Beagle Street publishes The Mortgage Cover Gap Report

Beagle Street published The Mortgage Cover Gap Report in April 2023, estimating that £433bn of mortgage debt across Great Britain is not covered by life insurance¹. The insurer used what it describes as the most conservative estimate, that 26% of mortgage households have no policy, to calculate the figure, combining house price data, average loan-to-value rates and mortgage debt penetration¹.

The report breaks the total down by nation and English region. London accounts for the largest share at £86,354m, followed by the South East at £81,963m¹. Scotland's gap is put at £27,864m and Wales at £16,102m¹.

Source: Beagle Street The Mortgage Cover Gap Report, April 2023¹

The report also gives an indicative price for cover. It states that a 30-year-old non-smoker taking out a decreasing term life insurance policy of £200,000 would pay £10 a month¹. Premiums are calculated on age, health, pre-existing health conditions and lifestyle, including alcohol consumption, smoking and dangerous leisure activities¹.

The report's term "mortgage protection life insurance" is another name for term life insurance, where the length of cover matches the mortgage term and the sum matches the amount borrowed¹. Where a mortgage is held jointly, a policy covering only one borrower pays out only that borrower's share¹.

Why it matters for households

The estimate concerns mortgaged households in Great Britain without a life insurance policy in place¹. Where a borrower dies, the mortgage debt remains with the surviving household unless cover or other funds meet it; the report frames the uncovered total as the financial risk borrowers carry¹. The regional figures indicate where that uncovered debt is concentrated in cash terms, with London and the South East together accounting for £168,317m of the £433,027m total¹.

Life insurance is not a legal requirement in the UK, unlike car insurance¹. The £10 a month figure applies to one specific profile, a 30-year-old non-smoker with £200,000 of decreasing term cover, and the report notes that actual premiums vary with age, health and lifestyle¹. Households that have paid off a mortgage no longer have mortgage debt to cover, though other costs may remain¹.

What happens next

No further steps, publication dates or follow-up reports are set out in the report as covered¹. The report itself is dated April 2023¹.

Households wanting to understand how mortgage life insurance works, whether life insurance is needed to get a mortgage, how much cover may be needed and whether life insurance is needed to cover loans can find explanations in our protection and insurance guides.