Can I increase my cover after marriage or having a child?

A guaranteed insurability option is a clause in some life, critical illness and income protection policies that lets you raise your cover after a set life event without answering new medical questions. Marriage or a civil partnership, the birth or legal adoption of a child, a rise in earnings and taking on or increasing a mortgage are the events insurers most often list¹.

The option matters because protection cover is priced on your health at the point you apply. If your health changes after the policy starts, a fresh application can be refused or loaded. A guaranteed insurability option sidesteps that: the insurer has already agreed to accept the increase, so no further medical evidence is needed².

The catch is timing and age. Insurers commonly require you to apply within six months of the event, and one allows only three months⁴. Several will not allow the increase at all once the insured person would be 55 or older on their next birthday when the increase starts⁶.

What a guaranteed insurability option actually does

The option is a promise made at the start of the policy. The insurer agrees in advance that if certain events happen, it will accept an application to increase the benefit amount without asking for more medical evidence². Some policies also include continuation options to extend the term, with limits in place².

The same feature appears across product types. On critical illness cover it lets you increase cover on specified events without further medical evidence, and it has previously been called the Changing your policy and Guaranteed Insurability Option³. On a whole of life plan the wording is similar, with eligibility criteria and restrictions applying⁹. On income protection, one insurer describes a guaranteed insurability option that allows you to increase cover without medical checks for certain life events¹⁰.

Not every policy has one. Some insurers will increase cover without a new application and no further medical information, but where they will not, a separate top-up plan may be needed¹¹. That distinction decides what happens next: with the option, the increase is a contractual right; without it, you are back to a full application.

Life events that can trigger an increase

Published lists of qualifying events are consistent on the main ones. They include marriage or entry into a civil partnership; the birth or legal adoption of a child to the member or the member's partner; an increase of earnings; and taking out or increasing a mortgage on the member's primary residence¹.

The earnings trigger has a threshold attached. One insurer requires an increase of at least 10% per annum to basic salary before the option can be used¹². That stops the option being used for small pay rises.

Adoption is named; legal guardianship is not. Among the qualifying events is adoption of a child by the member or the member's partner, while becoming a legal guardian is not listed¹. Benefits rules run on a separate track and do not settle the insurance question: you cannot qualify for Guardian's Allowance after adopting a child, though you may qualify if you claim before the adoption¹³.

If your policy does not list the event you have in mind, the increase is not guaranteed. It becomes an ordinary application, underwritten on your health at that point.

Age limits and time windows: within three to six months of the event

Two clocks run against each other here, and both are strict.

The first is the deadline after the event. One insurer requires the application in writing within six months of the life-changing event for that option⁴. Another sets the same six-month window from the happening of any of the relevant events⁷. A third allows only three months: the event must happen to the person insured, and the increase can only be done within three months of it⁵.

The second is age. Several insurers will not allow the increase if the insured person, or the older of two people on a joint life policy, would be 55 or older on their next birthday when the increased benefit starts⁶. One insurer sets its own bar at 54 or under for a guaranteed increase, alongside a requirement that payments are up to date and that the person insured has not been diagnosed with a terminal illness⁸. Another will not allow the option after your 55th birthday, or if you have been diagnosed with or treated for a critical illness under its definition, or for carcinoma in situ of the breast treated by surgery or low grade prostate cancer requiring treatment under Additional Cover¹⁴.

Can I increase my cover after taking on a bigger mortgage?

Yes, where the policy lists a mortgage increase as a qualifying event, and subject to caps. Taking out or increasing a mortgage on the member's primary residence appears on published lists of qualifying events¹.

The caps are where policies differ most. One insurer limits a mortgage increase to 50% of the amount of cover shown on the policy schedule, capped at £150,000, and limited to the increase in the total amount owed on the mortgage, with a maximum insured age of 54⁸. A separate protection plan allows an increase of up to 20% of the initial amount without medical assessment after six years of cover and premiums paid, or on promotion, a change of job, becoming a parent, increasing a personal mortgage, or marrying or becoming a civil partner¹⁵.

