Your pension in your pocket
Our app makes it easy to keep an eye on your pension and plan for the future.
Learn about Scottish Widows critical illness cover and how it works. Compare cover options and get a quote.
What is critical illness cover?
What is critical illness cover?
Critical cover can give peace of mind. If you're diagnosed with an illness covered in your policy, you'll get a cash lump sum to spend as you like. That way, you can focus on your health.
How does critical illness cover work?
What critical illnesses does it cover?
This list of critical illnesses is only a guide. Check the terms and conditions of your policy to see what it covers:
- Plan & Protect critical illness policy summary (PDF, 1MB)
- Scottish Widows Protect policy summary (PDF, 2MB)
-
Covered by Scottish Widows Protect:
- Benign tumour of the brain or spinal cord*
- Brain injury due to trauma or reduced oxygen supply
- Intensive care cover
- Motor Neurone Disease (MND)
- Coma
- Dementia including Alzheimer’s disease
- Intensive care cover
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Neurological deficit caused by specific conditions:
- Bacterial meningitis
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
- Encephalitis
- Neuromyelitis optica (Devic’s disease)
- Paralysis of limb
- Parkinson’s disease
- Parkinson Plus syndromes
- Stroke of the brain or spinal cord
- Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE)
- Total Permanent Disability
*If you are on an official UK waiting list for treatment for one of these illnesses, we will make an advanced payment of the current amount of your cover.
Covered by Plan & Protect:
- Stroke
- Brain Tumour
- Traumatic Head Injury
- Encephalitis
- Bacterial Meningitis
- Dementia
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS)
- Motor Neurone Disease (MND)
- Parkinson’s Disease
- Atypical Parkinsonism / Parkinson Plus Syndrome
- Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD)
- Devic’s Disease
-
Covered by Scottish Widows Protect:
- Cardiomyopathy
- Heart attack
- Heart failure
- Heart and vascular surgeries*
- Aorta graft surgery
- Cardiac arrest
- Coronary artery bypass grafts
- Heart valve replacement (or repair)
- Pulmonary artery surgery
- Structural heart surgery
- Pulmonary arterial hypertension
*If you are on an official UK waiting list for treatment for one of these illnesses, we will make an advanced payment of the current amount of your cover.
Covered by Plan & Protect:
- Heart Attack
- Heart Surgery:
- Coronary artery bypass surgery
- Heart valve replacement or repair
- Open heart surgery
- Aorta graft surgery
- Inserting a defibrillator after cardiac arrest
-
Covered by Scottish Widows Protect:
- Aplastic anaemia
- Kidney failure
- Liver failure
- Major organ transplant*
- Respiratory failure
- Third degree burns
*If you are on an official UK waiting list for treatment for one of these illnesses, we will make an advanced payment of the current amount of your cover.
Covered by Plan & Protect:
- Kidney failure requiring dialysis
- Transplant:
- Heart
- Kidney
- Liver
- Lung
- Bone Marrow
- Pancreas
-
Covered by Scottish Widows Protect:
- Invasive cancer
- For some less severe, early stage cancers (see the list below) we'll pay 25% of the amount of your cover as a cash lump sum if you're diagnosed with one of these illnesses. The most we'll pay is £30,000.
- Carcinoma in situ
- Carcinoma in situ of the urinary bladder
- Gastrointestinal stromal tumour (GIST) – low risk with surgery
- Neuroendocrine tumour (NET) – low grade with surgery
- Low grade prostate cancer
- Ovarian tumour of borderline malignancy
- Pituitary tumour
Covered by Plan & Protect:
- Invasive cancer
- For some less severe, early stage cancers, we will make an early help payment of £5,000 if you:
- Undergo surgery for early stage cancer
- Receive treatment for low grade prostate cancer
- Develop early stage malignant melanoma
You can claim for the early help payment more than once for any other unrelated early stage cancer. If you’ve got more than one Plan & Protect policy, we’ll only pay one early help payment across all of your policies. Your full cover continues unchanged and you can go on to make a full claim for any of the illnesses we cover.
