LV Life Insurance Reviews

LV is an iconic UK insurance provider, well known for their range of financial products and bright green branding. They have thousands of UK life insurance customers. We are going to look at how their policies work in this independent review.

About LV

LV (also known as LV= and Liverpool Victoria) started trading in Liverpool almost 200 years ago. They were originally known as a ‘friendly society’ when they were formed. The company was founded by William Fenton in 1843 and initially became known for the ‘penny policy’.

A penny policy was a cheap and easy way to ensure your loved ones could pay for your funeral. You would pay one penny each week, so your family was financially protected. This idea laid the foundation for the life insurance products LV provides to this day.

LV sells a range of insurance products including life insurance, home insurance, car insurance and more. They also offer other financial services such as investments, pensions, and equity release (mortgages).

LV Awards

Liverpool Victoria is very proud of the products and service they provide to their customers in the UK. LV has won many awards over the years, with just some of these listed below:

2022

Cover Excellence Awards – Outstanding Individual Income Protection

Financial Times Adviser Financial Adviser Service Awards (FASA) – 5 Star Rating for Pensions & Protection (12th consecutive year)

Moneyfacts Awards – Best Income Protection Provider (13th consecutive year)

Forbes Advisor Award – Named one of the Best Life Insurance Companies 2022

2021

Cover Excellence Awards – Outstanding Business Protection

Financial Times Adviser Financial Adviser Service Awards (FASA) – 5 Star Rating for Pensions & Protection (11th consecutive year)

Moneyfacts Awards – Best Income Protection Provider (12th consecutive year)

Protection Guru Awards – Best Insurer for Protecting an Employed and Self-employed Person’s income

2020

Financial Times Adviser Financial Adviser Service Awards (FASA) – 5 Star Rating for Pensions & Protection (10th consecutive year)

Moneyfacts Awards – Best Income Protection Provider (11th consecutive year)

Finder Awards – Winner for Life Insurance Customer Satisfaction

Health Insurance & Protection Awards – Best Individual Critical Illness Provider

Read more about LV’s awards: LV – Awards and Ratings

More about LIFE INSURANCE.

Why choose LV life insurance?

LV is one of the largest providers of life insurance policies in the UK. They have a wide range of different policies available to suit different budgets. They also provide pensions and mortgages. If you already use LV for one of these services you might choose them for your life cover too.

LV also works to support their customers during their life, with free benefits including LV= Doctor Services. You can use this to access second medical opinions, prescriptions, and other services 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

LV life insurance policy summary

LV have over 6.5 million UK insurance customers and life insurance is one of their most popular products sold. Life insurance is a great way to give your family financial security. It also gives you peace of mind they will be well supported when you are gone.

Below we have a table detailing the key facts about LV life insurance, including the policy details and terms.

Type of Cover	Life Insurance (LV Life Protection)
Cover options	Level Term Life Insurance (Family Life Insurance) Decreasing Term Life Insurance (Mortgage Life Insurance) Family Income Benefit Increasing Life Insurance (index linked) Over 50s life insurance LV life and critical illness cover (combined policy) Relevant life insurance (business protection) Key person cover (business protection)
Coverage options	Single life (individual life insurance) Joint life (first death) *pays out on first event
Terminal illness benefit	Terminal illness cover is included automatically with LV life protection policies. The benefit pays out if diagnosed with a terminal illness (life expectancy 12 months or less)
Increasing life insurance option (Indexation)	Indexation is available as an optional extra. This increases the value of your cover each year to reduce the impact of inflation. Your sum assured and your premiums will increase at a rate of 1.5x the current rate of inflation per year.
Waiver of Premium	Waiver of premium benefit can be added to your policy for a small extra cost. This pays your monthly premiums if you are unable to work due to accident or sickness for more than 26 weeks.
Term options	Minimum term – 5 years Maximum term – 50 years
Age limits	Minimum age at entry – 17 years Maximum age at entry – 84 years (79 for increasing cover) Maximum age at end of policy term – 90 years (85 for increasing cover)
Exclusions (LV Life Protection)	You can’t claim for suicidal death within the first 12 months of the policy start. Your terminal illness benefit won’t pay out if your claim doesn’t meet the terms and conditions of your policy.

