Liverpool Victoria
LV= Life Insurance and Protection
LV=, also known as Liverpool Victoria, is a UK mutual financial services provider offering a broad range of personal and business protection.
Its current protection range includes life insurance, critical illness cover, income protection and family income benefit, alongside business protection such as Key Person Cover, Share and Partnership Protection, Relevant Life Cover and Executive Income Protection.
At Kerr & Watson, we can compare LV= with other suitable protection insurers to establish which provider, policy features and underwriting approach are most appropriate for your circumstances.
Could LV= be the right protection provider for you?
LV= can be particularly relevant if you are looking for an established protection provider offering a broad choice of life insurance, critical illness, income protection or business protection.
At Kerr & Watson, we compare LV= with other suitable protection insurers to establish which provider, level of cover and policy structure are most appropriate for your circumstances.
Who Are LV=?
LV= stands for Liverpool Victoria.
It is a mutual financial services organisation, which means it does not operate in the same way as a conventional shareholder-owned insurer.
LV= operates across protection, investment and retirement products and has more than one million members and customers.
Within protection, its current range includes:
- Life Protection
- Life and Critical Illness Cover
- Life and Enhanced Critical Illness Cover
- Income Protection
- Family Income Benefit
- Personal Sick Pay
- Business Protection
- Relevant Life Cover
- Executive Income Protection
LV= also administers a number of older policies that are no longer available to new customers.
LV= Life Insurance
Life insurance is designed to provide a financial payment if the insured person dies during the policy term.
The money could potentially help:
- Repay a mortgage
- Support a surviving partner
- Replace lost household income
- Provide for children
- Repay other debts
- Meet everyday household costs
- Provide longer-term financial security
LV= offers different ways of structuring life cover depending on what you want the insurance to protect.
This includes both level and decreasing cover.
Level Life Insurance
With level life insurance, the amount insured remains the same throughout the policy term.
For example, if you arrange £300,000 of level cover, the insured amount would normally remain £300,000 throughout the agreed term.
This can be suitable where you want to provide a fixed lump sum for your family or protect borrowing that is not reducing.
Decreasing Life Insurance
Decreasing life insurance is commonly considered alongside a repayment mortgage.
The amount insured reduces throughout the term, broadly reflecting how the outstanding balance on a repayment mortgage is expected to reduce.
This can make it a cost-effective way of protecting a mortgage where repaying the loan is the main objective.
Terminal Illness Cover
LV= includes terminal illness cover within its current life protection.
This is designed to allow the life insurance benefit to be paid early where the insured person meets the policy’s definition of terminal illness.
The precise definition is important and should always be checked within the policy terms.
Family Income Benefit
LV= also offers Family Income Benefit.
Instead of paying one large lump sum following a successful claim, Family Income Benefit is designed to provide a regular income for the remaining policy term.
This can be useful where the aim is to replace the income somebody would otherwise have brought into the household.
The money could help with regular expenditure such as:
- Mortgage or rent payments
- Food
- Household bills
- Childcare
- School costs
- Travel
- Other everyday family expenditure
Whether a lump sum or regular income is more appropriate will depend on what you want the protection to achieve.
LV= Critical Illness Cover
Critical illness cover is designed to provide a financial payment if you are diagnosed with one of the serious medical conditions covered by the policy and meet the insurer’s definition.
LV= currently offers both Life and Critical Illness Cover and Life and Enhanced Critical Illness Cover.
The enhanced version provides a wider level of protection and additional policy features.
A critical illness payment could potentially be used to:
- Repay or reduce a mortgage
- Replace lost income
- Pay household bills
- Fund rehabilitation
- Pay for private treatment
- Make changes to your home
- Allow a partner to reduce their working hours
Standard and Enhanced Critical Illness Cover
LV= provides more than one level of critical illness protection.
Its standard Life and Critical Illness policy provides a lump-sum payment where an eligible condition meets the policy definition.
Its enhanced proposition provides wider cover and additional benefits for certain medical conditions.
This allows us to balance the level of cover required against the premium available.
We would not recommend an enhanced policy simply because it covers more conditions.
The quality of the definitions and relevance of the additional benefits also need to be considered.
Additional Critical Illness Payments
Some critical illness policies can make smaller additional payments for specified conditions without ending the main policy.
LV=’s current critical illness proposition includes additional payment conditions as well as its main full-payment conditions.
This means some less severe diagnoses may still result in a payment while the main critical illness cover remains in force.
The exact conditions and definitions depend on the policy selected.
Children’s Critical Illness Cover
LV= also allows children’s critical illness cover to be added to eligible protection.
This can provide a financial payment if an insured child is diagnosed with one of the serious illnesses covered and meets the relevant medical definition.
A payment could potentially help parents with costs such as:
- Taking time away from work
- Reducing working hours
- Travelling to hospital
- Accommodation
- Additional childcare
- Other family expenses
Children’s critical illness cover is not necessarily included automatically, so this is an area we would consider when comparing policies.
