Frequently asked questions:
Over 50s Life Insurance

You can get a quote and apply for our Over 50s Life Insurance as long as you live in the UK and are aged between 50 and 80.

The Plan is not medically underwritten meaning that you are guaranteed to be accepted with no medical questions to answer, regardless of your health.

The higher your monthly premium is, the higher your sum assured (the amount your next of kin receives upon your death) will be.

You can choose how much you want to pay into your Over 50s Life Insurance, subject to a minimum contribution of £10 a month and a maximum of £50 a month. Premiums are payable monthly by Direct Debit.

Voucher codes are sent out once your first premium into the plan has been received. You will receive your code via email.

When you start your application, you will be asked whether you want to opt-in to receive the funeral benefit option.

The funeral benefit option is an extra £300 on top of your cover. If you take the funeral benefit option then the cash lump sum will be paid to Co-op Funeralcare Funeral Services, one of the UKs largest independent funeral service providers, who will then administer the funeral. Any money left over after the cost of the funeral will then go to your estate.

An additional benefit of the Over 50s Life Insurance plan is access to the National Bereavement Service, a not for profit organisation that offers counselling, guidance and support to the recently bereaved. If you would like more information about this additional benefit, you can contact the National Bereavement Service on 0800 0246 121.

Defaqto is a financial information business which was established to help financial institutions and consumers make better informed decisions. They give financial products a Star Rating to indicate where a product or proposition sits in the market based on the quality and comprehensiveness of the features it offers. A 4 or 5-Star Rating indicates that a product or position represents one of the highest quality offerings on the market.

You cannot decrease what you pay into the plan, or your sum assured. If you want to increase the amount payable to your dependants on your death, you can take out another Over 50s Life Insurance plan, just as long as the total premiums under all your policies do not exceed the maximum of £50 a month. Rate tables are available on request.

You have the right to cancel your Over 50s Life Insurance up to 30 days after the date of application. Any premiums you have paid within this period will be refunded to you.

In this case you will be outside of your ‘right to cancel’ period, and if you stop paying your premiums then your cover will end and you will lose any premiums you have paid up to that point. This will mean that there will be no lump sum payable on your death.

If you do stop paying your premiums before age 90, cover will cease and no lump sum will be payable on your death. This Over 50s Life Insurance has no encashment value and therefore you will not receive any money back if you stop paying the premiums.

If you miss a premium payment we will write to you to inform you about this. You must then contact us to arrange the collection of future premiums. After three consecutive missed premiums your plan and your cover will end.

To inform Shepherds Friendly that you have changed your home address, the plan holder should call our customer services department on SF_PHONE_NUMBER and our friendly team will get the address changed for you.

You have 30 days from the date you open your life insurance to cancel and we will refund any premiums paid.

If you stop paying the premiums before age 90, cover will cease and a lump sum will not be payable on your death. This Over 50s Life Insurance has no encashment value and therefore you will not receive any money back if you stop paying the premiums.

Call our member services team on SF_PHONE_NUMBER for more information.

Your next of kin can make a claim from day one of the plan being issued, but there are restrictions on when we will pay out the full sum assured on the plan. These are as follows:

1) Death from natural causes within two years of the plan being issued – In this case the estate will receive 150% of the total value of all premium paid to date.

2) Death as the result of an accident within two years of the plan being issued – In this case the estate will receive the full sum assured.

3) Death by any cause after two years from the plan issue date – In this case the estate will receive the full sum assured.

These restrictions assume that all premiums that were due to be paid have been paid in full.

A claim can only be submitted upon the death of the plan holder. The deceased’s Executors or next of kin will be responsible for making the claim and the claim process will differ depending on whether the insured chose the funeral benefits option when they applied for their cover. If the funeral benefit option with Co-op Funeralcare was not selected then the deceased's Executors or next of kin should contact Shepherds Friendly, but if the funeral benefit option with Co-op Funeralcare was selected then contact should be made with Co-op Funeralcare instead.

This depends on whether the plan holder chose to nominate Co-op Funeralcare Funeral Services as the funeral provider when they took out the plan or not.

If Co-op Funeralcare was nominated then the money will be paid to them, and they will then add an extra £300 of benefit on top of the sum.

If Co-op Funeralcare was not nominated then the money will be paid into the estate of the deceased. In this case, it will be the responsibility of the next of kin to organise this with Shepherds Friendly.

Once we receive a correctly completed claim form, along with an original or certified copy of the Death Certificate, the Plan Document and, if applicable, a copy of the Will/Grant of probabate, we will take up to five working days to process the payment. In the event that the payment is being made to Golden Charter Funeral Services, the payment will be made once we receive a copy of the death certificate and payment reference from Golden Charter and this will take up to five working days from that point.

Golden Charter is our nominated funeral services partner. They work on behalf of over 3,300 funeral directors across the UK, helping families to plan and administer funerals. If the insured selected the funeral benefit option when they applied for their Over 50s Life Insurance then Golden Charter will have been nominated, and will receive the sum when we pay out. Golden Charter will also add an extra £300 of benefit on top of the sum.

If the funeral benefit option has been selected and the sum is paid to Golden Charter, there are two outcomes. If the sum is more than the cost of the funeral, and there is money left over, then this will be added to the estate once the funeral costs have been settled. However if the cost of the funeral is more than the sum paid to Golden Charter, then it is the responsibility of the next of kin to arrange to make up the difference from the estate.