MetLife EverydayProtect: accident cover, units and claims

MetLife EverydayProtect is accident protection insurance. It pays a lump sum if you suffer an injury, die, or have to spend time in a UK hospital as a result of an accident¹. It is not life insurance and it is not critical illness cover: the trigger is an accident, not an illness.

You buy it in units. There are five levels of cover and you choose between one and five units, and the more units you buy the higher your benefits will be and the higher your monthly premium². The maximum payable under Core Cover for any one insured event is £50,000 per unit of cover³.

The policy is sold by MetLife, a brand with more than 400,000 protection customers in the UK⁴. It sits alongside MetLife's other accident products, MultiProtect and MetLife Accident Protection, and you cannot hold more than five units in total across all of them⁵.

What MetLife EverydayProtect covers

EverydayProtect is made up of Core Cover and any optional cover you have chosen⁵. Core Cover pays for Major and Minor Broken Bones, Hospitalisation, Accidental Death, Non-accidental Death, and Accidental Permanent Injury or Total Permanent Disablement⁵.

The hospitalisation benefit pays £50 to £250 per 24 hour period in a UK hospital, depending on how many units you hold³. Permanent injury benefits are substantial: paralysis of the limbs, total and irreversible, pays £25,000 to £125,000, and blindness in both eyes, permanent and irreversible, pays £20,000 to £100,000³. Loss of both hands or both feet pays £20,000 to £100,000, and deafness in both ears pays £7,500 to £37,500³.

You are covered for accidents wherever they occur, but your claim needs to be supported by a qualified medical practitioner, and hospital stays must be in UK hospitals¹. That territorial rule matters: a skiing injury abroad is an accident covered by the policy, but a hospital stay in a foreign hospital does not trigger the hospitalisation benefit.

The cover is accident-only in its core. EverydayProtect's own terms describe the product as providing a lump sum if you suffer an injury, die, or have to spend time in a UK hospital as a result of an accident¹. If you want cover that pays on diagnosis of an illness, that is a different product: critical illness cover works on diagnosis rather than on an accident, and life insurance pays on death or, often, terminal illness.

Choosing units of cover: how the levels work

The unit system is the whole pricing and benefit structure. One unit buys the lowest benefit at the lowest premium; five units buys the highest benefit at the highest premium. MetLife sets out a Core Cover premium for each of the five unit levels, and the figures change from time to time, so the current ones are on MetLife's own site rather than fixed here².

The same ladder runs through every benefit. Accidental death pays £40,000 at one unit and £200,000 at five³. Hospitalisation pays £50 per 24 hour period at one unit and £250 at five³. Blindness in both eyes pays £20,000 at one unit and £100,000 at five³.

There is a hard ceiling on how many units you can hold. MetLife's terms state you can have between one and five units of cover on a policy, and no more than five units in total across all your MetLife EverydayProtect, MultiProtect and MetLife Accident Protection policies⁵. If you already hold units in one of those other policies, that reduces what you can add here.

There is also a cap on what a single event can pay. The maximum amount payable under Core Cover for any one of the listed insured events is £50,000 per unit of cover³. Once the maximum total benefit has been paid for a single insured event, the policy ends³.

How the monthly premiums are worked out

The premium is set by how many units you hold, not by your age or your health at the point of sale, and MetLife states the cost of cover does not change when you make a claim or as you get older³. MetLife publishes a Core Cover premium for each of the five unit levels, and those figures are the ones to check before applying².

That is a guaranteed-premium structure rather than a reviewable one. It is worth knowing the difference, because guaranteed and reviewable premiums behave very differently over a long policy term. MetLife's MultiProtect terms describe how a reviewable premium would be assessed, listing claims, expenses, lapses and new policies, investment income, and the law affecting the policy or MetLife as the factors⁶. EverydayProtect's published material instead states the cost will not change when you claim or as you get older³.

Optional cover is priced separately. MetLife's MultiProtect material describes optional cover from just an additional £2 per month⁴, and EverydayProtect's Active Lifestyle Cover is described as available from just £2 per month¹. MetLife's own site carries today's figures for both Core Cover and any optional cover, and those are the numbers to check before applying.

Optional add-ons: Child Cover and Active Lifestyle Cover

Two optional covers sit on top of Core Cover.

