Best critical illness cover in the UK - 2026

Top 6 critical illness policies in the UK

Here is a summary of the top six critical illness policies you can currently buy in the UK (in alphabetical order). Please click to navigate to our detailed reviews.

• Aviva - Critical Illness+
• Legal & General - Life insurance with Critical Illness Cover
• Royal London - Personal Menu Plan Critical Illness Cover
• Scottish Widows - Personal Protection Critical Illness
• Vitality - Serious Illness Cover
• Zurich - Critical Illness

Expert reviews of the best critical illness cover you can buy in 2026

myTribe’s reviews provide a summary of what each critical illness policy offers and the pros and cons.

When choosing critical illness cover or a life insurance policy it's wise to get advice from a broker to ensure you select the right plan for your circumstances.

Aviva is one of the UK's largest and longest-established insurers, tracing its roots back more than 325 years. Its Critical Illness+ policy is among the most comprehensive on the market.

Unlike many combined policies, Aviva Critical Illness+ is technically a separate policy sold alongside life insurance. Its standard version covers 33 critical illnesses, plus two additional critical illness conditions which pays the lower of £25,000 or 25% of your cover amount. An upgraded option, extends cover to a further 15 critical illness conditions and 24 extra additional conditions, as well as hospital benefits and cover for pregnancy complications. 

Children's benefit is included automatically, paying up to £25,000 (or 50% of your cover, whichever is lower) if your child is diagnosed with a covered condition. You can extend this cover by choosing Aviva’s upgraded children’s benefit.

All policyholders get free access to the Aviva DigiCare+ wellbeing app. Aviva paid out 90.7% of individual critical illness and children's benefit claims in 2025 , worth more than £388 million. Claims won't be paid if you pass away within 10 days of diagnosis

What we like:

• One of the widest condition lists on the market once upgraded.
• Works as a standalone product.
• Free children's cover as standard
• Flexible features such as life change benefit and separation benefit.
• Pay to add extra benefits such as upgraded critical illness, fracture cover and Global treatment
• Access to the Aviva DigiCare+ wellbeing app.
  

What we don't like:

• Only available through a financial adviser,
• Maximum age to take out a policy is 64, younger than other insurers

Trustpilot Reviews

Aviva holds a 4.3 rating from over 61,000 Trustpilot reviews. Positive reviews often praise the helpful UK-based call centre staff. Negative reviews tend to focus on claims disputes, common across large insurers handling high claim volumes.

Legal & General is one of the UK's best-known protection providers. Its Critical Illness Cover is only available as an add-on to life insurance, so it can't be bought as a standalone policy.

The core plan covers 31 full-payment conditions, including cancer, heart attacks and strokes, though some types of cancer and less advanced conditions are excluded at this level. It also covers two additional conditions that offer payouts of the lower of £25,000 or 25% of your cover.

For an extra cost, you can upgrade to Critical Illness Extra, through a financial adviser which covers an extra 41 conditions, split between full and partial payments (£35,000 or 100% of cover). Additional-payment conditions include Crohn's disease, type 1 diabetes and less advanced cancers that wouldn't qualify under the standard plan. 

Children's Critical Illness Cover is included free with every policy, paying up to £25,000 or 50% of your cover amount, whichever is lower. You can also upgrade to Children's Critical Illness Extra for wider protection covering additional child-specific conditions.

Every Legal & General critical illness customer gets free umbrella benefits, including a second medical opinion service, mental health support and Care Concierge, a telephone advisory service for planning later-life care. 

What we like:

• Free Children's Critical Illness Cover as standard.
• Critical Illness Extra extends cover for more comprehensive protection
• Strong additional-payments cover for common but less severe conditions
• Accident Hospitalisation Benefit, Family Accommodation Benefit and Childcare Benefit are included
• Free umbrella benefits including a second medical opinion. 

 What we don't like:

•  Can't be bought as a standalone policy
•  Critical Illness Extra is only accessible through an adviser.