More information – LV – Life Protection Policy Summary

LV critical illness insurance summary

Critical illness insurance will pay out a cash lump sum on diagnosis of a serious medical condition. The condition needs to be covered in the terms of your policy for a valid claim.

Most insurance providers will sell critical illness cover and life insurance as separate policies. LV is a little different here, as critical illness cover is only available as a combined policy. This policy is known as LV life insurance and critical illness cover.

Here we have a table summarising the key policy details and terms of LV critical illness insurance.

Type of Cover	LV Life and Critical Illness Insurance
Cover options	Level Term Critical Illness Insurance (Family Protection) Decreasing Term Critical Illness Insurance (Mortgage Protection) Increasing Critical Illness Insurance (index linked)
Coverage options	Single life (individual life insurance) Joint life (first death) *pays out on first event
Conditions covered (Core)	LV life and critical illness insurance offers protection for diagnosis of 41 key conditions. 38 full payment conditions = 100% pay out 2 conditions = 25% of the sum assured or £30,000, whichever is lower 9 conditions = ENHANCED benefit of 150% (100% pay out plus an extra 50%, up to £200,000)*
Conditions covered (Enhanced)	LV Enhanced life and critical illness insurance offers protection for diagnosis of 87 conditions. (86 conditions if Total Permanent Disability cover is not added) Available at an additional cost. 49 full payment conditions = 100% pay out 38 conditions = additional payment (amount depends on condition) Children’s critical illness cover is included free as standard.
Total and Permanent Disability	Can be added to your policy for an additional cost.
Children’s Critical Illness Cover (Core)	Offers cover for 95 medical conditions and includes child funeral cover and payments for complications in pregnancy. 58 conditions = 50% of the sum assured in the adult policy or £35,000, whichever is lowest 37 conditions = additional payment (amount depends on condition) Child funeral cover = pays out £5,000 if your child was to pass away Pregnancy complications = specified pregnancy complications will qualify for a payment of £5,000 Junior option = children can upgrade to adult cover within 6 months of their 23^rd birthday (no medical underwriting needed).
Children’s Critical Illness Cover (Enhanced)	Enhanced cover can be added for an extra cost.
Premium type	Guaranteed (fixed)
Age limits	Minimum age at entry – 17 years Maximum age at entry – 64 years (59 if increasing cover) Maximum age at end of policy term – 80 years
Exclusions (Life and Critical Illness Insurance)	You won’t qualify for a pay out if the medical condition isn’t covered in the terms of your policy. You won’t receive a payment if you die within 14 days of being diagnosed. You also cannot claim if the diagnosis happens after your policy ends. Claims for children’s illnesses if you have not added children’s cover to a core policy.

More information – LV – Life and Critical Illness Policy Conditions

*The 9 conditions that qualify for an enhanced critical illness payment are:

Brain injury (with permanent symptoms caused by trauma)
Deafness (permanent)
Coma (permanent symptoms)
Loss of speech (permanent)
Loss of hand or foot
Paralysis of limb (permanent)
Blindness (permanent)
Eyeball surgically removed
Third degree burns (must cover 20% of the body OR 20% of the head or face)

More about CRITICAL ILLNESS COVER.

LV life insurance contact details

At certain points in your life, you might need to call the LV life insurance team about your policy. The LV website is a bit confusing with how their contact details are laid out, with many sections to go through.

We have provided some of the contact details for LV life insurance on this page to make things easier. If you want to check the website for more information, we have linked this below.

LV Life Insurance – Contact Us

Contact LV life insurance customer services

LV have many different forms on their website which they encourage customers to use to contact them. You can use these forms for changing policy details and other general enquiries. There are a few phone numbers available:

LV life insurance telephone number (general advice)

Telephone – 0800 197 2266

Opening hours – Monday to Thursday 8am – 8pm, Friday 8am – 7pm

LV life insurance existing customer contact number UK (customer claims)

Telephone – 0800 678 1906

Opening hours – Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm

Note: Be aware LV might record and/or monitor calls for training and audit purposes.

LV life insurance address (postal enquiries)

You can contact LV by post if needed at:

LV=,

Emperor House,

Grenadier Road,

Exeter Business Park,

Exeter,

EX1 3LH

LV life insurance complaints

In some cases, customers might not be happy with the policy or service they have received. If you want to, you can contact LV to submit a complaint about your life insurance policy. You can contact them at the details below and they will do their best to get back to you quickly.

