Police Life Insurance

Want to find the best police life insurance policy?

The danger of the job makes you feel in more need of the security that comes with life cover, but the resulting high premiums make you more reluctant to take out a policy. In reality, however, this isn’t necessarily true: if you shop around, you’ll often find cover where being a police officer makes little or no difference.

The Real Effect

You might think it inevitable that being a police officer automatically bumps up your premiums or even excludes you from cover. After all, serving on the front line certainly seems to puts you in greater danger than somebody who isn’t in an active job or dealing with criminals, so surely it stands to reason you’ll have to pay more?

In fact, that’s not always the case. Insurance prices aren’t based on perceptions of risk such as those related to your job, but rather cold hard facts. If an insurer’s database shows police officers are more likely to die early than florists, it will often factor this into pricing, but there’s no automatic penalty for being in the police force.

Insurers differ from one another in two important ways. Firstly, they often use different databases: one firm might work on the basis that police are at much greater risk than people in other jobs, while another firm might use figures that show little if any difference.

Secondly, different insurers put different emphasis on how much your job affects premiums. Some may use it as a key factor and thus charge hefty premiums for what they consider “risky” professions. Other insurers may conclude that factors such as age, lifestyle, personal medical history and family medical history are far more important when setting premiums. 

Bear in mind also that premiums are designed to not only cover the risk the insurer is taking on by giving issue a policy, but also the administration costs and the profit. Healthy competition in the market means that even if an insurer considers you an increased risk, it may be willing to take a squeeze on profits in order to win your business with a more enticing quote.

The Specialist Option

You may see some insurers promote themselves as “specialist police insurers.” To a large extent, this is marketing rather than a case of police insurance being a fundamentally different product. A lot of the time it’s simply a brand operated by a large insurance firm that also deals with the general public.

Usually a “specialist” police insurer only has a couple of distinct features. The most obvious is that they don’t refuse to cover police and — at least sometimes — don’t bump up premiums for police officers. The other is that staff may be familiar with the details of police benefits such as pensions or death-in-service, so won’t try to sell you police features that replicate rather than boost the protections you already have.

That leaves a big downside however: “specialist” firms often only represent one insurer, meaning you’ll only get one quote. That leaves you taking a gamble compared with shopping around and you’ve got no guarantee that you’re getting the best deal.

Shopping Around

I’m Insured can help you find the life insurers where being a police officer doesn’t come with a painful financial penalty. Our online price comparison tool will take your details and search through a wide range of insurers to get custom quotes.

You’ll be able to see at a glance where your job may have pushed up premiums, and which insurers are willing to offer you affordable rates regardless of your profession. We also list any insurers who have refused to give you a quote and any reasons they give for this.

Searching takes a matter of moments — all you need to do is provide a few basic details about yourself, along with whether you are looking for term life insurance, mortgage life insurance, family income benefit or critical illness cover. You can then see the full details of any policy, along with any cashback incentive, before clicking through to buy direct from the insurer with no hidden fees. 

If you’d prefer the personal touch, one of our staff can talk to you to put together a personal quote, run through the different types of insurance, and recommend insurers that don’t unfairly penalise police officers. Just click “Talk To Us” on the site.

The Bottom Line

It’s understandable that the fear of unaffordable premiums can put police officers off the whole idea of life insurance. We hope we’ve reassured you that your job doesn’t automatically mean insurance becomes too expensive. By shopping around, such as with our comparison service, you can find the right deal for you. In turn, seeing those insurers who offer fair prices will help you make a more rational decision about getting life insurance and thus securing your family’s finances if the worst should happen.