Critical illness cover

Critical illness policies offer a tax-free payment and become payable on diagnosis of a specific list of conditions, such as brain injury, organ failure, certain cancers and some surgical treatments, like a heart bypass.

They can be set up as monthly payments like a family income benefit plan but are generally taken as a lump sum, typically to clear a mortgage. You can set the amount of the sum but the higher the figure, the higher the premium. Critical illness cover should only really be considered once you have paid off all your unsecured debts.