Vitality Life Insurance Review 2026
In our latest independent review, our insurance experts take a proper look at what Vitality life insurance does and how it works. Ultimately, we want to make sure that you get the very best life insurance to protect your loved ones and that the cover is right for you.
Who is this guide for?
This guide has been written for anyone who is considering taking out Vitality life insurance to protect their family or their mortgage. Our experts have included all of the latest up to date information about how Vitality life insurance works and how you can save money on your cover.
Vitality is one of the world’s most innovative and forward-thinking life insurance and health insurance providers. You may be familiar with some of the clever Vitality life insurance and health insurance branding, with Stanley the sausage dog and numerous top level British athletes.
The biggest difference between Vitality life insurance and other policies, are the health rewards and benefits that you get as part of your plan. Recent figures also revealed that Vitality paid out on 99.7% of their life insurance and 92.5% of critical illness claims in 2022.
How Vitality Works | Vitality UK
This video highlights what sets Vitality Insurance apart from other life insurance companies and the key benefits for Vitality members
The key thing to remember when you’re thinking about taking out life insurance with Vitality, is that it’s not for everyone. However, it’s potentially amazing for those who engage in the activity tracking, and those who use the health benefits and rewards.
60 Second Summary – Vitality Life Insurance Complete Guide 2026
Vitality life insurance is becoming a popular choice with UK customers due to their innovative policies and wide range of brilliant customer benefits. They have over 1 million UK members and a comprehensive rewards scheme, offering discounts on gym memberships, cinema tickets, smart watches and more.
- Earn amazing discounts and rewards with Vitality Life insurance partners (e.g. Apple, Pure Gym, Nuffield Health, Expedia, American Express, Caffé Nero, Vue Cinemas, Odeon, Amazon Prime, Runners Need and Specialized Bikes)
- Protect your home or family with top quality life insurance, critical illness cover or income protection insurance
- Improve your health, get rewarded and even save money on your policy each year by earning Vitality Rewards points through exercise and healthy lifestyle choices.
- If you’re not sure how Vitality works or if it’s a good choice for you, speak to a life insurance expert for FREE support and advice.
Who is Vitality?
Vitality originally launched in the United Kingdom under the PruProtect brand, before it rebranded as VitalityLife and VitalityHealth in 2018. They are widely regarded in the life insurance industry as the most innovative provider with its ‘shared value’ philosophy.
According to more recent figures, Vitality had more than 1 million members in the United Kingdom under its VitalityLife and VitalityHealth brands. The core marketing strategy for Vitality in the UK has always been through sports events and well-known sports personalities (also known as Vitality Ambassadors), including Jessica Ennis-Hill, and Ellie Simmonds.
You might have heard of the ‘Vitality Stadium’ which is the home of AFC Bournemouth ‘The Cherries’, which is possibly the pinnacle of Vitality’s current sporting sponsorship deals. This level of sponsorship shows how clearly committed Vitality is to UK sports and building its brand.
Other Vitality sports sponsorships include sports clubs like:
- Football clubs (currently AFC Bournemouth, Celtic FC, Rangers FC and Stockport County)
- Cricket (e.g. Vitality Blast, Vitality IT20, and The Hundred)
- Netball (Vitality Netball International Series and The Vitality Roses)
- Hockey (e.g. GB Hockey, England Hockey and the Vitality Women’s Hockey League)
- Running (e.g. Park Run, Vitality London 10,000 and Vitality Westminster Mile)
- Women’s Sport (e.g. AFC Bournemouth Women, Rangers Women, England Cricket, England Netball and England Hockey)
Since its inception, Vitality has had extremely strong links with British sports and has held numerous high profile sponsorship deals (e.g. Arsenal, Liverpool, and English Cricket).
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Who owns Vitality?
The Vitality brand is part of a glabal group of insurance companies that are owned by the South African insurance giant Discovery Limited. The parent company was originally founded in 1992 and has continued to grow based on its core value – to make people healthier and to enhance and protect their lives.
Discovery currently operates across several continents to continue to expand its Global Vitality network, including Europe, Asia, North America Central America and South America. According to global figures published by Discovery, it currently protects more than 40 million lives across 41 markets.
What is the Vitality concept?
VitalityLife and VitalityHealth in the UK forms part of the Discovery global insurance brands that all follow the same ‘shared value’ model. The concept of shared value is to promote and reward healthier lifestyles by rewarding certain behaviours, including exercise, activity and diet.
