Royal London Personal Protection Menu

The Royal London Personal Protection Menu is a protection plan that lets you pick from a menu of covers under one policy, rather than buying a single fixed product. The covers available are Life Cover, Critical Illness Cover, Life or Critical Illness Cover, Income Cover for Sickness and Payment Cover for Sickness¹. You choose which of those you want, and the plan pays out only if you claim: it has no cash value at any time¹.

It is arranged through a financial adviser rather than bought off the shelf. Royal London life insurance is sold through a financial adviser, and its income protection and critical illness covers are available through an independent financial adviser². The adviser sends the application to Royal London, and Royal London says it can help you find an adviser if you do not have one⁴.

Royal London is a UK mutual life, pensions and investment company, and the Personal Protection Menu is one of the protection plans it sells. The plan has been sold under both the Royal London and Bright Grey names, and Bright Grey is a division of Royal London⁵. It is arranged through a financial adviser rather than bought directly, and it is not a savings or investment product: the plan has no cash value at any time⁴.

What the Personal Protection Menu is and who it is for

The plan is a contract of insurance between you and Royal London, based on the application you make and Royal London's acceptance of it⁷. That matters because the terms you are covered on are the ones in the plan details that applied when you took the plan out, not the ones on the website today. Royal London keeps historic plan details available for customers who need to check the terms of an older policy⁸.

The menu structure is the point of the product. Instead of one product that bundles everything, you select the covers that match what you are trying to protect against. Life Cover pays a lump sum on death. Critical Illness Cover pays on diagnosis of a specified illness. Life or Critical Illness Cover pays on whichever of those two happens first. Income Cover for Sickness and Payment Cover for Sickness pay a regular amount if you cannot work because of illness or injury¹.

It tends to suit people who want protection arranged around their circumstances rather than a single fixed benefit, and who are willing to work with an adviser to set it up. It is not a savings or investment product: the plan does not build up a fund, and there is nothing to cash in. Royal London also states that the plan does not entitle you to membership of the mutual, even though Royal London is customer owned¹.

The plan has been sold under the Bright Grey name as well as the Royal London name, and the plan details for both set out the same core terms⁵. If you have an older policy, the plan details that came with it are the ones that govern it.

The covers you can choose from

Each cover on the menu does a different job, and the plan details set out the limits that apply to each one. The figures below come from the plan details documents Royal London has published for the menu over the years, so they show the shape of the cover rather than today's terms.

The plan details also set out how cover can grow. For lump sum covers, the amount can be increased by a selected rate each year, or linked to the retail price index subject to a minimum and a maximum⁵. The maximum increase per event is the lower of half the original amount of cover or £50,000 for lump sum covers, and £8,000 a year for Income Cover for Sickness paid as regular payments⁵. The maximum aggregate increase across all events is the lower of £125,000 for lump sum covers or £8,000 a year for regular payments covers¹⁰.

There is also a new cover option that can be used after a claim, and the plan details state that this option may be used only once¹. If a joint life plan pays a claim, a reinstatement option lets the other person replace joint life cover within three months of the claim being paid⁵.

How the fees and charges work

Royal London is paid through product charges rather than a separate bill. Its own key document states: "You will pay for our services through product charges. We will tell you how we get paid and the amount before we carry out any business for you."¹² The same wording appears in Royal London's services and costs document¹³. In practice that means the cost of the plan is built into what you pay for it, and the adviser's charge is disclosed to you before any business is carried out.

For protection cover, the cost is a premium, and the premium depends on the cover you choose, the amount of cover, your age and your health. Royal London does not publish a rate card for the Personal Protection Menu, and the figures that apply to a new plan are the ones you are quoted when you apply. Independent figures give a sense of how age moves the price of term cover generally: Which? Those are term life figures, not Personal Protection Menu figures, and they are there to show the direction of travel rather than to quote this plan.

The plan details for the menu set out what happens if a payment is missed. A plan is cancelled if a subsequent payment remains unpaid for more than five weeks from the date it is payable⁵. Royal London's claims guidance says that in most cases cover will stop and the plan will be cancelled if you stop paying your premiums¹⁴.

Who can apply and how to apply

The route in is through an adviser. Royal London life insurance is arranged through a financial adviser², and its income protection and critical illness covers are available through an independent financial adviser³. Diabetes Life Cover is only available through a financial adviser, who sends the application to Royal London, and Royal London says it can help you find an adviser if you do not have one⁴.

That is different from some of Royal London's other products, which can be applied for directly. The Stocks and Shares ISA, for example, requires you to be a Royal London customer to apply directly, and online applicants need a pension taken out since 2004 or a Scottish Life pension¹⁵. The Personal Protection Menu does not work that way.

