Manage your life cover policy

How can I find out more about my policy?

If you’d like to know more about your policy, you can go to MyAviva and register or log in. This is where you’ll find:

• Policy information, including terms and conditions
• Policy documents
• Payment details, including amounts and collection dates
• Cover amount and term
• Policy start and end date

If you can’t find what you need in MyAviva – which can depend on things like when you took your policy out, or if it’s in a Trust – you can get in touch online or by phone.

When's my policy due to finish, and what happens when it ends?

You can find the policy end date by logging in to MyAviva. When the policy ends, your cover stops, and we won’t collect any more premiums.

Some of my personal details have changed. How do I let you know?

If you’d like to change your home address, email address or phone number, you may be able to make that update in MyAviva. If not – maybe because you have a few policies with us, it’s a joint policy, or it’s in a Trust – just contact us, and we’ll make that change for you.

Protecting your personal details is important to us. Here’s how we use your information.

How can I change my payments?

If you’d like to change your payment date or details, or pay a missed payment, just get in touch with us.

What if I’m struggling to pay my premiums?

If you're experiencing short term financial difficulty, for example:

• You’re in-between jobs with a known future start-date, or
• You’re on temporary unpaid leave to provide short-term care for a family member

you may be able to take a break on your payment(s) and make up the payment(s) later. This is called a 'payment deferral'. If you’re able to take a payment deferral, you would remain covered ⁠– keeping your current benefits and level of cover. 

Please contact us to discuss your individual situation and we’ll do our best to support you.

For help with managing your finances, you can find free and impartial support, guides and tools on the Money Helper website.

Can I reduce my premium amount?

You may be able to reduce the premium you pay, but it depends on the type of cover you have. The best next step is to talk to your financial adviser, or you can contact us to consider your options. 

When should I review my cover?

You’ll want your cover to be in step with any life changes that affect your finances. That could mean making changes to your existing policy, or buying more cover after an important life event.

Here are the types of changes you might want your cover to reflect:

• Moving home and having a bigger, or much smaller, mortgage
• Getting married or forming a civil partnership
• Becoming a parent, or having more children
• Getting a salary increase
• Getting divorced or dissolving a civil partnership

If you're experiencing short term financial difficulty, for example:

• You’re in-between jobs with a known future start-date, or
• You’re on temporary unpaid leave to provide short-term care for a family member

You may be able to take a break on your payment(s) and make up the payment(s) later. This is called a 'payment deferral'. If you’re able to take a payment deferral, you would remain covered ⁠– keeping your current benefits and level of cover.  

Some of our policies let you make changes without having to take out a new policy. You may be able to:

• Increase or decrease your cover amount
• Increase or decrease how long your cover lasts
• Remove someone from the policy

Should I get financial advice before changing my cover?

You don’t have to, but we recommend you do. A financial adviser can help you decide what’s right for you – whether you’re thinking of changing a policy you already have, or buying another type of cover.

Here’s why it’s worth talking your needs over with an independent financial expert:

• They’ll take a deep dive into your personal circumstances and finances before recommending a type of policy that suits you and your family
• If you’re not sure about things like cover amount and how long to have the policy for, they’ll make suggestions based on what you might need over time
• They’ll look at policies from a number of insurers and tell you how they compare when it comes to things like claims payouts and policy benefits

If you don't already have a financial adviser, you can find one at unbiased.co.uk.

Your financial adviser will talk you through what their charges are up front.

If you’d like to change your cover without financial advice, or if you’ve already talked to an adviser, contact us.

Do I need to let you know if my health changes?

If you have a life insurance or critical illness cover policy, you don’t need to let us know about any changes to your health after your policy’s started.

As long as you answered the application questions truthfully and correctly when you bought the policy, and told us about any changes that happened before the policy start date, that’s all we need to know.

I've changed how much I smoke. Will this affect my policy?

Usually, if you've stopped or started smoking since you took out your policy, you don’t need to tell us about it, as it won’t affect your policy, or what you pay. That’s provided you answered the application questions accurately when you first took the policy out. But you should still check your policy conditions, as they’ll mention if it’s something your particular policy requires.

Can I cancel my cover?

You can – but before you do, it’s important to know that cancelling completely isn’t your only option. There are a few other things you can do to make sure your cover works for you.

You should explore all your options before you cancel, because if you need to take out a new policy later on, the cover could be more expensive as you age or your health has changed.

If you're thinking of cancelling because you’re experiencing short term financial difficulty, for example:

• You’re in-between jobs with a known future start-date, or
• You’re on temporary unpaid leave to provide short-term care for a family member

You may be able to take a break on your payment(s) and make up the payment(s) later. This is called a 'payment deferral'. If you’re able to take a payment deferral, you would remain covered ⁠– keeping your current benefits and level of cover.  

It’s a good idea to speak to your financial adviser first to double check it’s the right thing to do – and if you don’t have one, it’s easy to find one online. They’ll be able to help you get the details you need to make an informed decision and can talk you through your other options so that whatever happens, you’re protected.

If you’ve thought about your options and definitely want to cancel, fill out our online form or give us a call and let us know. We’ll get the ball rolling, and if you change your mind afterwards and want to keep your cover, that’s totally fine. As long as you let us know within 30 days, we should be able to restore it in most instances. We won’t charge you anything to do this, as long as you pay any outstanding premiums, and nothing’s happened during that time that you could have made a claim for.

My policy’s been cancelled. Can I restart it?

We can restart most policies if it’s no more than 30 days after it was cancelled, and we won’t charge a fee – as long as you pay any outstanding premiums, and nothing’s happened during that time that you’d have made a claim for.

If you’d like to restart your policy, just contact us and we’ll do our best to get things back up and running for you.

Its easy to make a claim on a life cover policy — and we’re here to help every step of the way.

Need to make a claim? You can make a claim online.

Got a question around an existing claim? Contact us online.

Haven’t found the answers you need here? Contact us online or call us, and we’ll be happy to help.

We’re committed to treating our customers fairly, so if you have any concerns you’d like to tell us about, here’s how you can make a complaint.