LV life insurance contact number (complaints):

Telephone – 0800 032 8280

Email – lifecomplaints@lv.com

Online complaint form – LV – Complaints

LV also have a complaints guide available to read, to help you fully understand the process:

LV – How to complain to LV=

LV life insurance complaints process

LV try to resolve all complaints as fairly and quickly as they can and will keep you updated throughout the process. LV states that if they have not responded within 8 weeks, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.

Financial Ombudsman Service

The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) is a useful resource for UK financial services customers. It is an impartial service that offers advice and support and can help settle disputes between yourself and LV.

Though LV states you can refer to the FOS after 8 weeks, you can contact this service at any point. You might feel you have been misled or have lost money unfairly because of your life insurance cover. The Financial Ombudsman Service could award compensation if they agree with you.

Telephone – 0800 023 4567 (or 0300 123 9123)

Telephone (outside the UK) – 0207 964 0500

Email – complaint.info@financial-ombudsman.org.uk

Financial Ombudsman Service – Complaints we can help with

LV life insurance trust details

When you buy life insurance, most providers will allow you to place your policy into trust. LV will allow you to do this at no extra cost. This process helps your loved ones avoid paying Inheritance Tax or going through probate when receiving your life insurance benefit.

A trust lets you specify who gets your life insurance benefit and how it is used. This is like a will but works as a (usually) free alternative. This document only controls the funds in your life insurance policy.

Benefits of LV life insurance trust deeds

Low cost alternative to a Will (usually free)
Express your wishes for your life insurance pay out
Helps you avoid probate (pays out more quickly)
Can help to avoid Inheritance Tax liability (Learn more in our Life Insurance and Tax guide)

Types of LV life insurance trusts

LV Fixed Trust: used for life insurance and investment bonds, and cannot be changed at a later point.
LV Flexible Trust: used for life insurance and investment bonds. This trust allows the trustees to change who benefits from the policy in the future.
LV Split Trust: allows you to split the benefit in a life and critical illness policy. Allows you to receive your critical illness benefit and your loved ones will receive the life insurance benefit. Can also be used to separate your terminal illness benefit.

More about TRUSTS.

About LV life insurance claims

If you need to claim on your policy, insurers will always work hard to make this process as smooth as possible. This situation is always going to be upsetting for you and your loved ones. LV’s claims team will be as sensitive and supportive as possible.

The claims team will be able to help with claims for bereavement or terminal illness, as well as critical illness claims.

Here we have some useful facts you need to know before starting a claim with LV.

How to make a claim with LV life insurance

There are resources and guides available online to help support you through the process when claiming on an LV policy.

LV – Make a life insurance claim

Before contacting LV claims team

Useful information (before calling LV claims team):

Name of policy holder
Policy number
An original copy of the death certificate

LV life insurance claims contact information

Below we have a list of LV life insurance phone numbers to contact about claims. We also have other ways to contact them, if you would rather not call.

Telephone – 0800 756 5869 (for policy numbers formatted as 123456-0001-5N or 1234567-0001-A)

Telephone – 0800 681 6294 (for policy numbers starting with A, B, C, F, L, RN, T, U, V or XA)

Telephone – 0800 032 8390 (for LV Over 50s life insurance policies)

Email address for LV life insurance claims – healthclaims@lv.com

Post – LV= Claims Department, Emperor House, Grenadier Road, Exeter Business Park, Exeter, EX1 3LH

Opening hours – Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm

LV life insurance claims statistics for 2021

Here we have some of the main statistics published by LV life insurance about claims in 2021.

LV Life Insurance claims

6,677 families looked after
£74.1 million paid out in life insurance claims
98% of all claims paid

LV Life Insurance claims paid

39% Cancer
16% Covid-19
8% Heart related conditions
Youngest claimant was 27 years old (at death)

LV Life insurance claims statistics for 2022

Over 5,400 families looked after
£80.6 million paid out in life insurance claims
97% of all claims paid

LV Life Insurance claims paid

40% Cancer
20% Heart related conditions
9% Respiratory issues
6% Covid-19
5% Stroke
Youngest claimant was 25 years old (at death)

Free benefits with LV life insurance

There are a couple of free benefits that are included with all standard LV life insurance policies. LV offers these benefits to help support you and your loved ones during your policy term. These are:

LV= Doctor Services which provides several medical advice services for LV customers. You can use this to get second medical opinions, 24/7 remote GP access and more. You will also get a 25% discount on ‘health MOTs’ which are health checks carried out by approved medical professionals.

