Whole of Life assurance
It will pay out the amount of the life cover in the event of the death of the life assured, whenever death occurs, provided that the policy remains in force. Whole of life policies are commonly used to provide financial protection for self and dependants , and to protect the value of the estate on death from inheritance tax.

Term Assurance
There is a wide variety of term assurances but they all share one common characteristic: the sum assured is payable only if the death of the life assured occurs within specified period of time (term).

Term assurance is the most basic form of life assurance - pure protection for a limited period with no element of investment. It is therefore the cheapest form of protection.

Term assurance can be used for personal and family protection and also for a wide range of business situations. Business use includes the provision of key person insurance to protect against the loss of profits resulting from the death of an important employee and partnership insurance schemes to enable surviving partners to buy out the share of a partner who has died.

Here is a list of some of the common Term assurance cover available

Level Term assurance
The sum assured remains constant throughout the term. The sum assured will be paid out on death during the term. Level term assurance is often used when a fixed amount would be needed on death to repay a constant fixed term debt, such as an interest only mortgage.

It can also be used to provide family cover, eg until the children leave home.

Decreasing term assurance (Family income benefit)
With decreasing term assurance, the sum assured reduces to nothing over the term of the policy,

Mortgage protection assurance
The most common use of decreasing term assurance is to cover the amount outstanding on a repayment mortgage - this is usually known as a mortgage protection assurance.