Find out more about Aegon, their life insurance policies and reasons you might want to choose them for your life cover
Aegon Life Insurance Review
UPDATE: In April 2023, Aegon made the decision to withdraw from the UK individual protection market. Over 400,000 current individual life insurance, critical illness and income protection policies will be transferred to Royal London in 2024 and no new applications will be accepted. Find out more in our blog about this topic.
Life insurance is a great way to protect your family long term, but there are a wide range of different providers to choose from. This can make it confusing to know which insurance company is the best choice for you.
You may be familiar with Aegon’s life insurance policies, or you may never have heard of them before. They are one of the many options for life cover in the UK and we are going to explain the policies they have to offer.
It is best to do some research before choosing something as important as your life insurance policy. We all want to make sure our loved ones are well supported and protected, and life insurance can do this even after we are gone.
SUMMARY: In this life insurance guide, we’re looking at Aegon life insurance. We will review the different policies available, how to get cover and some benefits of this insurance provider.
Why choose Aegon life insurance?
Aegon offers a wide range of insurance policies, which gives you several options to choose from. This includes various life insurance products, critical illness cover and income protection insurance.
Aegon also works to support their customers through their Policy Plus support service. This provides access to 24/7 health and well-being support as well as other services like counselling and mood tracking apps.
About Aegon
Aegon initially began in Edinburgh as Scottish Equitable way back in 1831. They are proud of their Scottish roots and their main headquarters are based in Edinburgh to this day. In 1994, Scottish Equitable was bought out by Dutch insurer Aegon and in 1998 they took on the name Aegon as well.
Aegon has 3.9 million UK customers across life insurance, pensions and more, with 2,700 UK based employees.
Main areas of business for Aegon Life Insurance Company Ltd include:
- Life insurance
- Critical illness insurance
- Income protection insurance
- Retirement and Pensions
- Workplace savings schemes
- Asset management
- Financial advice services
About Aegon life insurance
When looking at Aegon life insurance, your first question could be ‘is Aegon life insurance good?’.
The answer to this question will depend on each person and their viewpoint, as everyone has different backgrounds and needs. The main thing is to understand the policies Aegon are offering, to work out if they could be a good choice for you.
The key features of Aegon life insurance are:
| Policy type | Life insurance |
| Premium options | Guaranteed premiums (the amount you pay each month will stay the same for your whole policy) Reviewable premiums (the amount you pay each month can increase or decrease, depending on the policy you have chosen) |
| Cover options | Aegon Life Protection (level term, family protection) Aegon Decreasing Life Protection (decreasing term, mortgage protection) Aegon Life and Critical Illness Cover (level term) Aegon Life and Critical Illness Cover (decreasing term) Aegon whole of life insurance Aegon family income benefit Aegon relevant life insurance Aegon gift inter vivos (a special protection policy, the amount paid on the claim will reduce within 7 years for inheritance tax purposes) |
| Coverage type | Single life. Joint life first death (pays out on death of first policy holder) Joint life second death (pays out after the death of both policy holders) |
| Terminal illness cover benefit | Added to Aegon Life Insurance policies automatically. This will pay out to you if you are diagnosed with an illness that limits your life expectancy to 12 months or less. |
| Waiver of Premium benefit | Can be added for an additional cost. This will pay your premiums (monthly cost of your cover) for you after 26 weeks of being unable to work. |
| Age limits (minimum and maximum ages) | Minimum age 18 at start of policy Maximum age 83 at start of policy |
| Life insurance exclusions | The policy will not pay out for suicidal death within the first 12 months of putting the policy in place. |
You can read our ‘MPO Life Insurance Guide’ for more general information about life insurance.
Aegon life insurance contact details
Throughout our lives things can change quickly and before we know it, we may have a new home, a spouse or child to look after. In events like this, it can be worth reviewing your life insurance cover.
You may even want to cancel your cover because you have found a better deal elsewhere.