This can be seen clearly across their advertising campaigns including the video below, which feature their mascot Stanley the sausage dog and often feature cameos from famous athletes.
Move forward with Vitality | Vitality UK
This is one of several recent advertisements from Vitality which feature their mascot Stanley the Sausage Dog.
The key part of the Vitality concept is to provide policyholders with a range of pathways and incentives which reduces their mortality risk and improves their lifestyle behaviours. By rewarding its customers for healthier behaviour it is providing people with the information that they need to live longer and healthier lives, therefore reducing their risks of making a claim.
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What is Vitality life insurance?
Vitality life insurance is a traditional life insurance policy that pays out on death to your family or to pay off your mortgage. The key difference with a Vitality policy to other policies is that you can claim discounts and rewards for tracking your daily activity (e.g. steps, gym visits, heart rate related exercise etc.).
What is Vitality life insurance Optimiser?
Vitality life insurance Optimiser products are available above £45 per month for single life policies and £60 per month for joint life policies. By paying a higher premium for your life insurance with Vitality, you can unlock extra benefits and rewards (including Apple Watch, Vue and Odeon cinemas, Expedia, American Express and more).
It might seem like an expensive option for life insurance but there is significant value in the Optimiser products for the right person. Another benefit of Optimiser is that it allows you to build a more substantial protection portfolio for your family through savings and rewards. Ultimately, you can offset the cost of your life insurance from the savings that you can make from the Vitality partners.
Is Vitality good value?
It’s understandable to be slightly confused about who Vitality are and how their life insurance policies work. Their focus on health and the their marketing could easily be mistaken for a sports brand rather than an insurance company.
Vitality life insurance is very good value for money, but only for the right type of customer who would use and benefit from the rewards partners. If you don’t engage with the program and you don’t get your points from your daily activity then Vitality is absolutely not right for you.
Is Vitality any good?
Vitality has traditionally split opinion, and you’ll see from over 47,000 customer reviews on Trustpilot that it gets very mixed feedback. The current score on Trustpilot is 4.4 out of 5.0 stars, which is significant improvement on previous customer review scores.
We believe that ‘honesty is the best policy’, so with that in mind we want to make it clear that Vitality won’t work for everyone, and its technology is far from perfect.
That being said, Vitality is an outstanding concept and can be an incredibly affordable way to get the amount of cover that you need to properly protect your family. Our Director has been a Vitality Platinum member for over 10 years and has literally saved £1,000s by using the benefits and rewards partners.
Dan Sharpe-Szunko (iam|INSURED founder) says “I’ve got 2 young kids and we’re very active as a family, so Vitality works incredibly well for us. I also love a bargain as well so the concept of saving money for being healthy works perfectly for our lifestyles”.
Potential issues with Vitality life insurance policies include:
- Technology sometimes fails or doesn’t work how you expect it to and so it can be frustrating, especially if you need to contact Vitality to try to sort out issues.
- Points aren’t always as easy to get as you’d expect, and you might not be able to earn points for all of your activity.
- Rewards partners can change quite regularly (usually every year) and so you might lose a discount that you’ve been using. Also, not all of the rewards partners are for everyone and so you might not get the best value for money (e.g. gyms, travel, food and drink).
- Premiums increase if you don’t engage and so you can very quickly end up paying more than you can afford or higher premiums than other providers.
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How much is Vitality life insurance per month?
You might think that Vitality life insurance would be naturally more expensive than other life insurance premiums. The reality is that Vitality have some of the cheapest premiums
This is a very innovative insurance provider with policies that offer some of the highest levels of cover in the UK, and prices are extremely competitive. Below we will explain more about their various policies to help you have a better idea of what you are covered for and how they work.
We have also put together these pricing tables to highlight the best Vitality life insurance quotes for people of different age groups. As you can see, Vitality life insurance can be very affordable with prices starting at around £5 per month for younger applicants. However, the exact cost of your cover will vary based on standard factors like your health, occupation, and the level of cover needed.
