Royal London’s history dates all the way back to 1861, when it was first formed as a friendly society. But just over 100 years ago, it became a mutual society, meaning all customers also became company members. Fast forward, and today, Royal London is the UK’s largest mutual provider of life, pensions and investment services.
Royal London’s purpose is to protect what their members have today and invest in the future. They pride themselves on their exceptional service, winning 5 stars for their protection service for 9 years in a row. Their Critical Illness product has also earned a 5-star Defaqto rating.
You might have had a Royal London policy in the past, but through other providers like Bright Grey and Scottish Provident. Since 2014, however, they’ve all become unified beneath the single Royal London brand.
By reaching this page, you’re eligible for 2 months FREE cover when you arrange a new Critical Illness policy.
Simply fill in the form below to apply for your 2 months free discount or call us on 02084327333 stating the code VC2MF.
As a leading mutual provider in the UK, Royal London has a comprehensive Critical Illness product.
You can take out a Critical Illness policy on its own, or combine it with life protection for a Life and Critical Illness plan. If you combine them, the policy will pay out in either event. However, if you have a standalone Critical Illness policy and pass away suddenly, no benefit will be paid.
In the table below, we’ve summarised Royal London’s Critical Illness policy.
Royal London Critical Illness Coverage | |
|---|---|
Maximum Benefit |
|
Type Of Cover |
|
Minimum Entry Age | 18 |
Maximum Entry Age | 69 |
Standalone? | ✅ |
Joint Cover? | ✅ Joint life first diagnosis only |
Premium Type |
|
Waiver of Premium | Optional |
Survival Period | 10 days |
Conditions Covered |
| Children’s Critical Illness Cover (Optional) |
Children’s Standard Cover | An optional add-on for an extra premium:
|
Children’s Enhanced Cover | Further cover for a higher additional premium:
|
Unlike some other providers, Royal London doesn’t include Children’s Cover for free when you take out cover for yourself.
This can make them particularly suitable for child-free individuals and couples, as you won’t pay extra for cover that you won’t use.
A cover summary is one thing, but we think it’s important to dig down a bit deeper when choosing the right provider for you. Here, we’ll look at the key details of Royal London’s Critical Illness Cover.
Royal London is one of the few insurers that offers a standalone Critical Illness policy. In other words, you can take it out on its own, rather than having a combined Life & Critical Illness policy. However, they will only allow you to do this if you go through a financial adviser.
Standalone Critical Cover can be suitable for people who have ample life protection already. We generally recommend that our clients taken out combined Life and Critical Illness protection, because you won’t need to worry about the survival period before claiming. With a combined policy, your policy will pay out in either event: death or a critical diagnosis.
Royal London doesn’t give you a choice between ‘core’ cover and ‘upgraded’ cover. Instead, their Critical Illness Cover is already fully comprehensive. They cover 46 full conditions and offer partial payments for an additional 27 conditions.
What’s more, claiming for one of the additional conditions does not impact your ability to make a full claim later on.
Children’s cover isn’t automatically included when you take out cover for yourself. Instead, you have the option to add it for an extra premium. You can choose Standard or Enhanced children’s cover, depending on your preference.
If you do choose to add children’s cover, your child can convert their cover to an adult policy. They can use the conversion option within 6 months of the following:
Each of your children can only use this option once. They’ll be able to take out the lower of your full benefit amount, or £50,000.
At the start of your policy, you can choose to set up your Critical Illness on an increasing basis. Doing so helps prevent the value of your benefit from decreasing over time due to inflation. If you choose increasing cover, there are two ways to go about it:
With both options, your premium will also go up to cover the cost of your higher benefit. Your premiums will go up by the percentage increase in your benefit multiplied by 1.2.
It’s also important to remember that for Critical Illness Cover, your benefit cannot exceed £1.2 million. If your cover amount reaches this threshold, Royal London will switch it to level cover for the rest of the policy term.
Royal London will write to you at least one month before your increase is due to take effect. If you don’t want to accept the increase, you can choose to opt out.
However, if you opt out of 2 consecutive increases, Royal London will switch your cover to a level basis, with no option to go back to increasing cover.
Rauri Taylor
Independent Protection Expert
Like most providers, Royal London offers a Guaranteed Insurability option, which they refer to as your Cover Increase Options. You can increase your cover amount without any further medical assessments, within 6 months of any of the events occurring:
You can increase your benefit by the lower of:
You can use your Cover Increase Options more than once, but you must provide any evidence Royal London asks for.
