing treatments for lobular breast cancer.
I had some lumps in my breast. I had an operation to remove what they thought was three fibroadenomas. They'd removed the fibroadenomas, but they'd found invasive lobular carcinoma.
That was a big shock because I really wasn't expecting that. My second operation was planned. It was quite an extensive operation, but unfortunately, when I got the results of that one, they'd found five different tumours, quite a lot more cancer than they had expected. They'd also found that it was in my sentinel lymph nodes. I had to have a mastectomy and they checked some more lymph nodes, again, not expecting them to be positive, but there were a couple that were positive.
I started chemo, and then I'll still need some radiotherapy and I’ll need some hormone therapy, probably more long-term. This was all quite a lot because originally, I was told I'd need about eight weeks off work. I looked at my critical illness insurance. Your head is in a spin with everything going on, but that was the one thing that looked positive.
There's not very many positives about being diagnosed with breast cancer, and there's so many worries that you have, but actually, this was something that I could do actively. The claim process was really easy. When the claim was paid, it was a lot of relief. I was very lucky, and I get good sick benefit, I get six months full pay, six months half pay, but I realized that I would probably be going to half pay. And actually, having my mortgage paid was a complete relief.
Chronic illnesses take a long time. You need the cover, to cover you while you're ill. It's an expense you can't afford not to take. But I'm just so grateful that we bought that policy.
Critical illness insurance pays out a lump sum and is designed to help support you and your family financially.
It’s there to help you focus on your recovery without worrying about how the bills will be paid.
You can choose how long you want the policy to last and the amount of money you’re covered for.
Your financial adviser can explain how Aviva’s critical illness works and when it would pay out.
How to apply
If you'd like to apply for Group Critical Illness cover, please speak to your financial adviser. An adviser may charge for their services.
If you do not have a financial adviser you can find one by visiting www.unbiased.co.uk.
Or, simply get in touch with your Aviva Group Protection account manager if you have one.
Please note, we are currently unable to offer direct quotes for Group Critical Illness cover. If you have any further questions, we'll be happy to help.
Email us:
Making a claim
Our claims process is simple. To make a claim, go to our claims webpage.
On it you'll find:
- Information on how to make a claim
- Frequently asked questions
- Our latest claims report
- Customer stories
Looking for something else?
We offer a range of flexible insurance options to support your employees and business needs.

Group Life
Financial support for loved ones if an employee dies in service, as well as access to everyday health and wellbeing services and legal support.

Group Income Protection
We can support employees on long-term absence due to illness or injury, and our clinical intervention is designed to help them make a safe, timely return to work.

Aviva Flex-pertise™
Aviva Flex-pertise™ is our flexible benefits package, which gives your employees greater flexibility and control over the cover they receive.