If you need to get in touch with Aegon for any of these reasons (or for something else), you can do so at the following numbers and email addresses:
Aegon life insurance contact number for general enquiries about a new or existing policy:
Tel. 03456 00 14 02
Email: protect_support@aegon-service.co.uk
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 8.30am-5.30pm
Aegon life insurance phone number for help and support before applying:
Tel. 03457 83 54 73
Email: protect_underwriting@aegon-service.co.uk
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 8.30am-5.30pm
Aegon life insurance UK phone number to claim on a life insurance policy:
Tel. 03456 00 04 93
Email: claims@aegon-service.co.uk
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 8.30am-5.30pm
To contact via the post you can write a letter to this Aegon life insurance address:
Aegon Protection
Sunderland
SR43 4DJ
Note: Depending on your phone provider, you may be charged for calling Aegon. You should confirm this with your phone service provider before calling if you are unsure.
Aegon critical illness insurance
As well as life insurance, Aegon also provides critical illness insurance. This is a useful policy that will pay out a cash lump sum, if you are diagnosed with a serious condition covered by your policy.
You can get Aegon life insurance and critical illness cover as a combined policy, or you can buy critical illness cover on it’s own if you wish.
Some of the main features of Aegon critical illness insurance are:
| Policy type | Critical illness insurance |
| Premium options | Guaranteed premiums (the amount you pay each month will stay the same for your whole policy) Reviewable premiums (the amount you pay each month can increase or decrease, depending on the policy you have chosen) |
| Cover options | Aegon Life and Critical Illness Cover (combined policy, can be level term or decreasing term) Aegon Critical Illness Protection Aegon Critical Illness family income benefit |
| Coverage type | Single life. Joint life. |
| Illnesses covered by Aegon critical illness insurance | 51 conditions covered overall 39 conditions will pay out 100% of the amount (£s) you are covered for 12 conditions will pay out 25% of the amount (£s) you are covered for OR £25,000 (whichever is the lower amount) Total permanent disability cover can be added for an additional cost. |
| Children’s Critical illness insurance core plan option | Included free of charge with all adult critical illness insurance policies. Covers all the same conditions as the adult policy and will pay out either 50% of the amount of £s you are covered for or £25,000 (whichever is lowest). |
| Age limits (minimum and maximum ages) | Minimum age 18 at start of policy Maximum age 74 at start of policy |
| Critical illness insurance exclusions | The policy won’t pay out if you claim for an illness not covered or your condition doesn’t meet the terms and conditions set out in your policy. You must survive for 10 days or more after diagnosis to be able to claim. |
Learn more about the features of critical illness insurance in our MPO ‘Critical Illness Insurance Review’.
You can also find out more about how critical illness cover works and learn more about how the claims process works in our MPO guides.
Aegon life insurance claim
It is hard when you lose a loved one and a life insurance payout can offer financial support at a difficult time. You don’t want to be struggling trying to work how to claim on the life insurance policy.
Aegon work to make the claims process as easy as possible for you. They even offer bereavement support payments (if you are claiming due to the death of a spouse or civil partner), if you claim within 3 months of death.
This would be one lump sum payment of up to £3,500 and up to 18 monthly payments of £350.
Note: For the full terms and conditions for bereavement support payments, you can read the Aegon Life Protection claims guide.
How to make an Aegon life insurance claim
To claim on an Aegon life insurance policy, you will need to contact Aegon directly. They will usually send you a letter specifying any documents they need to process the claim. This can include things such as:
- A copy of the grant of probate
- The person’s will (if they had one)
- The original death certificate (if Aegon can’t verify the death online and a copy of the certificate may be accepted in some situations)
- Occasionally, they may need further medical information (they will send you a medical consent form to complete if this is the case)
What happens next with your claim
Aegon’s life insurance claims team will assess the claim and if the claim is accepted:
- They will contact you for the bank details of the person the claim is being paid to
- If there is no trust in place, the policy will pay out to the remaining policyholder (if a joint life insurance policy), registered spouse or civil partner, or to whoever is named in the person’s will.
- If there is a trust, the claim will be paid to either a solicitor, the bank account of one of the trustees (people responsible for the trust) or a joint account in the name of all of the trustees.
- Claims could be paid within days or take longer if Aegon needs additional information
Note: Aegon will assign you your own personal assessor for your claim, who you will be able to contact at any point for more information or help.
