Make sure your mortgage is covered if the worst happens — here's what you need to know.
Mortgage protection insurance is a broad term covering several insurance products designed to ensure your mortgage repayments are covered if you can't make them — whether due to death, critical illness, or inability to work. It's not a single product but a category that includes:
No — but your mortgage lender will strongly encourage you to have life insurance at minimum (particularly if you have dependants). Buildings insurance, however, is usually a condition of your mortgage offer.
The most common form of "mortgage life insurance" is decreasing term life insurance. The payout decreases over time to mirror your falling mortgage balance. It's cheaper than level term cover and does the job if your only goal is to ensure the mortgage is cleared.
However, if you want to leave your family in their home AND provide for living costs, a level term policy is more appropriate — it pays out the full sum regardless of what's left on the mortgage.
💡 A family income benefit policy can work very well alongside a decreasing term policy — the term policy clears the mortgage and the family income benefit provides monthly income to cover living costs.
MPPI specifically covers your monthly mortgage repayments — not the whole balance — if you're made redundant or are unable to work. It pays out for a limited period (typically 12–24 months). It's separate from income protection (which pays longer-term) and more limited in scope.
MPPI has had a chequered history in the UK — it was widely mis-sold in the 2000s (the PPI scandal). Modern MPPI products are better regulated but still carry significant exclusions — check the small print carefully.
Decreasing term life insurance is among the cheapest insurance products available:
Not necessarily — it depends on your circumstances. A whole-of-market protection adviser will assess your mortgage, income, existing cover (including employer benefits), savings, and family situation to recommend exactly what's needed — and what's not. The goal is appropriate cover, not the maximum possible cover.
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