Trustpilot Reviews

Legal & General has an “excellent” 4.3 rating from over 32,000 Trustpilot reviews.

Positive reviews frequently mention a straightforward application process and helpful customer service. Negative reviews tend to relate to claims being declined where a diagnosis didn't precisely match the policy definition, which is a common theme across the critical illness market rather than something unique to Legal & General.

Royal London is the UK's largest mutual life, pensions and protection provider. Its critical illness policy covers around 46 full-payment conditions, plus a further 32 additional-payment conditions that pay the lower of £35,000 or 50% of your cover amount without affecting your main sum assured. 

One standout feature is Royal London's NHS waiting list benefit: if you're placed on the waiting list for one of 13 approved surgeries, you can claim before you've even had the operation, giving you faster access to funds when you need them most.

Unlike some other providers, children's Critical Illness Cover is not automatically included with every adult policy. You will need to add standard children’s cover or enhanced cover if you want to protect your kids.

Policyholders get free access to Royal London's Helping Hand service, which includes virtual GP appointments, a mental health app called Thrive, and practical and emotional support whether or not you ever make a claim.

Royal London paid out 89.3% of critical illness claims in 2025 broadly in line with the rest of the market.

What we like:

• One of the broadest condition lists in the UK market.
• 17 early stage cancer definitions
• NHS waiting list benefit lets you claim before surgery, not after.
• Free Helping Hand service, including virtual GP access and mental health support.
• Enhanced children’s cover is comprehensive
• Lifestyle review option if you improve your health
• Maximum joining age is 69 years

What we don't like:

•  Only available through a financial adviser.
•  Children’s cover is optional, not automatically included

Trustpilot Reviews

Royal London has an "excellent" 4.6 Trustpilot rating from over 6,400 reviews, the joint highest score of the insurers in this guide. 

Positive reviews commonly reference a smooth application process and clear, helpful communication throughout. There isn't a significant volume of negative feedback relative to other large insurers, though as with any provider, some reviews mention frustration where a claim didn't meet the precise policy definition.

Scottish Widows has been providing financial protection since 1815. It offers critical illness cover through two main routes: Scottish Widows Protect Personal Protection, its flagship advised plan, and Plan & Protect Body Cover, a simplified policy sold direct.

Scottish Widows Protect Personal Protection covers 30 full-payment conditions plus a 10 additional-payment conditions which pay the lower of £30,000 or 25% of the sum assured. You can choose to take out a joint policy, where cover pays out and ends once either person makes a successful claim, or separate individual policies for you and your partner.

Cover can be paid as a cash lump sum or as a monthly family income, giving you flexibility over how the money is used depending on your household's needs. Scottish Widows has simplified its policy wording in recent years, consolidating conditions into clearer categories so customers have a better understanding of exactly what they're covered for, rather than facing pages of dense medical definitions.

Children's Critical Illness Cover is included automatically at no extra cost, paying the lower of £30,000 or 50% of the sum assured. Policyholders benefit from Scottish Widows Care, a free wellbeing support service delivered by RedArc registered nurses, alongside a 24/7 remote GP service.

In 2025, Scottish Widows settled 91% of critical illness claims, paying out more than £92 to over 1,500 families.

What we like:

• Choice of lump sum or monthly family income payout.
• Free Replacement Cover on joint life claims 
• Guaranteed Insurability Options across five clear life events 
• Simplified, consolidated condition definitions that are easier to understand.
• Children's cover bundled in as standard 
• Free Scottish Widows Care nurse support and remote GP access.

What we don’t like:

• Critical illness condition list is comparatively lean 
• Low maximum entry age of 64 for Personal Protection Plan

Trustpilot Reviews

Scottish Widows has an “excellent” 4.6 rating from more than 14,000 Trustpilot reviews, the joint highest in our top critical illness cover providers.

It's worth noting that many reviews relate to pensions products rather than critical illness insurance specifically, though they still offer a useful overall picture of the brand's customer service. Where critical illness feedback does appear, it generally reflects positively on the claims process and communication.

