May 2026 finding
Average level term life insurance premiums fell to £25.05/month in 2026, but the spread between the cheapest and most expensive quotes for the same profile (35-year-old, non-smoker, £200k cover, 25-year term) was £14/month — over £4,200 across the term. Reassured surfaced 4 insurers within £1/month of each other; MoneySupermarket missed two of them entirely. Run a specialist broker quote even if your case is "straightforward".
£25
Average monthly cost of level term life insurance in 2026 (myTribe data)
£29
Average monthly cost of over-50s life insurance — covering a £4,285 funeral
97%+
Claims payout rate for most major UK life insurers in 2024 — the industry is better than its reputation
30+
Critical illness conditions covered by most policies — Vitality covers 174
8m
UK adults with no life insurance of any kind — leaving families financially exposed
The honest guide
What comparison sites don't tell you about life insurance
Most "comparison sites" for life insurance are actually brokers earning commission
Unlike car or home insurance where you can buy directly through a comparison site, life insurance comparison sites almost always redirect you to a broker who earns a commission from the insurer. This isn't necessarily bad — brokers like Reassured and LifeSearch are FCA-regulated and can genuinely find you better deals than going direct. But you should know that's what's happening. The commission is paid by the insurer, not by you, so it doesn't directly increase your premium.
Over-50s life insurance is often poor value — here's the maths
The average over-50s plan pays out £4,285 and costs £29.45/month. If you live for 12 years after taking out the policy, you'll have paid in £4,240 — roughly what you get back. Live longer and you overpay significantly. If you're in reasonable health, always check standard term or whole of life insurance first — you can often get much higher cover for the same or lower premium. Over-50s plans only make sense if you've been declined for standard cover due to health.
Critical illness cover: the number of conditions covered varies by 500%
Some critical illness policies cover 30 conditions. Vitality covers 174. This matters enormously — a condition not on your policy list means no payout. Always compare the policy definitions, not just the price. Cancer, heart attack and stroke account for the majority of claims, so at minimum these must be well-defined. The wording matters: "heart attack" can have different definitions that determine whether a minor cardiac event qualifies.
Income protection is the UK's most undervalued insurance product
Only around 10% of UK workers have income protection despite it being arguably more important than life insurance for working-age people. If you're ill and can't work for 6 months, your employer sick pay will eventually stop — income protection replaces 50–70% of your salary until you recover or retire. For the self-employed it's essential — there's no employer sick pay backstop. Comparison sites rarely prioritise this product because commissions are lower than for life insurance.
Pre-existing conditions: always use a specialist broker, not a comparison site
If you have diabetes, heart disease, a history of cancer, mental health conditions, or any other pre-existing condition, standard comparison sites will either return no results or very expensive quotes. Specialist brokers like The Exeter, Cura Insurance and LifeSearch deal with non-standard cases daily and have access to insurers who underwrite medical risk individually rather than applying blanket exclusions. Always try a specialist broker before giving up.
Head-to-head
Reassured vs LifeSearch vs MoneySupermarket for UK life insurance
UK life insurance comparison splits into three roles: the high-volume online-first broker, the human-adviser specialist for complex cases, and the generalist comparison tool. Direct comparison across the metrics that matter when you're buying cover that may need to pay out 25 years from now:
| Feature | Reassured | LifeSearch | MoneySupermarket |
|---|
| Type | Whole-of-market broker | Whole-of-market broker | Comparison site |
|---|
| Insurers on panel | 15+ leading UK | All major UK | ~10 major |
|---|
| Fee-free | Yes | Yes | Yes |
|---|
| Policy types covered | All major (term, over-50s, CI, IP) | All types | Most types |
|---|
| Pre-existing conditions | Good | Excellent | Limited |
|---|
| Adviser type | Online-first + phone | Human advisers (Which? recommended) | Self-serve online |
|---|
| FCA register # | 616144 | 656479 | 303190 |
|---|
| OverCompare 2026 rank | #1 (9.1) | #2 (8.8) | #3 (7.6) |
|---|
Reassured vs LifeSearch for life insurance
Both are fee-free whole-of-market brokers — the most important structural similarity. Reassured handles the highest volume in the UK (14,000+ policies a year) and has a fully online-first journey with phone support, best for healthy applicants and straightforward term, over-50s or critical illness cover. LifeSearch uses human advisers and is Which?-recommended for complex cases: pre-existing conditions, unusual occupations, high cover amounts. For most healthy buyers Reassured is faster; for anyone declined or with medical history, LifeSearch is the better choice.
Reassured vs MoneySupermarket for life insurance
Reassured is a whole-of-market broker with 15+ insurers; MoneySupermarket is a comparison tool with around 10. Reassured's pre-existing condition support is markedly better and its 14,000-policies-a-year underwriting volume since 2009 is the largest evidence base in the sector. MoneySupermarket is useful for a quick benchmark on price for healthy applicants, but it will redirect anything complex to a broker anyway — most people are better off starting at Reassured directly.
LifeSearch vs MoneySupermarket for life insurance
LifeSearch's advisers will find cover for cases MoneySupermarket can't quote — anyone with pre-existing conditions, high BMI, unusual occupations or cover amounts above £500k typically benefits from speaking to a LifeSearch adviser rather than self-serving on MoneySupermarket. For a healthy 30-something applying for £100k term life, MoneySupermarket is fast and adequate. For anything else, LifeSearch is the only one of the two likely to actually surface a competitive premium.