The main purpose of life insurance is to pay out on death, but some provision is usually included for ill health through terminal illness benefit. Unlike income protection and critical illness cover, this benefit will only pay out when the illness results in a terminal prognosis of less than 12 months to live.

Terminal illness benefit only requires the prognosis of less than 12 months to live. It doesn't affect the payout if death then doesn't occur in that time frame. If the policyholder is not given such a prognosis or they don't want to know, the policy will only pay out on their death.

There are no set lists of illnesses that are terminal. Any number of conditions can be life limiting. Depending on the condition, severity and treatment available, someone diagnosed with a terminal illness might be given days, weeks, months or years to live.

In the past some insurers would not accept terminal illness claims in the final 12 months of the policy. This is not the case for policies issued now though.

No maximum age limits apply to terminal illness cover. Whatever the policy term or finishing age, the terminal illness cover will simply run alongside the main life cover. Both cease at the same time.

Terminal illness cover on life policies can provide an extremely valuable benefit. It can provide financial support to policyholders and their families at an incredibly distressing time.

Get in touch with our friendly and knowledgeable team for more information.