Over 50s Life Cover

The guaranteed way to leave money for your loved ones when you die

What is Over 50s Life Cover?

Over 50s Life Cover is a straightforward policy where you make monthly payments and in return we payout a sum of money when you die. This could go towards your funeral costs or be spent however you or your loved ones wish.

If you’re a non-smoker aged 50 to 80, or a smoker aged 50 to 75 and living in the UK, you’re guaranteed to be accepted.

Benefit Builder: Flexible, Affordable Cover

Benefit Builder allows you to start with a lower premium and increase your final payout affordably over time. Your monthly payments and cover will rise by 10% each year for the first 10 years, with both doubling by year 11. After that, your monthly payment and the life cover remain fixed until your policy ends and your cover is paid to your loved ones.

For example:

  • Starting premium: £20 per month; by year 11 becomes £40 per month
  • Starting life cover: £5,000 payout; by year 11 becomes £10,000 payout

Prefer fixed monthly payments and life cover? Simply choose our fixed cover policy. Use our quote tool to explore options and get a personalised quote.

Why choose Over 50s Life Cover from National Friendly?

You could be fully covered after just six months

One of the lowest qualifying periods in the market

You're guaranteed to be accepted

Even with existing medical conditions

You could qualify for an increased payout

If you answer just two medical questions

Benefits of Over 50s Life Cover

  • You don’t have to answer any medical questions and you’ll still be guaranteed cover.
  • If you choose to answer the two medical questions, you might qualify for an increased payout.
  • You’ll get free access to Friendly GP, our virtual GP service where you can get medical help online or over the phone 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
  • Your qualifying period (the time your policy needs to be in place before you’re fully covered) could be as low as six months.
  • If you die from an accident we’ll double your payout. This will only apply if you die as a result of your injuries within 30 days of the accident.
  • If you die during your qualifying period but it wasn’t due to an accident, we’ll pay back all the payments you’ve made.
  • You can choose to claim a terminal illness benefit where we pay half your payout directly to you if you get a terminal illness diagnosis two years or more after taking out your policy.

Downloads

Please click on the links below to download the files you need.

Free access to Friendly GP

Our virtual GP service, Friendly GP, is a free added benefit to your Over 50s Life Cover which can be accessed over the phone or online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

This means you always have easy access to a doctor when you need their help.

Find out more about Friendly GP and Friendly GP+. 

  • 24/7 unlimited GP telephone consultations
  • Video consultations
  • Private prescriptions
  • Open referrals

How our members rate Friendly GP

Our Friendly GP service provides you with peace of mind that you can access a GP for you and your family at any time, day or night.

Our members have rated the service:

Overall satisfaction

100%

for the overall experience they received as excellent, very good or good.

Recommended

100%

agreed they would recommend Friendly GP to a friend or colleague.

GP helpline star rating

100%

rated the helpline as 5 stars or 4 stars.

Data taken from reviews between January and May 2024.

Your questions answered

This policy is designed to pay out when you die. But you need to have your policy in place for a minimum amount of time before you’re fully covered. This is called your qualifying period.

Our standard qualifying period is two years. Answering the medical questions we ask could change this to just six months.

If you decide to buy Over 50s Life Cover, your qualifying period will be confirmed on your Policy Schedule.

You can choose how much you’d like your monthly payments to be but this will affect how much your payout will be.

Other factors like your age and whether you answer the medical questions will also be factored in to your payout amount.

You can choose to answer our two medical questions or not.

If you don’t answer them, you’ll be offered a two-year qualifying period (the time your policy has to be in place before you're covered).

If you choose to answer them, you might be offered an increased payout and only a six-month qualifying period.

To maintain cover you’ll have to make the payments for your policy until you die. Depending on how long you live, you could end up paying more than your payout.

You can choose who will get your payout when you die. It’s important to do this in advance by making specific arrangements.

If you don’t choose who the money will go to, it’ll form part of what’s known as your estate. That means it will be counted as one of the things you owned. Your estate could be subject to inheritance tax and/or delayed in being paid out to your loved ones. That's because wills, probate and letters of administration can take a while to process.

Making a nomination or putting your policy in trust are ways to makes sure your loved ones can get the money a little quicker. 

If you're diagnosed with a terminal illness after your qualifying period, you can choose to get half of your payout. We'll then pay the other half when you die.

When you take out a policy we'll ask you who you want your payout to go to.

Making a nomination

Because we're a friendly society, you can make a nomination. This means you can name a person or people to receive up to £5,000 of your payout. They'll just need to complete the claim form and send us the death certificate, and we will pay them as quickly as possible. If the payout is more than £5,000, we'll pay the rest in line with our death claims process which may take a little longer.

We'll let the person claiming know if we need to see other documents to claim the rest of the money.

£5,000 is the nomination limit across all policies you hold with National Friendly.

If you want to make a nomination, you'll need to complete and return a nomination form. We'll send you one in your welcome pack if you take out a policy or you can visit our Existing Members page to download one.

Placing your policy in trust

This will make sure that the payout goes to those you want to get the money and may have inheritance tax benefits. You'll need to check that any trust you set up allows you to choose the people you want to leave your money to.

If you want to put your policy in trust, you'll need to complete and return a trust form. You may want to get help from a solicitor to do this. You can find out more on our Existing Members page.

Your policy comes with free access to our virtual GP service. It’s called Friendly GP and it can be accessed over the phone or online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

We’ll give you the full details when you take out a policy or you can go to our Existing Members page to find out more.

If you are looking to make a claim, please head over to our Claims page. There you will find more information on how to contact us and how we can help guide you through the process.

Please read our article here to find out more about understanding life insurance and suicide.

Any other questions?

If there’s anything else you want to know or you’d like to talk through your options, please give us a call on 0333 014 6244 and we’ll be happy to help.

8am to 6pm Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays. Calls are recorded for training and quality purposes. Calls from UK landlines and mobiles cost no more than a call to a 01 or 02 number and will count towards any inclusive minutes.

How to apply

Get a quote and apply online

Our easy online journey makes getting cover quick and straightforward.

Choose this option if you:

  • Have a good idea of what cover you’d like
  • Want an instant quote

Request a call back

Our friendly team can talk you through your options to help you to decide what level of cover is best for you.

Choose this option if you:

  • Need help deciding if this is the right policy for you
  • Have any questions you want to ask

0333 014 6244

Monday to Friday / 8am - 6pm

Important Information

  • Inflation will mean any payout will have less buying power in the future.
  • Depending on how long you live you could pay more in than the value of your payout.
  • If you cancel your policy after the first 30 days, you’ll get nothing back.
  • This is not a funeral plan and does not guarantee to pay the full costs of your funeral. Instead, it pays out a lump sum that can be put towards it.
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