Sainsbury's isn't just a supermarket for families in the UK, you can also get all sorts of family finance products like Life Insurance, Credit Cards, and Loans, but are they really any good for your family?
Sainsbury’s Family Life Insurance Review 2025
As crazy as it might sound, parents can buy life insurance from the same place you go to for your weekly grocery shop. It might seem to make perfect sense that a trusted household brand like Sainsbury’s would be a good place to look to get life cover to protect your family and their financial future.
Who is this guide for?
We look at how good Sainsbury’s Life Insurance policies are for parents wanting financial protection for their family and does it give value for money against other top life insurance brands.
In this guide, our experts look at how Sainsbury’s life insurance works for families and our experts look at whether it’s right to protect your family. Life insurance gives essential financial protection for your family if you die and can payout if you’re diagnosed with a critical illness.
You need to be sure that your life insurance is right for your loved ones and that it’s going to pay out if you pass away.
About Sainsbury’s Bank
Sainsbury’s life insurance is part of the range of financial products that is offered by Sainsbury’s Bank.
Sainsbury’s was the very first of the well-known supermarket brands to become a bank and offer financial services to its customers, back in 1997. Tesco Bank very quickly followed and then M&S Money in 2003.
Current products offered include:
- Current Accounts
- Loans
- Credit Cards
- Travel Insurance & Travel Money
- Savings
- Mortgages
Contact details for Sainsbury’s Bank PLC:
Address: 33 Holborn, London, EC1N 2HT
FCA number: 184514
Company number: 3279730
Telephone: 0207 695 6000
You can also look at the Sainsbury’s Bank website for more information.
SUMMARY: you can buy life insurance to protect your home and your family through Sainsbury’s bank. There are several potential benefits to this but also a number of things that you should know before you take out cover with Sainsbury’s life insurance.
Who is Sainsbury’s Bank?
Sainsbury’s Bank PLC is a British bank that is wholly owned and operated by Sainsbury’s PLC. The bank was originally founded in 1997 as a joint venture with Bank of Scotland and later bought out by Sainsbury’s in 2014.
Sainsbury’s Bank has its headquarters in Edinburgh and currently helps around 2 million customers in the UK.
What types of cover can I get from Sainsbury’s life insurance?
Sainsbury’s life insurance offers a reasonable range of different types of life cover to help you to protect your family and give you peace of mind.
Different types of Sainsbury’s life insurance policies:
- Family life insurance (level term life insurance) to protect your loved ones and provide a level lump sum payout if you die
- Mortgage life insurance (decreasing life insurance or decreasing term life insurance) pays out a cash lump sum to your loved ones to pay off your mortgage if you die
- Over 50s life insurance is a type of guaranteed life insurance that is available specifically to people that are over 50 years of age. This type of cover is guaranteed to pay out for things like funeral expenses when you die. There are no medical questions or underwriting for this type of cover
- Critical illness cover will pay out a lump sum to protect you and your family if you are diagnosed with a critical illness such as cancer, heart attack, stroke and more
There are several types of life insurance that aren’t available via Sainsbury’s Bank so you might need to look elsewhere for these. Some life insurance policies that Sainsbury’s don’t offer:
- Whole of Life insurance
- Family Income Benefit
- Key Person life insurance
- Relevant life insurance
- Shareholder protection insurance
- Income protection insurance
About Sainsbury’s life insurance
Sainsbury’s life insurance (including over 50s life insurance) policies are provided by Legal & General which is currently the biggest life insurance provider in the UK.
You can buy Sainsbury’s life insurance online via the Sainsbury’s Bank website or you can call Legal & General direct. Unfortunately, Sainsbury’s Bank do not offer advice or recommendations on which life insurance products are best for you.
Sainsbury’s life insurance policies breakdown
Here is a breakdown of the different types of life insurance policies that you can buy with Sainsbury’s Bank.