Vitality Life Insurance Price Comparison (Non-smoker) – £150,000 over 20 years
| Age of applicant | Family life insurance | Mortgage life insurance |
|---|---|---|
| Age 20 | £5.01 per month | £5.01 per month |
| Age 30 | £6.05 per month | £5.92 per month |
| Age 40 | £11.14 per month | £9.17 per month |
| Age 50 | £27.84 per month | £20.50 per month |
Vitality Life Insurance Price Comparison (Smoker) – £150,000 over 20 years
| Age of applicant | Family life insurance | Mortgage life insurance |
|---|---|---|
| Age 20 | £5.98 per month | £6.15 per month |
| Age 30 | £9.29 per month | £8.70 per month |
| Age 40 | £22.12 per month | £16.79 per month |
| Age 50 | £70.70 per month | £51.47 per month |
What are the key features of Vitality life insurance?
What are the premium options?
You can have guaranteed premiums (your monthly payments will always be the same) or reviewable premiums (the amount you pay each month can increase or decrease)
What policies are available?
- Family life insurance (Level term)
- Mortgage life insurance (Decreasing term)
- Family income benefit
- Whole of life insurance
- Over 50s life insurance
- Increasing life insurance (amount of £s you are covered for will increase over time)
Can I get a joint life insurance policy?
YES – you can have single life cover, joint life (first death) or joint life (second death)
Will I have Terminal Illness Benefit?
YES – this is included automatically and pays out if you are diagnosed with an illness with a life expectancy of 12 months or less.
Can I have Waiver of Premium benefit?
YES – you can add 1 of 3 different levels of waiver of premium benefit to your policy for a small fee.
How does increasing cover work?
You can add increasing cover free of charge to any Vitality life insurance plan.
The amount your cover increases (indexation) is linked to changes the Retail Price Index (RPI)* and this is rounded up to the nearest 0.25%.
You can decline to increase your cover when offered if you wish to.
Age limits for cover
You must be:
- Minimum 16 years old
- Maximum 74 years old
Are there any exclusions?
Your claim will not be valid for suicidal death within the first 12 months of your policy.
How do I contact Vitality life insurance?
Vitality has several contact numbers for their life insurance team. We have put together a list of these for you below:
Vitality life insurance contact number (advice)
Tel: 0800 009 6559
Opening hours: Monday – Friday / 8am – 7pm
Vitality life insurance contact number for existing customers
Tel: 0345 601 0072
Opening hours: Monday – Friday / 8am – 7pm
Vitality life insurance member zone support
Tel: 0345 602 3523
Opening hours: Monday – Friday / 8am – 7pm / Saturday 9am – 1pm
You can also contact our insurance EXPERTS for any questions you may have about your Vitality life insurance policy.
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How do Vitality rewards work?
A main reason you might choose Vitality over another insurance provider is that Vitality offers Active Rewards as an incentive for healthy living. These rewards are discounts on many great high street brands that Vitality have chosen to partner with.
You are able to claim a range of discounts and have the peace of mind that your home and family are protected. You earn rewards through being more physically active with different activities equalling different amounts.
Vitality Rewards Partners
To earn points, you need to record your daily activity on wearable devices (usually a smart watch) that is approved by Vitality. You then pair your device to your Vitality member app to record your activity and claim your points.
These devices are:
- Apple Watch
- iPhone (Apple Health)
- Garmin
- Fitbit
- Samsung
- Withings
- Polar
You can save on your policy by gaining a higher Vitality member status. This status also determines the level of discount you can receive from Vitality partners. You start as bronze and move up levels based on the points you earn each year.
Silver – 800 points for a single policy, 1,200 points for a joint policy
Gold – 1,600 points for a single policy, 2,400 points for a joint policy
Platinum – 2,400 for a single policy, 3,600 points for a joint policy
How do I earn Vitality life insurance benefits and rewards points?
You can earn points by doing a number of activities that benefit your health. You can earn a maximum of 2080 points per year for each of these activities. These activities include:
- Gym workouts (5 points per day, maximum 35 points per week)
- Doing 7,000 daily steps (3 points per day, maximum 40 points per week)
- Doing 10,000 daily steps (5 points per day, maximum 40 points per week)
- Doing 12,500 daily steps (8 points per day, maximum 40 points per week)
- 30 minutes of exercise with 70% at max heart rate (8 points per day, maximum 40 points per week)
- Attending (or volunteering at) a 5K Vitality Parkrun event (8 points per day, maximum 40 points per week)
- 60 minutes of exercise (burning 300 kcal) (8 points per day, maximum 40 points per week)
- Vitality events (5K, 10K, Half marathon) (20 points per entry)
You can also earn points through the Vitality member zone and Vitality health check service – and even through organisations like WeightWatchers (Eat Well points). Any points earnt here will count towards your annual points total which you can use to claim rewards.
