
Legal & General life insurance review
10 min
Award-winning life insurance provider Legal & General were…
As of April 2023, Aegon UK is now part of Royal London and is no longer accepting any new life insurance applications.
All existing customers’ policies will transfer to Royal London in 2024, subject to court approval[1].
At Reassured, we can source life insurance quotes from alternative insurers to help you find affordable protection for your loved ones.
Make the most of our award-winning service by getting in touch.
If you’re searching for family life insurance, you may have seen offerings by Aegon available on the market.
But who are Aegon and was their life insurance any good?
This in-depth Aegon life insurance review explores their previous life cover and protection options to help you make a comparison with other insurers.
From the types of policies that Aegon used to offer and their additional policy features, to whether they pay out, this article covers everything you need to know.
While you can’t take out life insurance with Aegon, there are plenty of other options to choose from so you can ensure your family are protected.
At Reassured, we can compare multiple life insurance quotes from some of the UK’s best life insurance providers to help you find an affordable deal.
Aegon started as a Scottish Equitable back in 1831 and has since become a global brand and one of the world’s largest financial service organisations.
Aegon offered a range of products including life insurance, income protection, long-term savings solutions, investments and pensions.
Keep reading to find out more about Aegon and their previous life insurance options…
Aegon life insurance UK reviews are generally positive, with customers rating their service as ‘Great’ on Trustpilot with 4 out of 5 stars.
While this is a good rating, it refers to Aegon products as a whole and not just their life insurance.
Reassured, the UK’s largest life insurance broker * , is rated ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot from over 70,000 customer reviews.
Our service helps you to compare life insurance quotes from a panel of highly rated UK insurers including Aviva, AIG and LV=.
Aegon offered the ‘personal protection policy’ which offered flexible options to meet your financial protection needs.
Within the personal protection policy you could choose to be covered by the following:
The option(s) you were covered for depended on what you choose during the application process.
There was a multi-benefit and/or multi-policy discount offered to those securing more than one type of cover. This benefit increased with the number of policies taken out.
Aegon also offered a separate whole of life insurance policy.
Below we analysis each of these cover types offered by Aegon…
Aegon offered both level and decreasing (reducing) term life insurance.
With a level term life insurance policy, your pay out sum (sum assured) remains fixed throughout the life of your policy.
Whereas, with a decreasing or reducing term policy, your sum assured will reduce throughout the policy lifetime (Aegon reducing term cover reduced each month).
The minimum term length for Aegon level term life insurance was 1 year, and the minimum term length for reducing term life insurance was 2 years. Both had a maximum term length of 50 years.
You also had the option to take out cover on a joint basis. Joint life insurance covers two lives simultaneously under one policy.
This article will be discussing Aegon joint life insurance in more detail below.
All term policies included terminal illness cover as standard. Terminal illness cover allows you to make an early claim on your life insurance if you’re diagnosed with a life-threatening illness and predicted to pass away within 12 months.
You could also choose to add critical illness cover to your policy for an additional cost.
Reassured offer both level term and decreasing term life insurance which can be taken out from just 20p-a-day.
Why not get in touch to compare quotes and find your ideal policy?
Aegon family income benefit will pay out to your loved ones in monthly income payments after your passing.
For example, if you had a 30 year policy and you pass away 10 years into the policy, it will pay out to your loved ones every month for the remaining 20 years.
The minimum term length for an Aegon family income benefit policy was 5 years, up to a maximum of 50 years.
You could choose to add critical illness cover to your policy for an additional cost, this would be classed as a ‘family income benefit with critical illness cover’ policy.
In this instance cover will also pay out if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness, listed within your policy, and payments will be made in monthly instalments rather than a lump sum.
Once a critical illness claim has been made, your family income benefit policy would expire.
You could also benefit from having terminal illness cover added to your policy at no extra cost.
39 medical conditions were covered within Aegon critical illness cover, including heart attack, cancer and stroke.
Critical illness cover will pay out to you in the event you’re diagnosed with a serious illness.
Aegon critical illness cover could be taken out as a standalone policy, or it could be added to a life insurance policy for an additional cost.