Once a plan is running, you can manage it online if you have a Personal Menu or Whole of Life policy with Royal London, or if you previously took out a policy with Royal Liver, United Friendly or National and Provincial¹⁶. Plan details for existing policies can be downloaded from Royal London's site⁸.

If you are thinking about switching an existing protection policy to this one, the usual warning applies with more force than for savings products. A new policy is underwritten again, so a change in your health since the original policy was taken out can affect whether you are accepted and on what terms. The plan details for the menu also state that the plan does not entitle you to membership of the mutual, so there is no membership right to lose or gain by moving¹.

How your money is protected

The plan is issued by Royal London, which is authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authority and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authority⁶. The firm appears on the Financial Services Register with reference number 117672, and its status is authorised with a status effective date of 1 December 2001⁶. It also appears on the Bank of England's list of insurers incorporated in the UK authorised to carry out contracts of insurance, as at 1 September 2026¹⁸. The company is registered in England and Wales with company number 99064 and is active¹⁹.

The plan is issued out of Royal London's Ordinary Long-Term Business Fund, but it is not eligible to participate in the profits of that fund or any other fund¹. That is the technical way of saying the plan is protection only: it does not share in Royal London's profits and it does not build a pot.

Long-term insurance policies are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme if the insurer fails. The level of protection and how it applies depends on the type of policy and the circumstances of the failure, so the scheme's own rules are the place to check what would apply to a plan like this. The plan details also state that the law of England and Wales applies to the plan, which is worth knowing if you live in Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland¹.

Royal London's wider business includes pensions, ISAs and investments, and it has been trading since 1861²¹. It describes itself as the UK's largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, based on total 2022 premium income²². None of that changes the terms of a protection plan, but it is the context for how the firm is set up.

Claiming on the plan

Royal London says it publishes full claims figures every year²³. Its claims guidance sets out what it needs and what can go wrong. For a serious illness claim, the first and unequivocal diagnosis of a serious illness is required²⁴. For critical illness claims, all diagnoses have to be the first and confirmed diagnosis of the critical illness, made by a consultant who is a specialist in the relevant area of medicine and who is employed at a hospital within one of the countries listed in your plan details¹⁴.

The documents Royal London may ask for include the birth, marriage or death certificate, any other evidence of a change of name, evidence of income, medical evidence to support the claim, and evidence of the amount and status of your mortgage if that is relevant to the claim²⁴. For a death claim, Royal London says it prefers an original death certificate but can accept a standard verification form completed by a solicitor²⁴.

Payment goes to the people legally entitled to receive it, and for serious illness claims or children's benefit it goes to the policyholder directly²⁴. Once all the information has been received and the claim accepted, Royal London makes the payment and funds usually clear in three to five working days by BACS transfer¹⁴.

Royal London lists the same decline reasons across its protection claims guidance: the claim does not meet the definition set out in the plan details, misrepresentation, fraud, non-payment of premiums, or the cover term having finished²⁴. Those are the points to check against your own plan details before you assume a claim will or will not be paid.

Problems, complaints and getting help

Written complaints can go to the Customer Relations team at Royal London House, Alderley Park, Congleton Road, Nether Alderley, Macclesfield, SK10 4EL²⁶.

Royal London publishes complaints data covering 1 January 2026 to 30 June 2026. It opened 2,677 complaints in Insurance and Pure Protection, 6,422 in Decumulation and pensions, and none in Banking and credit cards over that period²⁶. Those figures cover the whole firm, not this plan alone, but they show the volume of complaints the business handles.

If you are unhappy with how a complaint is handled, you can take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service, which is free and independent. Royal London's own complaints page sets out the process it follows²⁶.

There is also practical support for customers who need it. Royal London can send written communications in a different format such as large print, braille or audio, change the way it speaks to you, translate documents into another language, add a family member or friend to your account, and offer support when contacting a charity or organisation²⁷. It offers British Sign Language through Convo²⁷. It states that it will not share your information outside of Royal London²⁷. There is a National Support Network offering help with any kind of problem at any time²⁷.

If a loved one had an insurance policy with Royal London and you are not sure what needs to happen, Royal London says it can help make the next steps as easy as possible²⁹. It also has a process for reconnecting customers with money it finds it owes them while reviewing policy records: you receive a letter with a form from the Rectifications team, which you complete and return, and Royal London says it will only use the information to verify your identity²⁸.

For free, impartial help with protection and money decisions more generally, MoneyHelper is the government-backed service, and the Financial Ombudsman Service handles complaints that a firm has not resolved.