Sainsbury’s family life insurance breakdown
| Sainsbury’s Family Life Insurance (Level Term Insurance) | |
| Policy information | Pays out a level lump sum over the chosen term of your policy (years) to protect your family or loved ones Can be set up on a single life or joint life basis |
| Minimum monthly premium | £5 per month |
| Minimum age (entry) | 18 years |
| Maximum age (entry) | 77 years |
| Maximum age (end of term) | 90 years |
| Minimum coverage | £5 worth of cover for applicant (no minimum amount) |
| Maximum coverage | £9 million (depending on age and circumstances) |
| Minimum term | 1 year |
| Maximum term | 50 years |
| Terminal illness benefit (included) | Included as a standard benefit with any family life insurance policy Pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness with less than 12 months to live |
| Accidental death benefit (included) | Included as a standard benefit with any family life insurance policy Pays out a lump sum up to £300,000 for up to 90 days for anyone under 55 years of age |
| Critical illness cover (optional) | Can be added to family life insurance policies to pay out if you are diagnosed with one of the listed critical illnesses Maximum entry age for critical illness insurance is 67 years and end of term is 75 years. Minimum term is 2 years |
| Exclusions | Will not pay out for suicidal death within the first 12 months of the policy |
| Premiums | Premiums are collected by direct debit every month on your chosen collection date |
| Guaranteed premiums | Premiums are fixed each month and will remain the same throughout the term of the policy |
| Indexation (RPI) | Option to increase your cover with inflation and your premiums will also increase annually |
| Payout (claims) | Claims will be paid out to your loved ones as a lump sum if you die during the policy term |
Sainsbury’s mortgage life insurance breakdown
| Sainsbury’s Mortgage Life Insurance (Decreasing Term Insurance) | |
| Policy information | Pays out a decreasing lump sum over the chosen term of your policy (years) to protect your mortgage Can be set up on a single life or joint life basis |
| Minimum monthly premium | £5 per month |
| Minimum age (entry) | 18 years |
| Maximum age (entry) | 74 years |
| Maximum age (end of term) | 90 years |
| Minimum coverage | £5 worth of cover for applicant (no minimum amount) |
| Maximum coverage | £9 million (depending on age and circumstances) |
| Minimum term | 5 years |
| Maximum term | 50 years |
| Terminal illness benefit | Included as a standard benefit with any family life insurance policy Pays out a lump sum if you are diagnosed with a terminal illness with less than 12 months to live |
| Accidental death benefit | Included as a standard benefit with any family life insurance policy Pays out a lump sum up to £300,000 for up to 90 days for anyone under 55 years of age |
| Critical illness cover (optional) | Can be added to mortgage life insurance policies to pay out if you are diagnosed with one of the listed critical illnesses Maximum entry age for critical illness insurance is 67 years and end of term is 75 years. Minimum term is 2 years |
| Exclusions | Will not pay out for suicidal death within the first 12 months of the policy |
| Premiums | Premiums are collected by direct debit every month on your chosen collection date |
| Guaranteed premiums | Premiums are fixed each month and will remain the same throughout the term of the policy |
| Payout (claims) | Claims will be paid out to your loved ones as a lump sum if you die during the policy term |
Sainsbury’s Over 50s life insurance
See our guide to Sainsbury’s Over 50s life insurance
How much is Sainsbury’s life insurance?
The most important question for us is how much is Sainsbury’s life insurance and is it good value for money?
Sainsbury’s life insurance is priced by Legal & General based on the following:
- Your current age (at the beginning of the policy)
- Amount of cover (£’s)
- Term of cover (years)
- Type of cover (e.g. Family protection or Mortgage protection)
- Health (any pre-existing conditions)
- Lifestyle (e.g. smoking, alcohol, exercise etc.)
- Occupation
In the following tables, we compare the cost of Sainsbury’s life insurance with other leading insurance companies. You’ll be able to see how they stack up against the main other insurers and competitors.