Vitality takes a genuinely different approach to critical illness cover with its Serious Illness Cover, and the name is a deliberate distinction. Rather than paying out in full or not at all against a fixed list of conditions, Vitality pays a percentage of your cover amount, typically between 5% and 100%, based on the severity of your diagnosis.

This means you can be covered for conditions that wouldn't trigger a payout under a traditional critical illness policy Vitality reports that around 1 in 7 of its claims in 2025 wouldn't have been covered by a typical enhanced critical illness plan elsewhere.

Vitality offers three tiers of Serious Illness Cover, known as 1X, 2X and 3X. At the top end, 3X covers up to 174 conditions, including more than 60 that are unique to Vitality, and allows you to claim up to three times your cover amount across multiple claims, so a single successful claim doesn't automatically exhaust your protection.

What really sets Vitality apart, though, is the Vitality Programme: policyholders can earn discounts and rewards, including money off an Apple Watch, cinema tickets and healthy food, for staying active. The optional Optimiser feature can lower your premium if you keep up healthy habits, though it can rise again if your activity levels drop.

What we like:

• More conditions covered than traditional critical illness policies.
• Severity-based payouts for conditions other insurers wouldn't cover.
• Waiting list benefit covers up to 24 conditions
• Dementia and FrailCare cover conversion option.
• Vitality Programme rewards and discounts for staying active.
• Can claim multiple times, up to three times your cover amount on the 3X plan.

What we don’t like:

• More complex to understand than a standard critical illness policy
• You must pay extra to add child serious illness cover
•  Doesn't bundle in a free remote GP service, which some insurers include as standard.

Trustpilot Reviews

Vitality has an “excellent” Trustpilot rating of 4.5 from more than 66,000 reviews.

Positive reviews consistently highlight helpful customer service and good value once the rewards programme is actively used. The most common negative theme is difficulty reaching customer service by phone, along with occasional frustrations with the app and rewards tracking.

Zurich is a global insurance powerhouse and its Critical Illness Cover is offered in three tiers: Critical Illness, Critical Illness Enhanced and Critical Illness Enhanced Plus. The entry-level plan covers 39 full-payment conditions plus 2 additional-payment conditions, while the Enhanced and Enhanced Plus tiers extend cover to 52 or more full-payment conditions alongside 33 additional-payment conditions.

A positive feature is Zurich's NHS waiting list benefit, which pays out on 7-10 specified conditions (depending on your tier) once you've been placed on an NHS waiting list for major surgery. Zurich's Enhanced Plus tier doubles the maximum payout for additional-payment conditions to £50,000, and includes an uplift benefit up to £200,000 for the most severe conditions.

Critical illness insurance is typically sold alongside a Zurich life insurance policy, although a standalone option is available if you specifically don't want life cover attached.

Children can be added to a Zurich policy for an additional cost, with cover of cover between £10,000 to £100,000.

All Zurich critical illness customers also get free access to a professional counselling service for themselves and their family.

What we like:

• Three-tier critical illness cover structures to choose form
• Enhanced plus offers a benefit uplift feature
• Advanced payment conditions pay out when you’re on NHS waiting list, not just post-treatment  
• Milestone benefit covers a wide set of trigger events 
• Extensive range of extra benefits can be added
• Free counselling service included for policyholders and their families.

What we don’t like:

• The most valuable enhancements sit behind two paid upgrade tiers 
• Children's cover comes at an additional cost rather than being included free.

Trustpilot Reviews

Zurich is rated an “average” 3.2 on Trustpilot from over 3,400 reviews.

Positive reviews frequently highlight the professionalism and knowledge of Zurich's support staff. Negative reviews tend to relate to claims handling on general insurance products, rather than life or critical illness specifically.

Get in touch for a quote

myTribe's expert guides provide guidance on life insurance and critical illness cover but should never be seen as a replacement for specialist advice. Contact us to get a comparison quote, and we'll connect you with a regulated broker for tailored advice.