Direct Line life insurance: what happened and who looks after policies now

Direct Line has stopped selling life insurance. Its help page says: “We’re no longer offering Life Insurance at Direct Line.” If you already bought a life insurance policy through Direct Line, your cover remains in place and isn’t affected by this change.

Direct Line’s help page doesn’t give a closing date. An archived copy of its life insurance page from 25 January 2025 still offered cover from £5 a month, provided by AIG Life Limited. An archived copy of its help page from 22 March 2025 already said Direct Line was no longer offering life insurance.

The help page today lists Aviva as the contact for policies taken out between 22 July 2019 and 5 May 2025. Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited lists “Life Insurance distributed to retail customers of Direct Line Group” among its products closed to new business. It also lists “Direct Line Group Life Insurance with optional Critical 3” as closed to new business.

Direct Line’s life policies came from different insurers over time. Until 2011 they were underwritten by Direct Line Life, the group’s own life company, which became substantially closed to new business on 5 July 2011. Archived copies of Direct Line’s website from June and July 2012 said Direct Line Life was no longer accepting new applications for life insurance, life cover with critical illness or over 50s life cover.

Policies taken out between 1 January 2013 and 20 July 2019 were arranged, administered and provided by Legal & General. Policies taken out after 22 July 2019 were underwritten and administered by AIG Life Limited.

Aviva completed its purchase of AIG Life Limited on 9 April 2024, and the company was renamed Aviva Protection UK Limited on 17 February 2025. Its long-term insurance business moved to its parent, Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited, under a Part VII transfer. The application was set to be heard in the High Court on 26 November 2025. Court and regulatory permissions were obtained during 2025, and the transfer became effective on 31 December 2025.

The FCA register shows Aviva Protection UK Limited as no longer authorised since 28 April 2026. In March 2025 Direct Line’s help page told holders of policies taken out after 22 July 2019 to contact Aviva Protection UK Limited (formerly AIG Life). The help page now tells them to contact Aviva.

Chesnara plc bought Direct Line Life from Direct Line Insurance Group on 28 November 2013, and in January 2014 it was renamed Protection Life Company Limited. On 31 December 2014 its insurance business was transferred to Countrywide Assured plc under Part VII of the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000.

The FCA register shows Protection Life Company Limited as no longer authorised since 24 July 2015, and the company was dissolved in October 2016. Countrywide Assured, whose holding company is Chesnara plc, now looks after these policies.

Separately, Aviva proposes moving all U K Insurance Limited policies, including Direct Line’s general insurance, to Aviva Insurance Limited from 31 December 2026. The final High Court hearing is expected on 15 December 2026, and Aviva says the transfer won’t affect any life, pension or investment policies already held with Aviva. Direct Line’s life policies came from Direct Line Life, Legal & General and AIG Life Limited, not from U K Insurance Limited.

If you have a Direct Line life insurance policy, it carries on. Direct Line says your cover remains in place and isn’t affected by it no longer offering life insurance.

Keep paying your premiums unless you have decided to cancel. Under the AIG keyfacts for Direct Line’s term life insurance, cover stops if a payment stays unpaid for more than 30 days. The AIG over 50s keyfacts say the same, unless you qualify for the protected insurance amount.

Under Legal & General’s policy summaries for Direct Line’s term and over 50s cover, cover ends 30 days after the first missed premium. Legal & General says a policy remains live for its term as long as you pay your premiums.

Who looks after your policy depends on when you took it out. Your policy documents also show the contact details for a claim or a question.

Direct Line sold term life insurance and over 50s life insurance. The AIG keyfacts on directline.com say its term cover with AIG Life paid a single sum if you died or were diagnosed with a terminal illness while insured. It was open to UK residents aged 17 to 75, for 3 to 50 years (ending before the 86th birthday), as single or joint level or decreasing cover.

With AIG Life, you could add Critical 3 for an extra cost, covering cancer (excluding less advanced cases) and heart attack and stroke of specified severity. Under Legal & General’s policy summary, the minimum age was 18, and level cover could be bought up to age 77 for 1 to 50 years, ending before age 90. Legal & General’s Direct Line policy also offered optional critical illness cover.

