Who is Aviva?
Formerly Norwich Union, Aviva is the UK’s biggest insurer.
The company, which has been offering insurance to customers for more than 320 years, is based in London, with other key offices in York and Norwich.
Its mantra is to “help individuals save and achieve financial peace of mind, managing their savings and income up to and through retirement”.
And it has a strong track record. In 2020 Aviva picked up General Insurer of the Year at the British Insurance Awards as well as Personal Lines Insurer of the year.
A year later it won the Risk & Resilience category Business Sustainability/Corporate Responsibility Initiative of the Year 2021 award and was named Commercial Lines Insurer of the Year for the second year running.
It also scooped the Best Protection Provider at the 2021 Money Marketing awards.
Aviva is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
As such, it has protection under the Financial Services Compensation Scheme, which ensures your life insurance policy is protected if Aviva stops trading.
What types of life insurance does Aviva offer?
Aviva offer a selection of life insurance policies and types, so the exact levels of cover and benefits may vary. Before buying life insurance, we recommend you check the cover and benefits included.
Aviva offers a range of life insurance products, including:
- Level term life insurance
- Life Start
- Joint life insurance
- Family income benefit
- Instant life insurance
- Critical illness cover
Level term life insurance is a type of life cover that lasts for a fixed period of time. If you die during this period, in a way that's covered by your policy, your loved ones get a pay-out.
Life Start is designed for younger customers. With this option payments start low, but increase over the lifetime of a policy, meaning that if you were to die young, your loved ones would get a pay-out off the back of a relatively cost-effective premium.
Joint life insurance policies cover two people and pay out when the first person dies. There’s no second pay-out following the second person’s death, meaning your loved ones will only get one pay-out if you both die at the same time, but the premiums are often cheaper than they would be for two separate life policies.
Critical illness cover pays out if you're diagnosed with a serious illness or suffer a life-changing injury during your policy term. Combined with life insurance, it ensures you're covered no matter what happens.
Family income benefit works on the same basis as level term insurance, but pays out in monthly instalments rather than one lump sum if the policyholder passes away. This can make it a better bet for people keen on controlling their monthly budget.
Instant Life Insurance offers a fast-track way to get life cover. It’s a stripped-down policy that requires less information and makes getting insured even quicker. All you need to do is complete an online application that takes around eight minutes. The company will then let you know straight away whether they can insure you.
What benefits does Aviva life insurance come with?
Aviva's life insurance policies also come with a range of optional extras, which could include:
- Hospital benefit
- Upgraded critical illness benefit
- Waiver of premium cover
- Optional cover increases
- Easy renewal
- Fracture cover
- Global treatment
Hospital benefits will cover you - and your partner if you’ve opted for joint life insurance - as well as your child. Following hospital admission for more than seven consecutive nights, it provides cover of up to £100 a night for up to 30 nights in a hospital.
Waiver of premium covers your life insurance payments, ensuring they continue to be paid if you’re unable to work due to injury or illness.
Optional increasing cover allows you to top up your monthly payments to counter the effects of inflation. This means that you pay slightly more per month, but your pay-out increases too, so you'll always get the same value payout in real terms, whenever you die.
Easy renewal allows you to renew your policy when it expires without the need to answer any further medical questions.
Fracture cover entitles you to one successful claim per policy year. It covers broken bones, including skull, jaw, arm and ribs.
Global treatment will cover the cost of treatment for a serious illness or a medical procedure, plus essential expenses, required by you or your child while on a trip overseas.
Aviva offer a selection of life insurance policies and types, so the exact levels of cover and benefits may vary. Before buying life insurance, we recommend you check the cover and benefits included.
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