Life insurance glossary

Age limits

The maximum or minimum age that an insurer will issue a policy or continue one that’s already in place. You need to be aged between 18 and 77 years to apply for our Life Insurance Plan, and between 50 and 80 years to apply for our Over 50s Life Insurance.

Applicant

The person applying for the insurance policy.

Application

Once you have a quote, you can apply for life insurance by completing an application online or over the phone. You’ll usually need to answer questions about your health and lifestyle as part of your application.

Beneficiary

The person or organisation that will receive the insurance policy payout if you pass away or have a terminal illness within the policy term, and the claim is successful.

Benefit

The amount of money paid to the beneficiary when the insured person passes away. The payout is sometimes called the death benefit.

Cash-in value

Some older life insurance policies include a savings feature that means if the policy is cancelled early, the policyholder receives the policy’s cash-in value. We no longer offer new life insurance plans that include a savings feature.

Claim

The application for a payout on a life insurance policy.

Cover amount

This is how much the life insurance will pay out when a claim is successful. Our life insurance calculator may help you think about how much cover you need.

Critical illness

Our Critical Illness Plan could support you and your loved ones financially by paying out a lump sum, if during the term of the policy you're diagnosed with a specific illness or medical condition defined by the policy and survive 10 days. It doesn't pay out on death.

This is not a savings or investment product. It will only pay out on a successful claim, and if you stop paying your premiums or cancel the policy the plan will end and you'll get nothing back.

You can take out life insurance and critical illness cover at the same time, as they cover you for different things. We offer them as separate policies, and you can add critical illness cover when you apply for life insurance, if you want both.

Death in service benefit

This is an employee benefit. If you pass away while working for the organisation, a tax-free lump sum will be paid to your chosen beneficiary. The benefit may cease to exist if you leave your job for any reason. There is no cash-in value at any time.

This article explains the difference between death in service benefit and life insurance.

Decreasing term life insurance

With decreasing term life insurance, the value of your policy gradually reduces over time until it reaches zero, but your premiums stay the same. This tends to be used to cover a mortgage or repayment loan.

Estate

The property and money left by someone who has passed away.

Executor

A person or organisation named in your will responsible for handling your estate and carrying out your instructions when you pass away. Their duties include arranging the funeral, dealing with assets, paying unpaid bills and distributing the estate to beneficiaries.

Guaranteed life insurance

A type of life insurance that you’ll be accepted for, regardless of your health. You won’t be turned down, and there’s no medical exam. You're guaranteed to get full cover after one year.

Income protection

Our income protection insurance supports you if, during the term of the policy, you can't work due to sickness or injury. It pays out a fixed monthly amount and usually covers around 80% of your pre-tax salary.

This is not a savings or investment product. It will only pay out on a successful claim. If you stop paying your premiums or cancel the policy the plan will end and you'll get nothing back.

Inflation

When the price of goods and services increases over time. If you’re looking to buy our Life Insurance Plan, you can choose to protect your cover from the effects of inflation. This could be a more expensive option if your cover goes up in the future.

Insurance risk

How likely something that you’re insured for will happen, meaning the insurer must pay out. For life insurance, this risk is the possibility that the policyholder will pass away before their policy term ends.

Insured

The named person who is covered by the life insurance policy.

Joint life insurance

A policy that covers two people's lives for one monthly premium. Joint life first death policies pay out when the first person passes away and joint life second death policies pay out when the second person passes away. There is no cash-in value at any time with joint life insurance.

Length of cover

The amount of time you’ll be covered for by an insurance policy, also called the policy term.

Level term life insurance

With level cover, you pay the same monthly amount throughout the policy’s lifetime, and the cover amount stays the same.

Life assurance

Like life insurance, this pays out when the person insured on the policy passes away. The main difference between these policies is that life insurance is designed to provide cover for a specific time period, while life assurance runs for a person’s lifetime. These are whole of life policies.

Life insurance

Our Life Insurance Plan pays out if the policyholder passes away while they hold the policy. Some policies also include a payout for terminal illness. Terminal Illness Benefit pays out if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness during the policy term that meets our policy definition and aren't expected to live for longer than 12 months. The policy will only pay out once. The lump sum might be used to help pay off a mortgage or go towards general living costs. Our life insurance calculator may help you work out how much cover you might need.