With Legal & General, Direct Line Over 50s Life Insurance was for people aged 50 to 80. It paid the full cash sum after one year whatever the cause of death, or within the first year for an accidental death. Premiums were due up to and including your 90th birthday, and cover then continued until death.

With AIG Life, Over 50s cover was for UK residents aged 50 to 85 (81 for smokers), and in January 2025 Direct Line described it as “guaranteed acceptance up to 85 years of age (81 if you smoke)”. AIG paid the insurance amount on death after two years, with monthly payments stopping at the 90th birthday. In the first two years, AIG paid three times the insurance amount for an accidental death, or one-and-a-half times the payments made for death from any other cause.

Before closing to new business, Direct Line Life offered mortgage life cover, fixed term life cover (with and without critical illness cover) and over 50s life cover. These policies were sold under the Direct Line brand and, in later years, on a white label basis.

In June 2011 Direct Line said its Guaranteed Acceptance Over 50s Life Cover, underwritten by Direct Line Life, guaranteed to accept UK residents aged 50 to 75. Premiums stopped at age 90 and cover continued until death, paying the full sum assured after two years. If death in the first two years was other than by accident, payment was limited to a full refund of premiums paid.

• Taken out before 6 July 2011: Direct Line says these policies are now with Countrywide Assured. Countrywide Assured says the companies it has bought include Protection Life, previously known as Direct Line Life. It lists its own contact details for “Protection Life (formerly Direct Line Life)” policies.
• Taken out between 6 July 2011 and 31 December 2012: Direct Line’s help page doesn’t list contact details for these dates. Archived copies of Direct Line’s website from 2012 said Direct Line Life was not accepting new applications. Direct Line says you can find the contact details for a claim or question in your policy documents.
• Taken out between 1 January 2013 and 20 July 2019: Legal & General. These policies were arranged, administered and provided by Legal & General, and Direct Line tells customers to contact Legal & General.
• Taken out between 22 July 2019 and 5 May 2025: Aviva. These policies were underwritten and administered by AIG Life Limited, whose policies are now with Aviva Life & Pensions UK Limited. Aviva deals with them through its AIG Life insurance help pages, and you can’t view them on MyAviva.

Tracing an old Direct Line policy. Aviva’s guide to lost policies says finding one usually involves searching documents, contacting insurers, reviewing statements and checking with employers or professionals. The same guide suggests reviewing bank statements for payments to life insurance companies, as regular payments to an insurer might mean a policy is in place.

Legal & General says you can find your policy number in your online account, and suggests matching it with the reference next to a Legal & General bank payment. Aviva says the policy number for a former AIG Life policy is usually a P followed by nine numbers. Countrywide Assured asks you to quote your policy number when you contact it.

Aviva’s guide says that if you know which company issued the policy, you can contact it directly. To look for someone else’s life insurance policy, Aviva says you need express permission or legal reasoning. Examples include Power of Attorney, being the executor of their estate, or being a personal representative.

Our guide to lost life insurance policies explains other ways to search, and our guide to life insurance claims explains how claims work.

Direct Line’s Trustpilot page is for www.directline.com as a whole. It isn’t a rating of life insurance, which Direct Line no longer offers.

Ratings were checked on 3 October 2026 and may have changed since.

You can’t take out a new life insurance policy with Direct Line, as it no longer offers life insurance.

If you’re comparing new cover, term life insurance runs for a set number of years and pays out if you pass away during that term. Over 50s life insurance is whole-of-life cover for people over 50 that pays a smaller fixed lump sum whenever you pass away. You can also compare critical illness cover, which pays a lump sum if you’re diagnosed with a serious illness covered by the policy.

If you already have a Direct Line policy, think carefully before cancelling it to buy new cover. You’re older than when you took it out, which usually makes new cover cost more, and a new policy can have different terms. If you do switch, keep the old policy running until the new one has started.

Guides to life cover

• Term life insurance: Cover for a set number of years, with level or decreasing cover.
• Over 50s life insurance: Guaranteed acceptance for ages 50–85, and what to check before you buy.
• Critical illness cover: A lump sum on diagnosis of a serious illness your policy covers.

Insurer reviews

• Aviva life insurance review
• Legal & General life insurance review
• All insurer reviews: plain-English reviews of UK life insurers, listed alphabetically