Sainsbury’s family life insurance price comparison (non-smoker, £200,000 over 25 years)
| Age | Sainsbury’s life insurance | Other leading insurer |
| 30 | £8.15 | £7.40 |
| 35 | £11.22 | £9.68 |
| 40 | £16.15 | £14.38 |
| 45 | £24.53 | £22.11 |
| 50 | £39.12 | £36.11 |
Sainsbury’s family life insurance price comparison (smoker, £200,000 over 25 years)
| Age | Sainsbury’s life insurance | Other leading insurer |
| 30 | £13.77 | £13.00 |
| 35 | £21.50 | £19.96 |
| 40 | £36.44 | £32.35 |
| 45 | £61.91 | £53.98 |
| 50 | £89.81 | £84.21 |
*Examples set out above were correct as of 31/01/2023 direct from Sainsbury’s Bank provided by Legal & General and some of the leading competitor insurers.
Sainsbury’s life insurance Pros
Here are a list of some of the main advantages to taking out life insurance through Sainsbury’s Bank.
- Policies provided by Legal & General Group PLC.
- Nectar points rewards
- Quote and apply online
- Leading supermarket brand
Sainsbury’s life insurance Cons
Here are some of the main disadvantages that we could find with taking out life insurance with Sainsbury’s Bank.
- Cheaper premiums are available through other life insurance companies
- No expert advice
- Cover is only available through Legal & General
- Limited product range
- Not many options available
- Limited support
Sainsbury’s life insurance and critical illness insurance
You can also add optional critical illness insurance to your Sainsbury’s life insurance cover (not available with over 50s life insurance) for an extra cost.
Critical illness insurance is designed to pay out a cash sum on diagnosis of a range of severe medical conditions listed on your policy. This type of policy will pay out a lump sum that can either be level or decreasing to help to support your family financially.
There are 38 critical illnesses covered by the policy and a full list of the conditions can be found in the Policy Booklet.
Critical illnesses covered include:
- Benign brain tumour
- Blindness
- Cancer
- Cardiac arrest
- Cardiomyopathy
- Deafness
- Dementia
- Heart attack
- HIV
- Kidney failure
- Liver failure
- Multiple Sclerosis
- Paralysis
- Parkinson’s disease
- Stroke
- Total and Permanent Disability
There are also partial payments of 25% up to a maximum of £25,000 for:
- Carcinoma in situ of the breast (requiring surgery)
- Low grade prostate cancer (requiring treatment)
Note: other critical illness insurance products are available from all of the other major insurance providers, covering up to 170 medical conditions.
Find out more in our guide ‘How does critical illness insurance work?’.
Sainsbury’s life insurance nectar points
Buying life insurance through Sainsbury’s gives you the option to earn Sainsbury’s nectar points, as long as you have a nectar card number. When you apply for Sainsbury’s life insurance you’ll be asked to enter your nectar card number on the website.
Offers and terms may vary from time to time and will usually be subject to terms & conditions at the time.
Previous offers include:
How to buy life insurance
You can buy life insurance through a number of different routes and channels, but Sainsbury’s life insurance is only available online. There are many advantages to getting proper life insurance advice from a specialist.
Generally we would suggest that you should get proper life insurance advice from a specialist that has access to multiple insurance providers.
There is also a list of items that won’t be available through Sainsbury’s life insurance that you might be able to access elsewhere. Some of these benefits include discounts and rewards such as gyms, healthy rewards, travel discounts, and other well-known high street brand partners.
You can speak to an experienced life insurance specialist who will be able to show you which insurers are cheapest and best to protect your family.
You can also learn more about life insurance how it works in more of our MPO life insurance guides:
- How can I reduce my life insurance premiums?
- How much should I pay for life insurance?
- Should I review my cover?
- Do you need life insurance for a mortgage?
- How much life insurance do I need?
- And more…
Resources
Sainsbury’s Bank – Life insurance customer support
