Seafarers & Life Insurance

When you work at sea insurance can seem to come in many different shapes and forms. We are here to find you the right options for your life insurance, critical illness cover and income protection.

So that we can find the right insurer and policy for you we will ask:

• What is your job?
• What size vessel are you on?
• How long are you at sea and outside of the UK?
• Which countries do you usually visit?

When you are working at sea you can often find life insurance at standard terms, but this really does depend upon which industry you work in and your duties.

People working on cruise ships or private yachts are quite likely to see standard terms with some insurers.

You can potentially get standard terms if you’re an offshore worker, in the merchant navy or armed forces navy, but there are extra things we need to know to confirm this to you. 

You can find that some more high risk work involving heavy machinery, diving and explosives can mean that you need to be quite selective about where you apply for life insurance.

Our award winning advisers will find the right life insurance policy to match your needs and protect your loved ones.

Critical illness cover pays out a cash lump sum of money, if you are diagnosed with a medical condition that is listed in the insurer’s claims set e.g. cancer, heart attack, stroke.

You are quite likely to be able to get critical illness cover at standard terms if you are not in a high risk job, or regularly travelling to high risk countries.

Insurers can see jobs as high risk if it increases your chance of claiming on the policy due to your work. This can be things like traumatic brain injuries, loss of hand or foot, third degree burns and other things that you are potentially more exposed to.

If you are in a high risk role you might be offered critical illness cover with an exclusion for claims relating to your work. Nobody wants an exclusion, but it will only apply when you are actually at work, not all the time.

Our expert advisers are here to talk you through your options for critical illness cover, in a no nonsense way.

Income protection pays you a replacement of your monthly income, if you are unable to work due to ill health.

When you apply for income protection your choice of insurer will really depend upon the type of job that you do.

Some insurers can be a bit unsure about offering income protection to people at sea. This is because that for some jobs you can be at a high risk of injury and unable to work. For some people the job you do might not be high risk but you need to be in such peak health to be allowed onboard, that it doesn’t take much for you not to be able to work.

Our advisers are there to make sure that you see the best options for protecting your income, to give you peace of mind for the future.

Are you planning a holiday? It’s always important to make sure that you have the right insurance in place when you go abroad. Please visit our dedicated travel insurance page.