PROTECTION GUIDES
Life insurance for stay-at-home parents
The care you give at home has a real financial value. Life cover can pay for it if your family ever had to replace it.
The short answer
Yes, a stay-at-home parent can need life insurance just as much as a working parent. If they died, the family would have to pay for childcare and help at home, or the working parent might need to reduce their hours and earn less.
A lump sum from life cover can meet those costs until the children are older. The amount is based on what your role would cost to replace, not on an income.
The value of the work you do at home
A parent at home may not earn a salary, but the family depends on what they do every day: looking after the children, running the household, and making it possible for the other parent to work.
Because none of this is paid, it is easy to overlook when thinking about protection. Yet if that parent died, the work would still need doing, and someone would have to pay for it.
What it would cost to replace
The surviving parent might need to pay for some or all of the following:
- •Childcare: nursery, a childminder or nanny, after-school clubs and holiday cover.
- •School runs: someone to take and collect the children, or a change to working patterns to do it.
- •Household help: cleaning, cooking, laundry and the other jobs that keep a home running.
- •Lost earnings: the working parent may need to cut their hours or change jobs to be there for the children, reducing the family's income.
Life insurance can pay a lump sum on a death during the policy term, subject to the policy terms, giving the family time and money to adjust.
Why income alone does not decide how much cover you need
Life insurance is often explained as replacing an income, which can suggest that only earners need it. In practice, protection needs are about what the family would lose. For a parent at home, that is their time, their care and the flexibility they give the other parent.
It also works the other way. The working parent's cover should allow for the fact that, if they died, the parent at home might need to return to work and pay for childcare. Our guide to life insurance for parents looks at both roles together.
Who it suits, and when it may not be needed
Who it can suit
- •Parents who look after young children full-time or most of the time
- •Families where the working parent could not easily reduce their hours
- •Parents who provide care that would be costly to replace, such as for a child with additional needs
When it may not be needed
- •Your children are older and need little day-to-day care
- •Close family could realistically take on the childcare for as long as needed
- •Savings or existing cover would comfortably pay for replacement care
How to estimate an amount
You do not need published averages to arrive at a sensible figure. Using your own circumstances usually gives a better answer:
- •List the tasks you do in a typical week, and which of them someone would need to be paid for
- •Get local prices for the childcare and help you would use, such as your nearest nursery or childminder
- •Estimate how many years that help would be needed, which usually falls as the children grow
- •Add any income the working parent would lose by reducing their hours
- •Take off any cover or savings that would already be available
The term is usually set to end when your youngest child is expected to need less care. Your age, health and smoking status will affect the premium, and it is worth choosing an amount you can keep paying for the full term.
Worth knowing
Next steps
Talk through the numbers together as a couple, then decide whether separate policies or a joint policy suits you better. We can compare options for both parents at once, so the cover works as a whole.
Life insurance pays on death, and many policies include terminal illness benefit subject to the policy's definition. If a serious illness would disrupt your family, you could also consider critical illness cover, which pays only when the claim definition is met.
Talk to us about cover for a parent at home
Tell us how your family shares the work at home and the costs you would face. We will help you put a value on it and find cover that fits your budget. There is no fee for our advice.
How CoverLife can help
CoverLife Insurance gives personalised protection advice, with a dedicated adviser for your application and ongoing support. We have access to a panel of 15 protection insurers, with availability varying by product and circumstances, and we compare benefits and terms alongside price. We also help with policy reviews and with applications involving medical conditions, unusual occupations or hazardous hobbies.
We charge no advice or arrangement fee; we receive commission from the insurer. CoverLife Insurance is a trading name of CoverTrade Risk Management Ltd, authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, firm reference number 1020148. More about CoverLife
Related guides
The questions people usually ask next.
Common questions
Can I get life insurance if I do not work?+
Yes. Insurers do offer life cover to people who are not in paid work, including parents who stay at home. Some insurers set limits on how much cover a non-earning partner can have, often linked to the working partner's cover or to the family's circumstances, so the maximum available varies by insurer.
How much life insurance does a stay-at-home parent need?+
There is no fixed figure. Start by listing what you do each week, what it would cost to pay someone else to do it, and for how many years it would be needed. Add any income the working parent would lose by cutting their hours. We can help you work through this for your family.
Is it better to be on a joint policy with my partner?+
It can be cheaper, but a joint policy pays out once and then ends, so the surviving parent would be left without cover. Separate policies let each parent have an amount that reflects their role, and the survivor keeps their own policy after a claim.
Should the cover last until the children leave home?+
That is a common choice, because the need for childcare and help at home usually falls as children grow older. The heaviest costs tend to come while children are young, so the term should at least cover those years.
Can a stay-at-home parent get income protection?+
Not usually in the ordinary way, because income protection replaces lost earnings. Some insurers offer limited cover for people who are not working, often based on being unable to carry out everyday activities, but the terms are restricted and vary by insurer.