LV= Income Protection
LV= also offers income protection.
Income protection is designed to provide a regular monthly benefit if illness or injury prevents you from working.
For many people, their ability to earn an income is their largest financial asset.
Your mortgage, household bills and other commitments generally continue even if your salary stops.
Income protection can help replace part of your earnings while you remain unable to work, subject to the terms of the policy.
LV= currently states that its income protection can provide a regular payment of up to a proportion of pre-tax earnings, subject to the insured amount and policy conditions.
Choosing an Income Protection Waiting Period
Income protection does not normally start paying immediately.
The period you wait before an eligible claim begins paying is often referred to as the waiting period or deferred period.
LV= provides a choice of waiting periods within its current income protection proposition.
The appropriate option will depend on what support you already have.
Someone receiving several months of employer sick pay may be able to choose a longer waiting period.
A self-employed customer with limited savings may need payments to begin sooner.
At Kerr & Watson, we can consider your:
- Employer sick pay
- Savings
- Partner’s earnings
- Existing insurance
- Monthly commitments
before recommending how the policy should be structured.
Income Protection for Self-Employed Customers
Income protection can be particularly important if you are self-employed.
Unlike many employees, a self-employed person may have little or no contractual sick pay.
If illness or injury prevents them from working, their income can reduce quickly while household and business costs continue.
LV= may be one of the providers we consider.
However, the appropriate insurer will depend on factors such as:
- How your income is generated
- Your occupation
- Your earnings
- Your medical history
- How quickly you need a benefit to begin
- The amount of cover required
We can compare LV= with other suitable income protection providers before making a recommendation.
Short-Term and Long-Term Protection
The length of time a successful income protection claim can continue is another important consideration.
Some customers may choose a policy that pays each eligible claim for a limited period.
Others may prefer longer-term protection that can potentially continue while they remain unable to work, subject to the policy term.
Shorter-term protection will often cost less, but the benefit could stop while you are still unable to return to work.
Longer-term cover provides greater protection against an illness or injury that affects your ability to work for several years.
We can explain the differences when making a recommendation.
LV= Doctor Services
Eligible LV= protection customers can receive access to LV= Doctor Services.
This is a collection of health and wellbeing services available to eligible policyholders and certain immediate family members.
Services currently include areas such as:
- Remote GP consultations
- Medical second opinions
- Mental health support
- Physiotherapy
- Prescription services
- Other specialist medical support
LV= states that Doctor Services is a non-contractual benefit and can therefore be changed or withdrawn.
We would not recommend LV= solely because of these services.
The suitability of the underlying insurance remains the priority.
Rehabilitation and Returning to Work
For income protection, the insurer’s role does not necessarily begin and end with paying a monthly claim.
Support that helps somebody recover and return to work can also be valuable.
LV= provides rehabilitation support as part of its wider protection proposition and reported significant use of services such as physiotherapy and mental health support among its members during 2025.
The appropriate support will depend on the individual circumstances.
LV= and Pre-existing Medical Conditions
Having a medical condition does not automatically mean you cannot obtain protection.
LV= assesses applications based on the individual information provided.
Depending on your circumstances and the type of cover requested, an insurer could:
- Offer standard terms
- Increase the premium
- Apply an exclusion
- Request additional medical information
- Postpone an application
- Be unable to provide a particular type of cover
Different insurers can assess the same medical history differently.
This is particularly important if you have a pre-existing medical condition.
Rather than publishing detailed acceptance limits, which can change and depend heavily on individual circumstances, we can research the current underwriting position when advising you.
Occupations and Income Protection
Occupation can have a significant effect on income protection.
An insurer will normally want to understand what you actually do rather than simply looking at your job title.
This can be particularly relevant if your work involves:
- Manual duties
- Working at height
- Driving
- Machinery
- Physical activity
- Hazardous environments
- Other higher-risk duties
LV= may be worth considering for a range of occupations, but the terms available will depend on the individual role and circumstances.
We can compare its approach with other income protection providers before deciding where an application should be placed.
LV= Protection Claims
Claims statistics can provide useful context when researching an insurer, although past claims performance cannot guarantee the outcome of an individual future claim.
In July 2026, LV= reported that it had paid nearly £152 million in individual protection claims during 2025, supporting more than 8,000 people and their families.
Across its individual life insurance, critical illness and income protection business, LV= reported paying 95% of claims during the year.
The figures also demonstrate that protection claims arise from many different circumstances rather than only rare events.
LV= Business Protection
LV= also has a broad business protection proposition.
Its current options include:
- Key Person Cover
- Share and Partnership Protection
- Relevant Life Cover
- Executive Income Protection
- Life and critical illness protection for business purposes
These policies are designed to protect different financial risks within a business.
Key Person Protection
A key person is someone whose contribution is particularly important to the success of a business.
This could be:
- A director
- A senior salesperson
- A technical specialist
- A founder
- An employee responsible for important customer relationships
If that person dies or becomes critically ill, the financial impact on the business could be significant.
