Royal London business protection review
Royal London is the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company, founded in 1861 and owned by its members. This is our independent review of its business protection range.
Who is Royal London?
Royal London offers business protection across relevant life, key person, income protection, business loan and shareholder protection, with life or life and critical illness cover, plus whole of life. As a mutual, it is owned by its members rather than shareholders. In 2024 it paid 98.7% of protection claims. Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change.
2025 was a record year. Royal London paid £821 million across protection claims to 62,412 customers, families and businesses, paying 98.4% of all protection claims. Policies also come with the Helping Hand health and wellbeing service at no extra cost.
What business protection products does Royal London offer?
Royal London covers company-paid protection for directors and key people alongside personal policies, including whole of life cover. Filter the range or swipe through the cards.
Relevant Life
Potentially tax-efficient death-in-service cover paid by the company for an individual employee or director, written in trust.
Relevant Life guides →Key Person Insurance
Helps protect the business against the financial impact of losing a key employee. Life, or life with critical illness.
Key Person guides →Business Loan Protection
Helps the business repay an outstanding loan if a key person dies. Life, or life with critical illness.
Business Loan guides →Shareholder Protection
Helps remaining shareholders buy a deceased shareholder’s shares, alongside a suitable agreement.
Shareholder guides →Life Insurance
Pays a lump sum (or monthly income) to loved ones if the insured dies or is diagnosed with a terminal illness during the policy term.
Caspian Insurance →Whole of Life
Life cover with no fixed end date, designed to pay out whenever the insured dies, subject to terms.
Caspian Insurance →Critical Illness
Pays a lump sum on diagnosis of a covered condition, subject to the policy terms.
Caspian Insurance →Income Protection
Pays a regular benefit if the insured cannot work due to illness or injury, subject to the policy terms.
Caspian Insurance →How reliable is Royal London at paying claims?
Royal London paid 98.4% of all protection claims in 2025, a record £821 million to 62,412 customers, families and businesses. That included 94.2% of term life claims, worth more than £258 million at an average payout of £85,437, and 89.3% of critical illness claims, worth £198 million across 2,959 customers.
Whole of life claims were paid at 99.9%, worth £282.2 million to 53,884 families, and income protection at 85.2%, supporting 1,536 customers. 2025 was the first full year including the individual protection policies transferred from Aegon, and the youngest claimant was 19 while the oldest was 102.
A strong claims record is reassuring context, not a guarantee. Every claim is assessed against the policy terms, and the most common reason claims are declined across the industry is inaccurate health or lifestyle information given at application.
How do independent ratings score Royal London?
No single score tells the whole story, so we pull together the main independent measures and state what each one actually covers.
6,400+ reviews, covering the whole group rather than business protection alone.
Read Royal London’s Trustpilot reviews →5 Star rated across seven protection products: level and decreasing term life, level, decreasing and standalone critical illness, income protection, and whole of life assurance. Defaqto rates product features rather than service quality.
View Defaqto’s ratings →Personal protection insurance reviews, so typically a much smaller sample than Trustpilot.
Read the Smart Money People reviews →Royal London key facts
Ages and terms by product
What wellbeing support comes with Royal London policies?
Royal London protection policies come with the Helping Hand health and wellbeing service at no extra cost, and demand for it keeps growing: GP appointments rose 21% year on year in 2025.
Wellbeing extras are non-contractual benefits Royal London can change or withdraw, and eligibility conditions may apply. They shouldn’t be the main reason for taking out a policy.
Who might Royal London suit?
There’s no single best insurer, only the best fit for your business. Here’s how Royal London tends to stack up.
Royal London may appeal if you
- Like the mutual model, with the company owned by its members rather than shareholders
- Want a record claims year behind your insurer, with £821 million paid in 2025 at 98.4% of all claims
- Value practical wellbeing support, with Helping Hand spanning GP access, nurse support, physiotherapy and mental health
Worth comparing others if you
- Need group life, group income protection or group critical illness for a team, which sits with other insurers on our panel
- Are buying mainly on price, since premiums vary by provider and your circumstances
- Need cover beyond the maximum ages on a specific product, such as income protection ending by age 70
An adviser can check your demands and needs across the whole panel before you decide anything.
Let our advisers compare Royal London for you
IGotCover is a trading name of Caspian Assured, an FCA-authorised broker. We arrange business protection from a selected panel of leading UK insurers, including Royal London. Tell us about your business and our advisers will compare quotes across the panel for you. No jargon, no pressure, just the right cover.
Royal London business protection FAQs
Royal London scores strongly on independent measures. It paid 98.4% of all protection claims in 2025, a record £821 million, holds 5 Star Defaqto ratings across seven protection products, and has a 4.6/5 Trustpilot rating from more than 6,400 reviews across the group. Whether it’s right for your business depends on your circumstances, so it’s worth having an adviser compare quotes across several insurers before deciding.
Yes. Royal London offers relevant life cover paid for by the company and written in trust. Entry ages are 18 to 73, terms run from 1 to 57 years, and cover can continue to a maximum age of 75. Any tax efficiency depends on individual circumstances and may change.
In 2025 Royal London paid 98.4% of all protection claims, worth a record £821 million to 62,412 customers, families and businesses. That included 94.2% of term life claims, 89.3% of critical illness claims and 99.9% of whole of life claims. A published claims record is useful context, but every claim is assessed against the policy terms.
Royal London is owned by its members rather than shareholders, and it is the UK’s largest mutual life, pensions and investment company. That ownership structure means the business is run in the interests of its members rather than external investors.
Yes. Royal London is one of the insurers on our panel. IGotCover is a trading name of Caspian Assured, an FCA-authorised broker: we arrange the cover and the insurer provides it. We compare products from a selected panel of providers rather than the whole market, and our advisers can help you weigh Royal London against the alternatives.
Royal London was founded in 1861 and serves 8.5 million customers across insurance. Its full legal name is The Royal London Mutual Insurance Society Limited.
Important information
- This page is information only and not personal advice. Whether a product or provider is right for you depends on your circumstances. Speak to one of our advisers to find out what suits your business.
- IGotCover is a trading name of Caspian Assured, which is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA reference 788964). We arrange cover; the insurer provides it. We compare products from a selected panel of providers, not the whole market.
- Cover is subject to the provider’s terms, underwriting, medical history and acceptance, and to a successful claim. Policies carry exclusions and conditions. Relevant Life Insurance is written in trust and has no cash-in value.
- Tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and may change, and any tax efficiency is not guaranteed.
- Provider figures, claims rates and independent ratings are taken from provider and third-party sources and were correct at the time of writing. Ratings measure different things: a Trustpilot score may cover a provider’s whole group rather than one product, and Defaqto rates product features rather than service, so check the basis of each.
- Wellbeing extras are non-contractual benefits the provider can change or withdraw, may have eligibility or residency conditions, and some elements (such as a health check) may carry a charge. They should not be the main reason for taking out a policy.