EXPERT TIP! 🤓
Cover Increase Options are only available if you’re aged 55 or younger. For joint policies, this applies to the oldest policyholder.
It’s also only available to those whose policies were accepted on standard terms where a claim is not being paid or considered.
When you take out a policy with Royal London, you can decide whether you want a renewable term. With this, your policy will still have an expiry date, but before it ends, you’ll have the option to renew it for a further 5 or 10 years.
Shortly before your policy is due to expire, Royal London writes to you about using your renewable option. As long as you let them know at least five days before your expiry date, you’ll be able to extend your cover.
If you have a joint policy and later separate, you can split your cover out into two single policies. This option only applies if your separation results in:
Once your joint policy has been split, each single policy will have:
Both people need to agree to split the policy in this way. You’ll also need to provide any evidence Royal London asks for. This could be confirmation from your mortgage lender, for example.
Another option Royal London offers for joint life policies is the reinstatement of cover. You can use this when 2 people are covered under a combined Life & Critical Illness policy.
After a claim has been paid for one person, the other person can reinstate their cover. This option can only be used once, and the policy will be reinstated on its original terms.
If Royal London accepts your policy on non-standard terms, you have the option of asking them to review their terms later on. For example, if you have a high height-to-weight ratio, smoke, or partake in hazardous activities, you’ll probably be seen as a higher risk. This could result in loadings or exclusions to your cover.
If you later change your lifestyle to limit these risk factors, Royal London can review your situation. And, with any luck, they could reduce your premium or remove an exclusion.
If you’re taking out combined Life & Critical cover, Royal London can be a great option for couples who want a joint policy. This is because they offer something called Dual Life Cover.
Rather than paying out for the first death only, Royal London continues to cover the second person after the first has claimed. This means your joint policy could pay out twice: once for each person.
Bradley Fedarb
Independent Protection Expert
With Royal London, you don’t only receive a comprehensive Critical Illness policy. Like all providers, they offer some extra services and benefits for free.
It’s great to think about these extra features and what you might get the most value from. This could be the clincher that sways you more towards one provider than another.
Royal London’s main benefits come under their Helping Hand service. It provides a range of support services to keep you in good health, including:
HealthHero gives you access to virtual GP consultations with experienced NHS doctors. Any GP you speak with can provide medical advice, prescriptions, and fit notes. You can also choose whether you have a preference for a male or female doctor, and whether you prefer a telephone or video appointment.
Thrive is an NHS-approved app for managing mental health conditions. You can use screening tools, clinically validated questionnaires, and CBT programmes. There’s also over 100 hours of content with practical guidance and resources.
The app is completely confidential and can offer personalised advice and recommendations. These help you prevent, detect and manage any mental health issues you may have.
Royal London provides another app, TrackActiveMe, which is created by physiotherapists. It offers a 3-way approach to dealing with musculoskeletal conditions:
You can personalise the apps recommendations by submitting your information and any occupational risks posed to you. For example, if you have a sedentary office job, you can work through a range of stretches and exercises to improve your posture.
While we all hope never to go through a severely difficult time, Royal London knows that sometimes everyone needs some support. So, if you undergo a serious physical or mental illness, severe injury, or bereavement, Royal London offers you support from a dedicated nurse.
The nurse appointed to you is selected based on their expertise and experience to deal with your situation. You don’t have to claim on your policy in order to use this service. However, if you do submit a Critical Illness claim, Royal London will offer you the service.
Nurses can develop a personal support plan that will remain in place for as long as you need it. The plan includes a range of additional services, such as:
Another benefit from Royal London is that they may offer you Free Cover before your policy starts. It’s offered at their discretion, so it’s not a guarantee. But it provides temporary cover that kicks in once Royal London receives your application.
Your Free Cover starts at the same rate of cover you’ve applied for, up to a limit of £500,000 for Critical Illness Cover. If your policy is connected to a mortgage, the cover will last for 14 days after you complete your mortgage. Free Cover will last for no longer than 90 days in total.
You can also choose to add Waiver of Premium cover at the start of policy. As you may know, this means your provider will cover the cost of your premiums if you’re unable to work.