Aegon life insurance claims contact details
If you need to claim on an Aegon life insurance policy, you can get in touch by calling:
Tel. 03456 00 04 93
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 9am-5pm
You can also claim via post at:
Aegon Protection
Sunderland
SR43 4DJ
Aegon life insurance claims statistics 2021
In 2021, Aegon paid out £139 million (across life, critical illness, terminal illness and income protection).
Here we have some of the main statistics about Aegon life insurance claims in 2021:
- Total amount paid out: £76.7 million
- Average payout amount: £79,314
- Number of life insurance customers paid out: 1,693 (across life, critical illness, terminal illness and income protection).
- Percentage of claims paid: 95%
- Most common reason for claims: Cancer (34% of life insurance claims)
Aegon life insurance trust
A trust can be a good way to make sure your life insurance policy benefits a specific person or people of your choosing. Most insurance providers will be able to write your life insurance policy into trust for you, including Aegon.
The main benefits of an Aegon life insurance trust
- Can work as a low cost alternative to writing a will (trusts are usually free)
- You can avoid probate so claims will pay out a lump sum faster
- You can reduce or even avoid Inheritance Tax
- You can specify exactly who you want to receive the policy pay out (beneficiary)
- You can also specify who controls and manages the trust (trustee)
Types of available Aegon life insurance trust deed:
- Aegon Split trust with gifted benefits (Flexible trust)
- Aegon Split trust with retained benefits (Flexible trust)
- Aegon Discretionary trust
- Aegon Bare trust
Aegon life insurance cancellation process
There are many reasons you might decide to cancel your life insurance. The reason you are choosing to do this won’t affect how you have to cancel your cover with Aegon.
How you will need to cancel your policy will however be affected by the type of policy you have.
- Single life policies can be cancelled simply, over the phone at: Tel. 03456 10 00 37
- Joint life policies can only be cancelled over the phone if the policy is worth £249,999 or less. If you are covered for more than this, you will need to write to Aegon and both policyholders will need to sign and date the letter.
- If the policy is owned by a company (e.g. bought by your employer), the company will need to contact the policy for you, usually through a financial advisor.
Aegon life insurance benefits (included free)
Aegon Protect Plus is included with all life insurance policies and provides access to services and support such as:
- 24/7 health and wellbeing services for support such as counselling (through Health Assured)
- The My Healthy Advantage App provides self-help tools such as mood trackers and health checks in
- Second medical opinions in a face-to-face consultation (through Red Arc)
- Key person replacement service to recruit and replace a lost important person in a business (available if you have a Relevant life insurance policy)
- Funeral payment pledge (Aegon will pay an advanced payment of up to £10,000 to cover funeral expenses while they are still processing the main claim)
All Aegon policies also include FREE accidental death benefit of up to £300,000 for the first 90 days (not including gift inter vivos).
Note: All services provided to Aegon customers by Health Assured are always available and can be used by you and all members of your immediate family who are over the age of 16.
Aegon life insurance optional benefits
- Waiver of premium can be added to your policy, but it will cost you extra to add this. This will pay your premiums (monthly cost of your cover) for you after 26 weeks of being unable to work.
- Critical illness cover can be bought as an add on to your life insurance policy. This will pay you a cash lump sum if you are diagnosed with a serious illness covered by your policy.
How to buy Aegon life insurance
There are a few different ways you can buy your life insurance with Aegon. You can:
- Apply with Aegon directly
- Speak to an independent insurance expert
It can be worth speaking to someone who understands life insurance well, particularly if there is something that might affect your application e.g. pre-existing medical conditions.
They can help you review the policies available with Aegon to make sure you are choosing the cover that works best for you. They can also compare life insurance quotes available across the market, in case you would get a better deal with another insurance provider.
You can find out more about life insurance, how to buy it and more in some of our other MPO guides, such as:
- 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…
Aegon life insurance UK reviews
Currently Aegon is rated 3.4 out of 5.0 stars on the independent review site Trust Pilot (53% of the customer reviews are 5.0 out of 5.0 stars).
This is for all their products and services in the UK, including life insurance, pensions and more.
If you want to read the reviews or add your own, you can on the Aegon UK Trust Pilot page.
