Sick pay and income protection
Life and critical illness cover: combined or separate
Many policies sold together pay only once. Choose combined or separate and see what the family would receive after each kind of claim.
Independent site, not an insurer, broker or government service: benefit claims are made only on GOV.UK.
Combined life and critical illness: what is paid
Example, not your result yet· change a figure to see yours
Paid if a claim is made on both
£200,000
| Critical illness claim alone | £200,000 |
| Life cover left after that claim | £0 |
| Death claim alone | £200,000 |
A combined (accelerated) policy pays once, on whichever claim comes first. Separate policies can each pay.
Life and critical illness cover is often sold as one combined policy, sometimes called accelerated cover. It pays its sum assured once, on whichever valid claim comes first: a critical illness claim during the insured person’s life, or a death claim. After a critical illness payout of the full amount, the policy ends and there is no life cover left. With £200,000 of life cover and £200,000 of critical illness cover combined, a family that claimed for a critical illness and later suffered a death in the same term would receive £200,000 in all. With separate policies of the same sums, they would receive £400,000. Combined cover usually costs less for the same sums, because it can only pay once. The odds of the death claim alone, for a man of 40 over 25 years, are 12% on the ONS life tables.
Rates read and sums checked by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · How the figures are worked out
Combined against separate, for different critical illness sums
The table keeps £200,000 of life cover and varies the critical illness sum. A combined policy pays the critical illness sum on a living claim and keeps only the rest as life cover; separate policies keep the whole life cover. The last two columns show the total the family receives if both kinds of claim happen within the term.
| Critical illness sum | Paid on a critical illness claim | Life cover left (combined) | Total if both claims, combined | Total if both claims, separate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | £50,000 | £150,000 | £200,000 | £250,000 |
| £100,000 | £100,000 | £100,000 | £200,000 | £300,000 |
| £150,000 | £150,000 | £50,000 | £200,000 | £350,000 |
| £200,000 | £200,000 | £0 | £200,000 | £400,000 |
Why the order of claims matters
If the first claim is a death, a combined policy pays the life sum and both covers end; separate policies pay the life sum, and the critical illness policy ends too, because there is no one left to claim for. So the difference between the two designs only appears when a living claim comes first. In that case, the family that held separate policies still has life cover at the old price, while the family with a combined policy may need new cover at an older age, if any insurer will offer it after the claim.
What the life part protects
The life cover protects the same things as a plain term policy: the mortgage, the family’s income and any lump sums for the children. Against those, a married partner with a child for whom Child Benefit is paid can count Bereavement Support Payment of £9,800. The life cover calculator adds it all up. A payout to the estate counts in it, as GOV.UK’s estate valuation guide lists life insurance among the assets, so a trust is worth considering for either design.
Deciding between them
Combined cover is the cheaper way to hold both protections, and for a couple whose main worry is the mortgage, one payout may be enough whichever event comes first. Separate cover costs more but keeps protection in place after a living claim. Some households choose a combined policy with a smaller critical illness sum, which keeps part of the life cover after a living claim at a cost between the two. The critical illness page compares a lump sum with income protection in months of outgoings, and the odds of a death claim at each age are on the life insurance by age page, from the ONS tables.
Whatever the design, write the life part in trust where the policy allows it, so that a death claim reaches the family directly.