-
Covered by Scottish Widows Protect only:
- Blindness
- Deafness
- Loss of speech
-
Covered by Scottish Widows Protect:
- Loss of hand or foot
Covered by Plan & Protect:
- Paralysis of an arm or leg
- Amputation or severance of hand or foot
Compare life insurance
-
Compare life insurance FEATURES
PLAN & PROTECT
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
FEATURES
Life cover available
PLAN & PROTECT
Yes
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Critical illness cover available
PLAN & PROTECT
Yes
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Income protection available
PLAN & PROTECT
No
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Minimum age to start a policy
PLAN & PROTECT
18
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
18
FEATURES
Maximum age to start a policy:
PLAN & PROTECT
-
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
-
FEATURES
- Life cover
PLAN & PROTECT
59
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
79
FEATURES
- Critical illness cover
PLAN & PROTECT
59
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
64
FEATURES
- Income protection
PLAN & PROTECT
N/A
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
59
FEATURES
Age when policy ends:
PLAN & PROTECT
-
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
-
FEATURES
- Life cover
PLAN & PROTECT
70
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
90
FEATURES
- Critical illness cover
PLAN & PROTECT
70
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
70
FEATURES
- Income protection
PLAN & PROTECT
N/A
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
70
FEATURES
Level cover available
PLAN & PROTECT
Yes
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Increasing cover available
PLAN & PROTECT
No
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Decreasing cover available
PLAN & PROTECT
No
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Maximum amount of cover:
PLAN & PROTECT
-
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
-
FEATURES
- Life cover
PLAN & PROTECT
Total of £500,000
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
- Level - £18 million
- Increasing - £7.2 million*
- Decreasing - £12.5 million
FEATURES
- Income protection
PLAN & PROTECT
N/A
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
- Level - £20,000/month
- Increasing - £12,000/month
FEATURES
- Critical illness cover
PLAN & PROTECT
Total of £500,000
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
£3 million
FEATURES
Cover for children up to 22 years old
PLAN & PROTECT
No
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Scottish Widows Care included
PLAN & PROTECT
No
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Free accidental death cover while we process your application
PLAN & PROTECT
No
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Free mortgage cover while we process your application
PLAN & PROTECT
No
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
Yes
FEATURES
Policy summaries
PLAN & PROTECT
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
FEATURES
Get a quote
PLAN & PROTECT
SCOTTISH WIDOWS PROTECT
*The maximum amount of cover for Scottish Widows Protect life cover with increasing cover is £7.2 million, with annual increases allowed up to a total of £18 million.
Critical illness cover options
There are a number of things you’ll need to consider when you’re taking out life cover. Here are some of your options.
| COVER OPTION | WHAT THIS MEANS | WHY YOU MIGHT NEED IT |
|---|---|---|
| Level cover | The amount of cover you choose and your premium will remain the same through the term of your policy. | The amount of cover won’t change over time so you and your family know how much will be received in the event of a claim. |
| Decreasing cover | The amount of cover you choose reduces each month, but your premium remains the same. | This is normally chosen to cover a repayment mortgage. |
| Increasing cover | The amount of cover you choose increases each year in line with the Retail Prices Index (RPI). Your premium will also increase for this type of cover. This means that your cover amount stays in line with inflation. | As this type of cover stays in line with inflation, it is designed to combat price rises, maintaining its real value throughout the term. |
Frequently asked questions
-
Critical illness cover is a policy that will pay out if you are diagnosed with an illness that is covered by your policy.
-
We offer two types of cover, life cover and critical illness cover. You can take out life cover with critical illness cover, or you can take them out as separate policies.
With Plan & Protect, you can have multiple polices of up to a total of £500,00 for life cover and £500,000 for critical illness cover.
With Scottish Widows Protect, you can have multiple policies with life cover up to a maximum of £18 million and critical illness cover of up to £3 million.
If you’re not sure which option will be best for you, contact Cavendish Online on 0800 131 0018, Monday to Thursday 9am to 7pm, Friday 9am to 6pm.
-
Critical illness cover could reduce the financial impact of a critical illness. It could help with practicalities such as helping pay off your mortgage and any bills or other everyday expenses, allowing you to focus on your health and wellbeing.
-
That depends whether you choose our Plan & Protect Policy or Scottish Widows Protect.
With Scottish Widows Protect, you can choose to each have your own individual policy or you can have a joint policy. A joint policy will pay out when one of you is diagnosed with one of the critical illnesses we cover. The policy will then end for both of you.
With Plan & Protect, we only offer single cover, which means a policy only covers one person. However, you could each take out your own policy. If you do this and one of you is diagnosed with a critical illness we cover, receives a payout and their policy ends, the other partner would continue to be covered under their own policy.
If you’re not sure which option will be best for you, contact Cavendish Online on 0800 131 0018, Monday to Thursday 9am to 7pm, Friday 9am to 6pm.
-
It depends on your personal circumstances. There are some things you may need to consider, which could include:
- how much cover you have currently
- how much you and your family would need to support themselves without your salary
- the size of your mortgage and how long it’s got to run
- any other outstanding loans or debts you have
- the amount you want to pay each month.
-
It depends which of our insurance products you apply for.
When you apply for Scottish Widows Protect you’ll agree during your call with Cavendish Online when you want your policy to start. You can start your cover from aged 18 to 79 for life and 64 for critical illness.
When you apply for Plan & Protect, your policy starts as soon as we approve your application. You can start your cover from aged 18 to 59 for both life and critical illness. -
No. Life insurance policies have no cash-in value at any time. Also, if you don’t pay your premiums on time your cover will stop, your policy will end and you’ll get nothing back. If the sum assured has not been paid out by the end of the selected term, the policy will end and you’ll get nothing back.