You could also choose between the following terms for critical illness cover through Aegon:
The funds from critical illness cover can be used to help replace lost income while you’re too ill to work, cover medical bills or pay for carers.
The minimum term for critical illness cover through Aegon was 5 years, with a maximum term of either:
Critical illness cover with Aegon also included protection for your children. A lump sum will be paid if your child is diagnosed with, and meets the definition of, an illness listed within the policy and lives for 10 days from when they were first diagnosed.
Payments would be capped at £25,000 or 50% of your sum assured per child per insured person. A lump sum of £5,000 would also be paid if the child passes away.
Critical illness cover could be added to Aegon life insurance policies for an additional cost.
Having critical illness cover added to your life policy will allow you to make an early claim and receive an early pay out if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness.
The funds received could help you to replace lost earnings while you’re off work, pay medical bills or a home carer.
Once a critical illness cover claim has been made, your life policy will expire and you may need to arrange new cover.
Aegon life insurance with critical illness cover had a minimum term length of 5 years and a maximum of 40 (with guaranteed premiums) or 50 years (with reviewable premiums).
At Reassured, we can compare quotes for life insurance with critical illness cover from just 33p-a-day º . Simply get in touch for your free quotes.
Aegon income protection offered to pay out up to 65% of your usual income (up to a maximum of £20,833 a month) if you’re unable to work as a result of sickness or accident.
Income protection through Aegon was available to those aged 18 - 59 and your cover must end by the time you’re 70.
There were two different policy types to choose from:
Payments will commence if you’re still unable to work after your deferred period has come to an end. Aegon offered deferred periods of 4, 8, 13, 26 or 52 weeks.
Payments will cease if you return to work, if you pass away, if you retire, if the payment period comes to an end or if your policy expires.
You also had the choice between two definitions of incapacity; own occupation (unable to complete your specific job role) and activities of daily work (you can't perform 3 or more daily tasks such as walking, reading, bending, dexterity etc).
If you pass away while paying premiums for your income protection policy, Aegon will pay out a lump sum pay out of £5,000 to your loved ones to help ease financial strain.
It’s no longer possible to take out Aegon income protection, however, Reassured Advice can help you to compare alternative income protection policies from all other major providers.
Aegon whole of life insurance guaranteed to pay out a lump sum to your loved ones upon your passing.
This policy type was separate to the personal protection policy.
The funds from a whole of life insurance policy can help to provide your loved ones with an inheritance or help cover any inheritance tax that may be charged on your estate (40% on anything above the £325,000 threshold).
You had the option to take out Aegon whole of life insurance as a single or joint policy. Taking out a joint policy will mean that two lives are covered under the same policy.
Aegon whole of life insurance also included terminal illness cover.
Reassured can help you to compare multiple whole of life insurance quotes to help you find our best deal. Whole of life insurance through Reassured starts from 27p-a-day ± .
Over 50s life insurance (or over 50s plan) wasn’t something offered by Aegon.
An over 50s plan is a policy designed for those aged 50 and over, guaranteeing acceptance up until the age of 85.
What makes an over 50s plan different is that you aren’t required to provide any medical information during the application process.
Your premiums will simply be calculated using your age and sum assured (and sometimes your smoking status).
Over 50s plans are similar to whole of life insurance in the sense that they’re both a form of life assurance and will guarantee a pay out to loved ones.
However, you’ll need to disclose medical information when applying for whole of life cover.
At Reassured, we can help you compare over 50s plan quotes without charging you a fee. Premiums start from just £5 a month + .
Aegon didn’t display any pricing information on their website. However, as with all providers, the price you pay for your cover will depend on a variety of factors.
Key information that will be taken into consideration to calculate your monthly premium includes:
Insurers use this information to determine the level of risk involved with covering you (the likelihood of a claim being made). The greater the risk, the higher the life insurance premium.
Aegon life insurance premium payment
The cost of Aegon life insurance can also be influenced by which premium type you opt for. With Aegon, you had two choices:
At Reassured, our life insurance starts from as little as 20p-a-day. So why not get in touch for your FREE quotes?
All Aegon life insurance policies could be taken out on a joint basis.
Joint life insurance protects two lives simultaneously under one policy. Information about both parties is taken through one application and there’s only one premium to pay (this can help you to save money compared with two single policies).