- Online annual health check (100 points maximum)
- Online annual non-smoker declaration (100 points maximum)
- Annual health check at a Vitality partner pharmacy (600 points maximum), points are received for being within acceptable range of things such as cholesterol, blood pressure, BMI etc
- Annual non-smoker declaration at a Vitality partner pharmacy (200 points maximum, you will be tested for any traces of nicotine within the last 12 months
What is the Vitality life insurance Apple watch reward?
One of the best-known Vitality partnerships is their link with Apple. Vitality allows you to buy the latest series Apple Watch for between £7-£169 (classed as a deposit for the device). The cost will depend on the device you choose and your activity and this benefit is extremely popular with Vitality members.
Get An Apple Watch Series 9 And Save Money On Your Life And Health Insurance*
Earn AMAZING rewards including Apple Watch Series 9 from £39 upfront and nothing more to pay when you keep active
This is technical classed as a loan over the course of 36 months, after which the watch has been fully paid for. This loan is 0% APR and provided by Etika, as long as your credit score is approved.
You can also choose another approved brand of smart watch if Apple doesn’t appeal to you and the same terms will apply. The most recent offer from Vitality will allow you to get an Apple Watch Series 9 from as little as £39 upfront with Vitality Health and Life Insurance policies.
To qualify for the Vitality Apple Watch promotion:
- You must have a Vitality policy with a monthly premium of £49.75 per month or higher
- You can have one watch per insurance plan (you cannot have two if you have a joint policy)
- You do not need to get your Apple Watch immediately (you can buy it at any point in your policy term)
- The more activity you engage in each month the lower the cost, those earning 160 points a month will pay £0
- You will pay anywhere between £0-£9.50 a month for your watch with the amount paid decreasing the more active you are
Are there other Vitality rewards partners?
Here we have some of the other rewards available to claim with your Vitality points. We have split these up into premium prices, so you can see what you could claim with each level of cover.
Policy premium per month - £8 - £25
- 50% discount from Runnersneed
- 75% discount at Champneys Spa
- 40% cashback with Peleton
- 40% discount from Garmin and Polar
- 50% off Vitality clothing at Nike
- 20% discount on Expedia
- 50% Vitality food at Caffe Nero
- 40% off Samsung and Withings
- 6 month membership to WeightWatchers for £30
Policy premium per month - £25 - 49.75
These policies will have access to all the previous discounts and offers as well as:
- Up to 50% discount at Nuffield Health
- Up to 50% discount at Pure Gym
Policy premium per month - £49.75 and above
These policies will have access to all the previous discounts and offers as well as:
- The Apple Watch benefit (discount offer)
- FREE cinema tickets at VUE
- FREE cinema tickets at Odeon
- FREE drink once a week at Caffe Nero
- Healthy food discount at Waitrose
- Discount codes for Rakuten
- Cashback for purchases using American Express
- Discounts from Mr & Mrs Smith Holidays
With such a wide range of discounts available, the most active Vitality members can save hundreds of £s over the course of their policy. You may even save more per month in discounts than your monthly premiums cost!
Vitality Insurance Guides and News
How do I cancel Vitality life insurance?
We would always advise some caution before cancelling any life insurance policy. You may not be able to get cover again for the same price (due to being older than when you originally applied).
Usually, you will be able to adjust your policy rather than completely cancelling to lower costs or increase cover to better suit your current circumstances.
If you want to cancel your policy, you can speak to Vitality directly or one of our friendly experts can help you arrange a new policy with a provider that better suits your needs.
Is Vitality life insurance worth it?
This will come down to personal choice, but there are definitely a lot of pros to choosing this insurance provider for your policy.
Vitality provides an extensive range of rewards to their active customers including FREE items, discounts and more. They also provide some of the most comprehensive life cover currently available in the UK.
If you are thinking about using Vitality to protect your family or mortgage, get in touch with one of our expert advisers. We can help you assess the level of cover you need, any medical conditions you have and other factors that could affect your policy to make sure you get the best possible price.