Active Lifestyle Cover gives extra protection if you get injured in an accident resulting in dislocation, tendon rupture or ligament tear⁷. It can be included in your policy from the policy start date, but it cannot be added later, and once removed it cannot be added again⁵. That timing rule is the one to note: if you want it, it has to be there from the start.

There are annual limits on how often it pays. In each policy year, Active Lifestyle Cover can pay a benefit for one dislocation, and one tendon rupture or grade 3 or grade 2 ligament tear⁷. There is also a rule about repeat claims: if benefit has previously been paid for a partial (grade 2) ligament tear, the benefit for a subsequent complete (grade 3) ligament tear happening in the same policy year will be the same as that paid for a partial tear⁷.

If a policy with Active Lifestyle Cover is cancelled or terminated for any reason and you then buy a new policy, you will not be covered for this benefit on the new policy for 12 months from the date it is cancelled⁷.

Child Cover is the other add-on. MetLife's MortgageSafe material describes it as optional cover that can be added to MortgageSafe policies and extends cover to children in the family, and it is not connected to your mortgage⁸. It is available as an optional extra on that product⁹. Child Cover has its own exclusions: the cancer benefit excludes less advanced cases, the minor broken bone benefit excludes the nose, and hospital admission due to illness applies only after cover has been held for 12 months¹⁰. There is also a 90-day rule: there is no cancer claim if the child was diagnosed with any form of cancer before or within the first 90 days of the Child Cover start date, had relevant tests in the first 90 days leading to diagnosis, or is diagnosed with melanoma skin cancer⁵.

Broken bones: what counts and what is excluded

Broken bone cover is the benefit most people claim on. MetLife's MultiProtect material describes broken bones cover as up to £5,000 per broken bone⁴, and the benefit splits into major and minor categories.

Major broken bones are the arm, ankle, back, hip, mandible, leg, neck, pelvis, shoulder, wrist and skull, not including facial bones or ear bones⁷. Minor broken bones are ear bones, facial bones other than the mandible, excluding the nose, and any other bone not listed as major⁷. The nose is excluded from both categories, and it appears as a standalone exclusion in EverydayProtect's Core Cover terms⁵.

There is a specific rule for ribs. Where a rib fracture needs no X-ray, MRI or CT scan, the amount of policy benefit payable will be limited to one Minor Broken Bone benefit⁵. So a rib fracture confirmed by examination alone pays at the minor rate, once.

Other exclusions on broken bones are worth knowing before you claim. EverydayProtect Core Cover excludes bones broken by osteoporosis or degenerative bone disorders, bruised bones, micro-fractures, surgical breaks and self-inflicted breaks⁵. MetLife's MultiProtect terms list the same pattern: broken nose, bones broken by osteoporosis, brittle bone disease or degenerative disorders, bruised bones, micro-fractures, non-accidental or surgical breaks, and self-inflicted injury or attempted suicide by the policyholder⁷.

Active Lifestyle Cover has its own exclusions for joint and soft tissue injuries: dislocations of the fingers, thumbs or toes, mild or moderate ligament or tendon injuries, ruptures of tendons other than those listed, and ACJ shoulder separations Type I and II, and Type III not repaired by surgery, are not covered⁵.

Death and permanent disablement benefits

EverydayProtect's death benefit is built around accidents. Accidental death pays £40,000 to £200,000 across one to five units³. MetLife's product page states that accidental death cover runs up to £200,000¹.

Non-accidental death is handled differently, and the amount depends on how long the policy has run. EverydayProtect's benefit table shows Year 2 paying £1,000 to £5,000, Years 3 to 4 paying £1,500 to £7,500, and Year 5 onwards paying £2,000 to £10,000, across one to five units³. If death happens within the first year of the policy starting, the benefit is your premiums returned¹.

MetLife's MultiProtect summary of benefits gives a different non-accidental death figure for that product, £3,000 to £15,000 for Years 3 to 4 across one to five units⁷. The two documents do not agree on the MultiProtect figure, and the EverydayProtect table is the one that applies to this policy.

Total Permanent Disablement is the other major benefit, and it carries an offset. The benefit amount payable for Total Permanent Disablement will be reduced by the amount already paid in connection with the same accident that caused your total disablement⁷. EverydayProtect's own material repeats the rule³. So if you have already been paid broken bone and hospitalisation benefits for the same accident, those sums come off the disablement payout.