Royal London offers you a choice of deferred periods: 4, 8, 13, 26, or 52 weeks. If you’re unable to work due to accident or illness after this time period has passed, Royal London will waive your premiums.
The premium waiver stays in place until you either return to work, the policy expires, or you pass away.
Lastly, when you take out Critical Illness with Royal London, you can choose to include Total Permanent Disability cover for an extra cost. With this cover, Royal London will pay out a claim if you’re completely and irreversibly unable to:
If you submit a Critical Illness claim for Total Permanent Disability, your policy will end and your cover will stop.
So, how does Royal London measure up when compared to other providers on the market? We’ve highlighted some key comparison points to help you see where they might offer a competitive edge.
Once you’re on the NHS waiting list for one of 14 approved surgeries, Royal London will pay out your claim. As a result, you’ll receive your claim faster, as you won’t have to wait until you’ve had the surgery. This can be a much-needed financial lifeline if you’re unable to work while waiting for your operation.
Some providers need you to survive for 14 days after your critical diagnosis in order to receive your claim. However, Royal London’s survival period is only 10 days. This means you may be more likely to receive a claim, even for a sudden or severe condition.
All providers offer extra support services as part of their extra benefits offering. However, few of them tailor their services specifically to critical illnesses.
Helping Hand offers you access to specialist cardiac, oncology, and stroke nurses. The nurses can pair you with the most appropriate free rehabilitation services for whichever condition you may be suffering. Cancer, heart attacks and strokes are the most common Critical Illness claims, so this support is designed to help when you need it most.
Some providers include Total Permanent Disability as a standard definition of their Critical Illness product. With Royal London, it’s an optional add-on for an extra cost.
Unlike some providers, Children’s Critical Illness Cover isn’t included for free when you take out your own policy. On one hand, this might suit people who choose to remain child-free, as you won’t pay for a service you don’t intend to use.
On the other hand however, if you do have children or plan to grow your family, you may prefer an insurer that includes children’s cover for free. If so, it’s always worth knowing what kind of child’s cover each insurer offers.
Despite it costing extra, Royal London offers a lot of great Children’s Cover benefits that many other insurers don’t provide.
For example, few other providers in the market pay out for pregnancy complications. Most also exclude Total Permanent Disability cover for children. But Royal London is one of the few insurers that pays out for both.
They also offer the option for your children to convert their cover from your policy into their own plan as adults. This is a very rare feature in the market that helps set your children up with their own protection once they’re due to enter the working world.
Similarly, there are some providers that offer Waiver of Premium cover as standard. With Royal London, adding this benefit will cost you a bit more to include.
The unfortunate truth is that we’re all more likely to develop a critical condition during our lives than we are to die young. As a result, Critical Illness Cover can be pretty costly when compared to Life Insurance.
The cost of your own policy will vary based on your age, occupation, and health status. But, to give you an idea, we’ve provided some examples below. Although Royal London give the option of taking out standalone Critical Illness, as advisers we always recommend taking it with Life Insurance.
Because of this, the quotes we have provided show the cost of a combined Life and Critical Illness policy at various ages. To get these, we’ve assumed the individual looking for cover:
Monthly Premiums | 30 Years Old | 40 Years Old | 50 Years Old |
|---|---|---|
£47.94 | £98.81 | £201.27 |
As you’d expect, the cost of cover steadily increases with age because of the increased health risks that come with growing older.
Remember, these are just examples. The actual cost of your own policy will depend on your cover choices and your lifestyle factors.
To sum up, Royal London offers a very comprehensive policy with some great add-ons. There are a number of flexible choices you can make to modify the cover in the ways you need.
In our experience, buying Critical Illness Insurance can become complicated for those who aren’t in-the-know. Each provider has its own approach to risk and specific definitions of critical conditions. If you’re worried about specific conditions or risks, it’s worth having an expert in your corner.
We’re completely impartial, so we’ll compare quotes across the whole of the market. Our friendly team will make an expert recommendation to suit your personal needs.
We started Drewberry™ because we were tired of being treated like a number.
We all deserve a first class service when it comes to issues as important as protecting our health and our finances. Below are just a few reasons why it makes sense to talk to us.
If you’d like to speak to a member of our friendly team, you can pop us a call on 02084327333 or email help@drewberry.co.uk.
Alternatively, if you’re confident you know what you are looking for, you can use our Critical Illness quote tool. This can help you compare the cost across the top UK providers.
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