Rated "Excellent" 5 out of 5
"This company went above & beyond to get me cover even though I have MS, I am very happy I managed to get cover, Amazing staff, Dean went above & beyond, I highly rate this company."
by Elizabeth Turner-Long - 9th August 2023
Can I buy Vitality critical illness cover?
Critical illness cover is a useful policy to have, paying out to you if you are diagnosed with a serious medical condition covered by your policy. Vitality has the most comprehensive cover currently available, allowing you to claim for up to 174 conditions at most.
Vitality recently revamped their critical illness insurance policies (known as Serious Illness Cover with Vitality).
This means that there are now 3 options for critical illness cover which are 1x, 2x, and 3x. You can choose your policy based on your budget, with 1x being the most cost effective choice.
Children’s critical illness cover is now FREE with any of these policies, allowing you to protect your children against illness as well as yourself. You can cover both your current children AND any future children you may have.
What are the key features of Vitality critical illness cover?
There are 3 levels of Vitality critical illness cover policies, which are ‘Serious Illness Cover 1x’, Serious Illness Cover 2x’, and ‘Serious Illness Cover 3x’.
Serious Illness Cover 1x
Pays out for 114 conditions.
62 conditions will pay out 100% of the amount you are covered for (sum assured).
19 conditions are only covered by Vitality (no other providers will pay out for them currently).
Serious Illness Cover 2x
Pays out for 143 conditions.
74 conditions will pay out 100% of the amount you are covered for (sum assured).
35 conditions are only covered by Vitality (no other providers will pay out for them currently).
Can claim up to 2x the amount you are covered for.
Serious Illness Cover 3x
Pays out for 174 conditions.
74 conditions will pay out 100% of the amount you are covered for (sum assured).
60 conditions are only covered by Vitality (no other providers will pay out for them currently).
Can claim up to 3x the amount you are covered for.
Can I buy Vitality income protection insurance?
As well as life insurance and critical illness insurance, Vitality also sells income protection insurance. In fact, they have recently updated their income protection range for this year (2023).
Vitality income protection insurance helps to support you financially if you cannot work for 4 or more weeks due to illness or injury. It will pay out a lump sum each month until you return to work to help you cover monthly bills and important expenses.
Vitality Platinum Members can now receive boosted payments that are 20% HIGHER for their first 6 months of claiming on their income protection policy.
What are the key features of Vitality income protection insurance?
What types of policies are available?
Short term income protection (can claim for up to 2 years, can claim more than once)
Long term income protection (can claim for 5 years, or the end of policy term)
What deferred periods are available?
- 7 days
- 4 weeks
- 12 months
- 24 months
- 60 months
What is the Vitality Earnings Guarantee?
Vitality can guarantee exactly how much you will receive each month in claim payments (up to £1,500).
This doesn’t consider your current earnings which is helpful for those who are self-employed where income can vary.
Are there any extra benefits included?
YES – You will have access to a Vitality Recovery Benefit to support you in returning to work. This includes access to physiotherapy, counselling, CBT and more.
You also have a Guaranteed Insurability Option, allowing you to increase your cover if needed after a significant event e.g. getting married or having a child.
Can I add on extra policies/benefits?
YES – You can add Children’s Serious Illness Benefit to your cover for an extra cost.
Am I covered for redundancy?
NO – Vitality does not pay out for redundancy or being dismissed from your job role.
Will I receive claim payouts while I’m still receiving sick pay?
NO – Vitality will only pay out if you are no longer receiving sick pay (workplace scheme or Statutory Sick Pay/Employment Support Allowance).
Can I have Waiver of Premium benefit?
YES – you can add 1 of 3 different levels of waiver of premium benefit to your policy for a small fee, you will not need to pay policy premiums while receiving claims
What is different about Vitality income protection?
Guaranteed benefit of up to £3,000 for doctors and surgeons (no proof of earnings needed). Those on parental leave (maternity/paternity) are still classed as working when they claim.
Public Sector Deferred Period Benefit will automatically match the deferred period on your policy to your payout structure when you choose a 12 month deferred period.
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How do I buy a Vitality policy?
When thinking about Vitality your main question could be ‘is Vitality life insurance worth it?’
This will come down to personal choice, but there are definitely a lot of pros to choosing this insurance provider for your policy. They also have some excellent critical illness and income protection policies available.
Vitality provides an extensive range of rewards to their active customers including FREE items, discounts and more. They also provide some of the most comprehensive life cover currently available in the UK.
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