The top life insurers that can cover your children

As a parent, what’s the one thing worse than being diagnosed with critical illness yourself? Your child being diagnosed with a critical illness.

If the unthinkable happened, illness could flip your world upside down. A critical illness policy could offer financial protection for you and your children, by covering you for a defined list of critical illnesses.


What is children’s critical illness cover?

Life insurance for children is not a standalone policy. All this means is, children’s critical illness cover is an added extra onto an adult critical illness policy.

Depending on which insurer you go with, sometimes you’ll need to pay a little extra to get children's cover added onto your policy. However, some of the top life insurers do include it as standard when you take out a critical illness policy with them.

How does it work?

Each insurer covers your child slightly differently.

What many insurers do is cover either a percentage of the adults sum assured, or have a set lump sum of money that they’ll pay-out.

For example, AIG, one of the UK’s leading life insurance providers, say they’ll pay up to £50,000 or 50% of your cover depending on the type and severity of the condition covered.

Perks of the benefit

One of the biggest advantages of having children’s cover in your back pocket is that it doesn’t affect your own policy.

If you sadly had to make a claim on the children’s element of your policy, your own critical illness cover would not be affected.

How much critical illness cover do you need?

When it comes to life insurance, you can easily be overinsured, meaning you’re paying more in life insurance premiums than you need to, for extra cover that’s not needed.

Or you could be underinsured, where you’re paying less for your policy but this results in you, and your loved ones not having the cover you need, if the worst were to happen.

Getting the balance right of how much cover you need can be tricky which is why seeking specialist advice (from people like us) is vital. We can ensure that you get the right amount of cover and you’re matched with the right life insurance provider for your needs.

What conditions could children’s critical illness insurance cover?


Like any life insurance policy, the illnesses covered will vary, depending which provider you choose. But some of the main conditions you may see covered by a children’s critical illness policy are:

• Down’s syndrome
• Type 1 diabetes
• Cancer
• Cystic fibrosis
• Heart attack
• Cerebral palsy
• HIV
• Heart disease
• Stroke

All children

There are countless benefits of critical illness cover. With children’s critical illness insurance it’s worth noting that many of the UK’s top providers usually include legally adopted children and stepchildren, as well as natural children too.

Funeral benefit

It doesn’t bear thinking about but in the tragic event of the worst case scenario of your child passing away from critical illness, many of the top providers will pay out a select amount to help contribute towards funeral costs.

For example, Legal and General, would pay out £4000 towards funeral costs, with a maximum of two funeral benefits per policy but touch wood you’d never have to use the benefit once, never mind twice.

Can you put your critical illness policy in trust?

Yes, and we always recommend putting your policy in trust too!



There are several perks of placing a life insurance policy into trust, such as helping you to mitigate inheritance tax and avoid probate.

A trust form is a legal agreement, where you will determine who you want to receive the money from your life insurance policy if the worst were to happen to you. The main sections you’ll see on a typical trust form are;

• Beneficiary
• Settlor
• Trustee
• Witness

Which providers have child critical illness insurance?

We work with many of the UK’s leading life insurance providers, so when you come to us for help with sorting out your cover, you’ll get the pick of the bunch.

Some of the top names in life insurance (who you’ve probably heard of), offering children’s critical illness insurance, are:

• AIG
• Royal London
• LV=
• Vitality
• Aviva

How long does a critical illness claim take?

Each claim is completely different, so it can vary.

Like we always say about life insurance - we hope you never have to make a claim on your policy. The whole reason behind having any type of cover is that it’s there for you, just in case.

But if the unthinkable happened, and you and/or your family had to make a claim on your policy, the way it works is pretty straight forward, and the general rule of thumb for any claim is the more information you provide, the quicker it could make the claims process.

How do you make a claim on your policy?

When you come to us for help with taking out a life insurance policy, we’re with you every step of the way and you’ll have the ongoing support of our in house claims support team.

Touch wood it never happens, but making a claim on the children’s element of your policy is the same as if you needed to make a claim on your own. Either get in touch with us, or your life insurance provider to get started with the claims process.

What could you use the pay-out for?

If the worst happened and you found your child was diagnosed with a critical illness, the money could make a huge difference, at a time when you’d need it the most.

The money could be used anyway you see fit but here are some examples of what you could spend it on:

• Travel expenses to go to hospital
• Help make up for lost income, if you were unable to work due to your child’s illness
• Treating your family and loved ones to a day out whilst they recover
• Paying for any modifications you’d have to make to your home

If you’ve made it this far

At Busy Bee, our customers are our number one priority.

We work with the top life insurance companies in the UK so we can search through them and compare life insurance policies and providers, to find what fits with you, and your lifestyle.

Our team of friendly experts will evaluate your circumstances, affordability, and preferences so we can find out what policy is best for you, and your loved ones. To kickstart your life insurance journey today, click the button below to get started with your free quote.