Permanent and total disability benefit is often offered as part of this kind of cover¹¹, and it is a different thing from the accident-only disablement benefit here. If you are looking at cover that pays when you cannot work rather than when you are injured, income protection and total permanent disability cover work on different definitions.

How cover changes with age and when the policy ends

The benefit falls before the policy does. When you reach your 70th birthday, benefits under Core Cover, and Active Lifestyle Cover if selected, are reduced by 50% until your 75th birthday, when the policy terminates¹. MetLife's terms put it as benefits being reduced by 50% for the remainder of your policy term⁵. Child Cover benefits are unchanged by that reduction⁵.

The policy ends on the earliest of several events. EverydayProtect's policy summary lists your 75th birthday, you stop being a UK resident, payment of the Total Permanent Disablement benefit, payment of the maximum total benefit for a single insured event, your death, you stop paying the premium, or you cancel the policy¹. MetLife's terms give the same list in shorter form⁵.

The maximum total benefit rule is worth understanding. Once the maximum total benefit has been paid for a single insured event, your policy will end³. That means a serious accident that exhausts the single-event cap closes the policy rather than leaving it in force for a future claim.

There is a general exclusion list that applies across the policy, and it is long. EverydayProtect excludes claims resulting from suicide or self-inflicted injury by the policyholder, psychiatric illness, unreasonable failure to follow medical advice, assault or fighting except in self-defence or organised non-professional sport, illegal acts, war, travel to FCDO-advised countries during a pandemic, alcohol or substance impairment, alcoholism, solvent abuse or drug taking, contests of speed, mountaineering, caving or potholing, professional sport, military duties, hazardous occupations, aerial flight other than as a passenger or crew, and elective cosmetic surgery⁵.

Making a claim with MetLife

Claims start with a phone call or a form. To register a claim you can call 0800 917 0100, option 2, write to the MetLife Claims Team at PO Box 1411, Sunderland SR5 9RB, or email claims@metlife.uk.com¹. Older claims guidance gives a separate number for requesting a claim form, 0800 917 1333, and asks you to complete and return the form in full to the same Sunderland address or by email¹². Claims are accepted or declined subject to the policy terms and conditions¹².

Once a claim is accepted, MetLife's guide says it will make payment into your bank account within 5 working days of the date it writes to you¹². MetLife states it pays an average of 125 accident and illness claims every day⁴.

If a claim is not accepted, MetLife's guide says it will write to you to explain the decision, and that you then have the option to appeal if you are not happy with the decision¹². For MultiProtect the same guide describes a phone call rather than a letter, with the same right to appeal¹².

Complaints go through a separate route. MetLife aims to acknowledge receipt of your complaint typically within three days and to resolve it immediately¹³. EverydayProtect's terms say MetLife will let you know it has received your complaint, typically within five days⁵. If a complaint is not resolved after eight weeks, MetLife will explain the delay and indicate when it expects to be able to give a final response⁶. MetLife's published complaints data for 1 January to 30 June 2026 shows 1,047 complaints opened and 1,042 closed for its insurance and pure protection grouping, 2.13 complaints per 1,000 policies in force, with 4.0% closed within three days and 84.2% closed after three days but within eight weeks; the main cause of complaints was delays and timescales¹³.

If you are unhappy with the final response, the Financial Ombudsman Service can look at the complaint. The ombudsman's guidance on this kind of cover explains how it approaches disputes about whether a condition meets a policy definition¹¹.

Cooling off, changes and who to contact

There is a cancellation period. MetLife's terms state that if you cancel your policy within the first 30 days starting from when you received your policy documents, it will refund any premiums paid, provided no claim has been made⁶. If MetLife changes or amends the policy and you are not happy with the changes, you have the right to cancel⁶.

You must keep your details up to date. MetLife's terms require you to let it know of any changes to your personal details including your name, your address, your bank details and anything affecting your eligibility⁶.

The Wellbeing Support Centre that comes with the policy is an added benefit rather than part of the insurance contract, and MetLife reserves the right to amend or withdraw it at any time³.

MetLife's protection complaints line is 0800 917 0100, open 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday, or you can email customerservice@metlife.uk.com¹³. EverydayProtect's terms give the same phone number and the Sunderland postal address⁵.

For free, impartial help with a protection complaint or a claim dispute, the Financial Ombudsman Service is the route once the provider's own complaints process has finished. For general guidance on protection products and what they do, MoneyHelper is free and independent.