Royal London life insurance review

About Royal London

Royal London is a mutual life, pensions and investment company – the largest in the UK, with almost 9 million policies held by customers. Its ‘mutual’ status means it’s owned by members, not investors, allowing for greater interaction and accountability with members and customers. This enables Royal London to continually improve its products and customer service.

Royal London life insurance policy features

If you buy Royal London life insurance, your policy is likely to come with the following features:

Guaranteed premiums	The amount you pay every month in life insurance premiums is guaranteed to stay the same for as long as you hold the policy.
Guaranteed insurability	This means you’d have the opportunity to increase your life insurance cover after certain life changes. In a Royal London policy, this includes: getting married or entering a civil partnership; becoming a parent; getting a significant pay rise; and taking out a new mortgage or increasing your mortgage.
Payment delay	You’ll be able to delay the payment of your monthly life insurance premiums beyond your usual pay date – giving you a little extra flexibility, if needed.
Reinstatement	If you accidentally miss a monthly insurance payment and your life insurance policy gets cancelled, you can reinstate it without having to apply again – as long as you do so within a set period of time. This is a good thing because it means you won’t have to go through medical underwriting again (which could lead to your policy being more expensive).
Terminal illness benefit	If you fall terminally ill while you hold a Royal London life insurance policy – in other words, a doctor has said you have 12 months or less to live – you can claim the lump sum early, on diagnosis.
Waiver of premium	Most life insurance policies come with this handy add-on that means you won't be required to pay your monthly premiums if you're off work for medical reasons. You usually need to be off for a certain amount of time before you can claim this benefit.

Royal London life insurance extra benefits

Royal London life insurance policies also come with extra benefits, outlined below. This is ‘non-contractual’, which means it’s not related to the contractual conditions of your own policy. Everyone is eligible – though this service is usually only made available if you buy your policy through an adviser.

Helping Hand	A support service providing access to a second medical opinion; bereavement counselling; and to legal, career-related, and medical helplines.

Royal London life insurance claim rate

In 2018, Royal London paid out 99% of all protection policy claims, including life insurance. In the same year, it paid out 95.2% of life insurance claims made via the terminal illness benefit – a feature which allows the lump sum to be paid out early if you’re diagnosed with a terminal illness. Claims not paid out are usually due to misrepresentation (providing inaccurate information when you apply for the policy) or because the claim doesn’t meet the required definition stated in the policy.

Royal London life insurance prices

The following Royal London life insurance prices are based on:

Healthy 25-year old male or female
£150,000 of level life insurance cover

Term	Level cover		Decreasing cover
Term	Non-smoker	Smoker	Non-smoker	Smoker
10 years	£5.30	£8.10	£5	£6.90
20 years	£5.60	£8.90	£5	£7.30
30 years	£6.50	£11	£5.10	£8

Healthy 25-year old male or female
£250,000 of level life insurance cover

Term	Level cover		Decreasing cover
Term	Non-smoker	Smoker	Non-smoker	Smoker
10 years	£7.40	£10.90	£6	£9.80
20 years	£7.90	£12.20	£6.50	£10.20
30 years	£8.70	£15.80	£6.50	£11.40

Healthy 35-year old male or female
£150,000 of level life insurance cover

Term	Level cover		Decreasing cover
Term	Non-smoker	Smoker	Non-smoker	Smoker
10 years	£7.40	£13.30	£5.10	£9.30
20 years	£8.40	£16.90	£5.90	£11.30
30 years	£11.10	£24.20	£7.50	£14.80

Healthy 35-year old male or female
£250,000 of level life insurance cover

Term	Level cover		Decreasing cover
Term	Non-smoker	Smoker	Non-smoker	Smoker
10 years	£10.10	£19.60	£7.10	£13.50
20 years	£12.10	£25.70	£8.30	£17.10
30 years	£15.70	£36.40	£10.70	£22.40

Quoted on 14/02/2020

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How long does it take to get the life insurance payout?

How quickly a life insurance payout is made depends on whether or not your life insurance is in trust. If you placed your life insurance into trust, the payout can be made straight away, once the claims process is completed. This should take a matter of weeks. If you didn’t, it will need to go through probate, along with the rest of your estate, which may take a matter of months.

Does Royal London life insurance pay for suicidal death?

Royal London life insurance will pay out for suicidal death, but not if it happens within the first 12 months of taking out the policy. For more info, read our guide to life insurance and suicide.

Can you extend Royal London life insurance?

You might be able to extend your Royal London life insurance if your policy comes with a feature called guaranteed insurability. You can typically only extend the policy term if you’ve taken out a new mortgage. For the exact details, it’s best to check your policy documents.

Can you cash in Royal London life insurance?

If you buy a term life insurance policy (the most common kind), you won’t be able to cash it in. You pay monthly premiums to be insured and the policy pays out if you die during your policy term. The kind of life insurance you can cash in is investment-linked whole life insurance – which is riskier than term life cover, more expensive, and only offered by some insurers.