If your existing plan cannot be increased, the alternative is a new policy. With decreasing term cover, the practical route after remortgaging is to update your address with the insurer; if the new mortgage is smaller you may reduce cover and premiums or keep the existing amount, and if it is larger you may increase cover on the existing plan where possible or take out a new plan¹⁶.

Standard terms only: what the increase carries over

An increase taken through the option is not a new policy on the original terms. It is an addition to the existing plan, priced at your age when the increase starts, and it carries the standard terms in force at that point.

The premium goes up. Raising the amount insured means paying more, and the insurer sets the new premium using its standard rates for your age at the time². Some insurers guarantee the original premium unless you make changes to the plan or choose an increasing benefit¹⁷. Where a policy has an automatic increasing cover feature, the premium rises each year too: one insurer increases the insured amount in line with changes in the Retail Prices Index, with the premium also increasing if the option is taken¹⁸. Another increases premiums using the change in RPI multiplied by two, up to a maximum of 20%, if the Increasing Cover option is chosen⁹. A third states plainly that monthly premiums will also increase each year if you opt for increasing cover¹⁹.

There are also caps on how much the option can add. One insurer sets a maximum increase of £200,000 where the main benefit is life protection, critical illness protection, life with critical illness protection, reducing life protection, reducing critical illness protection or reducing life with critical illness protection⁶. On a career change or promotion option, the benefit amount may be increased by no more than four times the increase in basic salary, with key person cases excluded and a separate limit¹².

What does not carry over is the underwriting position on anything beyond the option. If you want more than the cap allows, the excess is a new application.

Can I use the option if my health has changed?

This is the situation the option exists for. It lets you increase cover without supplying medical information, so a diagnosis or a change in health since the policy started does not by itself block the increase¹⁰.

The exclusions are specific rather than general. One insurer will not allow the option if you have been diagnosed with or treated for a critical illness under its definition, or for carcinoma in situ of the breast treated by surgery or low grade prostate cancer requiring treatment under Additional Cover¹⁴. Another requires that the person insured has not been diagnosed with a terminal illness⁸.

Outside the option, health changes are handled very differently. Once a policy is in place, the premiums cannot be increased after a cancer diagnosis²⁰. For anyone who cannot get standard cover, there are specialist, non-medically screened policies that offer guaranteed cover for anyone, but these are often more expensive, with limited term length or total sum insured²⁰. Over-50s plans are guaranteed whole of life policies that do not require medical underwriting²¹.

What happens if you miss the deadline

The option lapses for that event. If you apply after the window closes, the increase is treated as a new application, with new medical questions and underwriting. The policy you already hold continues unchanged, so nothing is lost except the chance to add cover on the old terms.

That is different from missing a premium, which is a more serious failure. If a premium is not paid, the policy lapses and cover ends²². Reinstating lapsed cover is a separate process from using an increase option, and it is worth checking the policy conditions before assuming either is straightforward.

Where a claim or an application is refused and you think the decision was wrong, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at it. Its approach to health changes in other insurance lines shows how it reasons: where a customer became aware of a significant change in health and did not report it, the insurer may only be liable to cover the payments made prior to the change in health²³. For protection policies, the equivalent question is usually whether the event fell inside the window and whether the conditions were met.

Free, impartial help is available. Macmillan's financial guidance covers insurance and cancer, including the types of cover available²¹. Scope publishes advice on insurance for disabled people and those with health conditions²⁴. MoneyHelper and the debt advice charities can help where protection and household finances overlap.

Where the protection stops

The option is a contractual right, not a regulator's rule. Nothing obliges an insurer to include one, and the terms are set by the policy conditions rather than by law. That is why the deadline, the age limit and the caps vary so much between insurers, and why the policy schedule is the document that settles what you can do.

If an insurer fails, protection depends on the product and the date. For income protection insurance, the Financial Services Compensation Scheme covers 100% of a claim if the firm failed on or after 3 July 2015, and 90% if it failed before²⁵.

The ombudsman can consider complaints about how an insurer handled an increase request, but it cannot rewrite the terms of a policy that was sold on a clear basis. The practical protection for a reader is the paperwork: the qualifying events list, the deadline, the age limit and the cap, all of which appear in the policy conditions.