This also means that there’s only one pay out. Typically, this would be upon the first death.
However, Aegon gave you the option to choose a joint policy that either paid out on a first-death basis or a second-death basis (this means the pay out will be made upon the death of the second party).
You could choose whether you wanted a first-death or second-death policy during the application process.
Aegon also offered the ‘life replacement option’ with first-death joint policies. This is a feature that would allow the surviving partner to secure a new single life insurance policy without providing any new medical information.
In 2020, Aegon paid out 96% of life insurance claims and, over the past three years, 97% (on average) of all claims have been paid out.
In 2020, Aegon paid out over £139 million in claims in total to help families and businesses[1].
Aegon will not pay out if:
To make a claim through Aegon, you’ll need to contact them directly. You’ll then be allocated a claims assessor.
Terminal illness cover
Will allow you to make an early claim on your life insurance policy and receive an early pay out. Funds can be used to cover medical treatment, help get your financial affairs in order or enjoyed spending time with loved ones.
Came as standard at no extra cost with all life policies through Aegon.
Accidental death benefit
Accidental death benefit was automatically applied to all policies (at no extra cost) for applicants under 55 and would provide cover while Aegon assessed your application.
If you sustained an injury and pass away as a result within 90 days, a pay out would be made. This benefit would cease on your 55th birthday.
Guaranteed insurability
Guaranteed insurability is sometimes referred to as the life changes option. This will allow you to change your cover amount to suit ever changing needs.
For example, if your family grows or you purchase a bigger house it can be possible increase your level of cover without the need to provide new medical information. This benefit was included with all Aegon life policies.
Waiver of premium
A waiver of premium is an optional benefit which will allow you to pause your premium payments for a set period if you’re incapacitated and unable to work due to sickness or accident.
You would need to inform Aegon that you would like to benefit from this during the application process (unless with an income protection policy, where it’s automatically included).
Life replacement option
Was available with first death joint life insurance policies. This allows the surviving partner to secure a new life insurance policy without having to provide any new medical information.
Additional critical illness benefit
This was automatically added to any critical illness family income benefit policies which will allow you claim for a greater list of illnesses.
Trust
Aegon life insurance policies could be written in trust free of charge. This is a process that involves detaching your life insurance policy from your estate, helping to avoid/minimise 40% inheritance tax for your loved ones.
Health and wellbeing service
Provides you and your immediate family with support through phone based counselling and online tools. Available 24/7.
Second medical opinion service
Will allow you access to a personal medical professional to discuss your diagnosis and determine whether a second opinion is necessary. You’ll also have access to have long-term support as well as recommendations and treatment advice.
Funeral payment pledge
Aegon will pay out a lump sum of up to £10,000 to a funeral director or funeral home on life insurance claims where probate has caused a delay.
Hopefully this Aegon life insurance review has helped to highlight some key information about Aegon and their previous life cover options.
Their personal protection policy offered flexibility and their service was rated highly by customers.
Unfortunately, Aegon no longer sell life insurance or any other protection policies, and all existing policies are now held by Royal London.
Why not use the UK’s largest life insurance broker, Reassured, to help you find the right life insurance to suit you and your family?
We compare quotes from some of the UK’s best insurers, including Aviva, AIG and LV=, to help you save money.
Simply get in touch with one of our friendly life insurance experts.
While we can’t provide you with Aegon life insurance quotes here at Reassured, we can help you to compare quotes from other leading providers.
Comparing quotes is essential in ensuring you secure the best policy to meet your needs for the lowest possible price.
By taking your unique circumstances into consideration, a friendly member of our team will be able to present you with all of your available options - allowing you to make an informed decision.
We’re also on hand to answer any questions you may have and decode any confusing life insurance jargon.
The best part is our life insurance starts from just 20p-a-day.
[1] https://www.royallondon.com/about-us/media/media-centre/press-releases/press-releases-2023/april/royal-london-acquires-aegon-uk-individual-protection-book/
[2] https://www.aegon.co.uk/personal/insurance/claims.html
The information used in this article has been taken from the Aegon website and is correct as of 02/08/23. This information may be subject to change at the discretion of the insurer.
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