Key Person Protection can provide a financial payment following a successful claim to help the business deal with areas such as:
- Lost profits
- Recruitment costs
- Business disruption
- Repaying borrowing
- Replacing specialist skills
The appropriate amount of cover needs to reflect the potential financial loss to the business.
Share and Partnership Protection
Share and Partnership Protection can help business owners retain control if a shareholder or partner dies or becomes critically ill.
Without appropriate planning, the deceased owner’s shares may pass to their beneficiaries.
The remaining business owners may want to purchase those shares but may not have sufficient cash available.
Protection can provide funds following a successful claim that can be used alongside appropriate legal agreements to achvieve the purchase.
Legal and tax advice may also be required when structuring these arrangements.
Relevant Life Cover
LV= currently offers Relevant Life Cover.
Relevant life insurance is an individual life insurance policy arranged and paid for by an employer for an employee.
This can include a salaried company director.
It can be considered where a business wants to provide an individual death-in-service benefit without establishing a full group life scheme.
Relevant Life Cover needs to be structured appropriately and placed into a suitable trust.
It can offer tax advantages in the right circumstances, although tax treatment depends on individual circumstances and legislation can change.
Appropriate tax advice should be obtained where necessary.
LV= Executive Income Protection
LV= also offers Executive Income Protection.
This is designed for companies wanting to protect an employee’s income if illness or injury prevents them from working.
The business owns and pays for the policy.
Following a successful claim, LV= pays the monthly benefit to the employer, which can then use the money to help continue paying the insured employee.
Depending on the arrangement, the benefit can also help meet certain employer costs such as pension contributions and National Insurance.
Executive Income Protection can be particularly relevant for directors and key employees of limited companies.
Personal or Executive Income Protection?
For company directors, it can sometimes be appropriate to compare personal income protection with Executive Income Protection.
The two arrangements work differently.
With personal income protection, the individual owns the policy and normally pays the premium personally.
With Executive Income Protection, the company owns and pays for the policy and receives the claim payment.
Which structure is more appropriate will depend on factors including:
- How the director is remunerated
- The amount of protection required
- Company structure
- Existing sick pay
- Tax considerations
We can consider the protection requirement, although specialist tax advice may also be necessary.
Does LV= Offer Whole of Life Insurance?
LV= administers a number of historic whole-of-life policies, but new LV= Whole of Life products are no longer available.
If you need new whole-of-life insurance for areas such as estate planning or inheritance tax planning, we can consider alternative insurers currently accepting new applications.
This distinction is useful because customers searching for Liverpool Victoria may come across older LV= whole-of-life products online that are no longer available to new customers.
How Much Does LV= Protection Cost?
There is no standard price for LV= protection.
Premiums can depend on factors such as:
- Your age
- Health
- Smoking status
- Occupation
- Lifestyle
- Amount of cover
- Policy term
- Type of protection
- Additional options
For income protection, factors such as earnings, occupation, waiting period and claim period will also influence the premium.
Business protection will depend on the person being insured, the amount required and the purpose of the cover.
Rather than relying on generic example premiums, we can obtain personalised quotations from LV= and other suitable providers.
Is LV= the Right Insurer for Me?
LV= can be worth considering because of the breadth of its personal and business protection proposition.
It offers solutions across life insurance, critical illness, income protection, family income benefit and business protection.
However, a broad range does not automatically make it the right insurer for your individual circumstances.
When making a recommendation, we can consider:
- What you want to protect
- The amount of cover required
- Your budget
- Your medical history
- Your occupation
- Employer benefits
- Existing protection
- Policy definitions
- Underwriting
- Additional benefits
- Business circumstances where relevant
Why Use Kerr & Watson for Protection Advice?
Protection advice involves more than finding the lowest monthly premium.
At Kerr & Watson, we can:
- Establish what you need to protect
- Calculate an appropriate level of cover
- Review existing protection
- Consider employer benefits
- Research suitable insurers
- Carry out pre-application underwriting research where appropriate
- Compare policy features and definitions
- Compare premiums
- Explain our recommendation clearly
- Complete the application
- Help throughout the underwriting process
For business owners, we can also consider whether personal protection, business protection or a combination of both is appropriate.
We are not tied to LV=, so we can compare it with other suitable insurers.
Speak to Kerr & Watson About LV= Protection
LV= is an established UK mutual offering a broad range of personal and business protection.
Its current proposition includes life insurance, critical illness cover, income protection, family income benefit, Relevant Life Cover and Executive Income Protection.
It also provides additional services such as LV= Doctor Services to eligible protection customers.
However, the most appropriate insurer depends on your individual needs, health, occupation, budget and the type of protection required.
At Kerr & Watson, we can compare LV= with other suitable protection providers and recommend cover based on your circumstances.
Whether you are protecting your mortgage, family, income or business, speak to Kerr & Watson and we can help you understand your options.
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