This is not a savings or investment product. It will only pay out on a successful claim. If you stop paying your premiums or cancel the policy, the plan will end and you'll get nothing back.

Life insurance company

A provider of life insurance policies, such as Aviva.

Lump sum

The benefit that a life insurance organisation pays out in one amount when the insured person passes away.

Medical exam

When you apply for our Life Insurance Plan, you’ll be asked about your health and lifestyle. In some cases, you may be asked to have a medical exam. If this is the case, we'll cover the costs.

Medical referral

Your insurer may need some additional medical information to assess your application. This could either be in the form of a medical report or an exam conducted by a nurse or doctor. If more information is needed, this is called a referral.

Mortgage protection insurance

A type of term life insurance that’s also called decreasing life cover. A mortgage usually reduces over time, and this cover decreases over time, too. If you pass away during the policy term and before the mortgage is paid off, the payout could be enough to help your loved ones pay off the rest of the loan and stay in the family home. There is no cash-in value at any time.

Over 50 life insurance

A life insurance policy for people aged 50 and over who are UK residents. It provides cover for life as long as premiums are paid when due, and is designed to pay out a small lump sum when you pass away. Read more about our  Over 50s Life Insurance. 

Policy anniversary

The anniversary of the date that your policy was issued. You’ll find this in your policy documents.

Policyholder/Policy owner

The person, or people, taking out the life insurance policy.

Power of attorney

A legal document that lets you nominate someone to make important legal and financial decisions for you if you’re unable to. If you want someone to act on your behalf, you’ll need to give them power of attorney over your affairs.

Pre-existing medical condition

An illness, injury or disease you have when you take out a life insurance policy, also called an existing medical condition. When applying for a life insurance policy, you should answer all questions truthfully, to make sure your policy is valid.

Premium

The amount that you pay your insurer for cover. It’s usually paid monthly, but some insurers allow annual or twice-yearly payment.

Probate

Probate is the process of validating a will and dealing with the estate of a person who has passed away. If you’re a named executor in a will, you may need to apply for probate so you can gather their assets, pay any unpaid bills, and share out what’s left to the beneficiaries.

Quote

A life insurance quote is an estimate of your premium that’s based on things like the type of life insurance, the amount of cover and the length of the policy.

Separation option

This is an option when you take out joint life insurance. It lets you split the policy into two if you and your partner are no longer together, and then both or either of you can take out a new policy without answering any more medical questions. You both need to agree to use this option.

Single life insurance

A policy for one person, with one cover amount and one payment each month, which pays out if you pass away during the policy term.

Sum assured

The total cover amount that an insurance policy will pay out as a lump sum if you pass away, or are diagnosed with a terminal illness, within the policy term. There is no cash-in value at any time.

Term

The length of time a life insurance policy runs for.

Terminal illness

An illness that you’re not expected to recover from. Our Life Insurance Plan includes terminal illness benefit that pays out if you’re not expected to live longer than 12 months. Terminal Illness Benefit pays out if you're diagnosed with a terminal illness during the policy term that meets our policy definition and aren't expected to live for longer than 12 months. Once payment is made, your policy will end, and no further claims will be paid. There is no cash-in value at any time.

Term life insurance

You pay a regular premium, usually monthly, to your insurer for the duration of the policy term. If you pass away during the policy term, your beneficiaries will receive a payout.

Trust

A way to leave something of value to someone without handing them full control. You can put assets like money, investments and property, as well as your life insurance policy, into a trust. This is known as writing life insurance in trust, or a policy written in trust. The assets in the trust will be held in accordance with the terms of the trust when you pass away, and will not be included as assets of your estate.

Underwriter

A trained expert or organisation that works out the risk of insuring someone. They decide the amount of cover the insured person can get, and how much they should pay for it. In some cases, they may decide the risk is too great to insure them.

Underwriting

The process used by an insurer that includes asking applicants health and lifestyle questions, so they can work out the financial risk of insuring them, and how much they should pay and be covered for.

Whole of life insurance

A policy that lasts the lifetime of the person that’s insured and then pays out on death.

Will

A legal document that sets out how you’d like your estate to be managed and distributed when you pass away. You can name executors in your will to carry this out.