UK citizens who travel for business or leisure should have additional travel insurance. This is apart from having a Global Health Insurance Card (GHIC) or a European Health Insurance Card (EHIC). The main reason for having travel insurance is that these two health cards have limited coverage and cannot serve as travel insurance substitutes.
So, what is travel insurance in the UK and why should you recommend it to clients? In this article, we discuss the basics, relevant issues, and provide other important information about this type of coverage.
Travel insurance is a policy that protects travellers from the financial impact of unexpected events while on a trip. As with any insurance policy, the traveller pays a premium and, in return, the insurer agrees to pay valid claims for issues covered by the policy. Travel insurance is applicable to events that occur while travelling within the UK or abroad.
While details vary, most mainstream UK travel insurance policies will cover:
Depending on the level of coverage, some policies also provide financial protection for missed departures, delays, and personal liability.
Travel insurance policies are often sold as either:
A single-trip package provides cover for one named trip, from departure to return. This policy is best suited for travellers who only plan to travel once within a year. It typically includes cancellation, medical emergencies, and lost baggage. If your client and their family members specifically wish to travel by plane, airline passenger insurance, even if it's for a single flight.
This covers multiple trips in a year, often up to a set number of days per trip. Annual multi-trip policies are typically marketed to frequent travellers.
Medical costs in other countries can be very high. Even within Europe, state systems or local rules often leave gaps that travellers must fund themselves. But with standard travel insurance, the cover usually includes:
Many UK travellers hold an EHIC or GHIC. While they may provide access to state-provided healthcare in certain countries, often on similar terms to residents, NHS guidance clearly states their limits. These limits include:
You can also check our guide to the GHIC and our guide to the EHIC to see how each works and what they cover. Even with a valid global health insurance card or European health insurance card, travellers are still expected to buy travel insurance to have wider protection.
To be on the safe side, make sure that your client has either a valid GHIC or EHIC, and recommend the best travel insurance that meets their budget, needs, and claims history. Be sure to check the validity of their cards; as many as two million EHICs and GHICs were expected to expire last year.
The UK Government expects travellers to check Foreign Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO) guidance before and during trips. This matters for insurance because:
If FCDO advice changes after a booking, contact your insurer. Insurers may treat cancellations, rearrangements, or ongoing cover differently depending on when the advice changed and the wording of the policy.
Unless the travel insurance policy is specifically branded as a ski policy or a cruise policy, winter sports and cruise cover are normally excluded. Selecting these options helps align the level of cover with the client's actual activities on the trip. Without them, claims linked to winter sports or cruises may not be honoured.
For most mainstream UK insurers, winter sports like skiing, snowboarding, tobogganing, and the like are treated as higher-risk activities. These are often sold as an optional winter sports clause or as a dedicated ski or snowboard policy. If a traveller skis or snowboards without this option, any related medical or equipment claim is likely excluded.
Note that some brands offer specialist ski policies where winter sports cover is built in by default. In those cases, it is standard, but only because the whole product is designed around those activities. But for a general European single-trip or worldwide annual multi-trip policy, it is safer to assume winter sports are not included unless the wording in the policy explicitly says so.
Cruise cover is handled in a similar way, in that many insurers treat a cruise as a different risk profile (e.g., shipboard medical care, missed ports, cabin confinement, evacuation). Some require a specific cruise upgrade or a dedicated cruise insurance policy.
Without this upgrade, cruise-related incidents can fall outside cover, even if the core policy is in place.
A smaller number of mid‑ to high‑end products include basic cruise benefits within a standard worldwide policy, but again, this is product-specific, not a market default.
Holiday insurance is relevant for domestic trips as well as foreign holidays. Even when travellers stay within the UK, policies can still protect:
Some providers note that UK travel insurance is particularly important for those with pre-existing medical conditions, because they face a higher risk of needing to cancel or cut a trip short.
Most UK travellers with pre-existing conditions can still get UK travel insurance, but they usually need specialist screening and must fully declare their medical history. There are many UK providers and directories that focus on travel insurance for clients with pre-existing conditions, including serious issues such as heart disease, cancer, or stroke.
These insurers can offer cover for medical treatment, cancellation and related medical expenses, but only if all conditions, medications, and recent investigations are disclosed when buying the policy. Insurers must also be updated of any health changes before the insureds travel.
Specialist brands emphasise that failure to declare or travelling against medical advice can:
Read our guide to the common reasons travel insurance claims are denied and take the necessary steps to avoid this potential disaster.
In practice, an insured with pre-existing conditions usually buys cover either through a mainstream brand that accepts their health profile after screening, or through a specialist medical insurer listed on directories such as MoneyHelper's travel insurance directory, which the UK government helped set up to assist UK citizens who struggle to find suitable cover.
UK travel insurance is relatively inexpensive for most straightforward trips, although prices can vary by age, destination, trip cost, medical history and extras.
These are typical price ranges based on the latest published data:
Some UK guides suggest single-trip cover usually costs around a small single‑digit percentage (often roughly 3% to 6%) of the total trip cost, with more expensive or long‑haul holidays sitting at the higher end of that range.
These factors can raise or lower the price of travel insurance:
For a healthy UK traveller in their 20s or 30s taking a standard one‑week European holiday, data suggests premiums of about £7 to £30 for single trip cover, and around £20 to £70 for annual multi‑trip policies. Figures are higher for older travellers, worldwide destinations, or complex medical histories.