Terminal illness benefit is added on automatically to LV life insurance policies. You will be able to receive a pay out from your policy if diagnosed with a terminal illness. The illness must have a life expectancy 12 months or less.

Critical illness cover benefits:

ENHANCED pay outs for 9 medical conditions with LV life and critical illness cover policies. This will pay out the full 100% of the sum assured in your policy PLUS an additional 50% on top.

Children’s critical illness cover is included FREE as standard with enhanced adult critical illness insurance policies.

Junior option allows children covered in the policy to take out a life and critical illness policy with no medical underwriting. This can be used within 6 months of their 23rd birthday.

Optional benefits with LV life insurance

Your main optional benefit that is included with LV policies is the chance to become an LV= member. The way LV’s business works is that it is owned by its members with no shareholders. As of 2023, LV has over 1.6 million customers (members).

Being an LV member will give you the chance to have a say in LV business decisions as well as:

Exclusive member discounts for adding on extra insurance products e.g. buying car insurance.

A member support fund provides help for LV members struggling financially (you need to apply for this support with LV directly).

24-hour support services including a FREE Legal Advice line and a FREE Health and Wellbeing support line.

A Health ‘e-Hub’ which provides FREE wellbeing resources and health assessments (partnered with Health Assured). This available via an app or online depending on what suits you best.

The My Healthy Advantage app can also be used to support mental wellbeing as well as physical health.

LV= ‘Care Navigator’ service offers advice and support about later in life care (partnered with MorganAsh)

How to cancel an LV life insurance policy

You always have the option to cancel your life insurance policy, even if you have had it for years. There shouldn’t be any extra charges attached to this and the process is generally straightforward.

How to cancel your policy:

Contact your bank or building society to cancel your direct debit
Contact LV to cancel your life insurance policy

Contact details for LV life insurance cancellations:

Telephone – 0800 678 1906

Address – LV=, Emperor House, Grenadier Road, Exeter Business Park, Exeter, EX1 3LH

Opening hours – Monday to Friday 8.30am – 6.30pm

A few things to consider before cancelling:

You could save on your policy by either reducing your cover or reducing how long you are covered for (policy term). This could be a better option than cancelling your cover completely.
You will lose your life cover but won’t get back any of the money you have paid in. The only exception is cancelling within 30 days of policy start.
You can also call LV’s payment break support team, to take a temporary break from paying your premiums if needed:

Telephone – 0800 678 1906

Opening hours – Monday to Friday 8.30am – 6.30pm

How much is LV life insurance?

Your main concern may be how much your policy will cost and if you will get value for money. Below we have put together a few examples of possible premiums so you can see how LV compares to other providers.

The cost of life insurance can also vary due to your age, health, and other factors. Some providers will be more affordable than others depending on your own circumstances. It is always best to compare policies from a few insurers to make sure you’re getting the best possible deal.

Compare LV life insurance – £200,000 for 25 years (non-smoker)

Age	LV premiums	Lowest premiums	Highest premiums
30 year old (non-smoker)	£8.32	£7.15	£12.94
40 year old (non-smoker)	£16.15	£13.43	£20.62
50 year old (non-smoker)	£41.75	£34.32	£46.48

Compare LV life insurance – £200,000 for 25 years (smoker)

Age	LV premiums	Lowest premiums	Highest premiums
30 year old (smoker)	£13.04	£11.95	£19.48
40 year old (smoker)	£32.28	£29.52	£41.39
50 year old (smoker)	£92.94	£83.94	£126.84

How to buy LV life insurance

If wanting to buy a policy, you can get an LV life insurance quote from them directly. You also have the option to buy your life insurance policy with help from an independent insurance expert.

If you have medical conditions, it is a good idea to speak to a life insurance specialist before choosing your policy. An advisor with the right background and experience can make sure you apply to the right insurer for your medical history.