Tesco Insurance & Money Services and Aviva have expanded their protection partnership with the launch of critical illness cover for Tesco customers, extending a tie-up that began with the rollout of a co-branded life insurance plan in 2025.
The product includes children's critical illness cover, which pays up to the lower of £25,000, or 50% of the cover amount, for children diagnosed with and meeting one of the listed critical illness conditions. The new Critical Illness Plan can be purchased alongside life insurance, giving Tesco customers an option to secure financial support not only in the event of death but also if they are diagnosed with one of a wide range of serious conditions.
The critical illness cover is underwritten by Aviva and distributed through Tesco’s digital channels and wider store footprint. Positioning the product alongside life cover is aimed at offering a more complete protection package to customers who may not typically access advice‑led channels.
Customers will also have access to the Aviva DigiCare+ app, an added-value service that offers a range of wellbeing and everyday support tools designed to help people manage their health more proactively. The inclusion of digital health services mirrors a broader trend in the UK protection market, where insurers are increasingly coupling traditional lump-sum benefits with ongoing support to improve engagement and perceived value.
In 2025, Aviva paid out more than £380 million in individual critical illness and children's benefit claims, illustrating the role this type of cover can play for people facing life-changing diagnoses. A lump-sum payment can also help meet immediate and longer-term costs such as mortgage or rent, household bills or treatment-related expenses.
The launch comes against the backdrop of the UK’s widely discussed “protection gap” – the shortfall between the insurance cover people hold and the level of financial resilience they are likely to need in the event of death or serious illness. Industry and regulatory commentary has repeatedly highlighted that many households would struggle financially if a main earner were unable to work, despite the availability of life and critical illness products.
By offering critical illness cover through a mass‑market retail brand, Tesco and Aviva are targeting consumers who may be less likely to engage with traditional intermediated channels. The move is also in line with the Financial Conduct Authority’s expectations that firms help customers better understand their needs and access suitable products, and that protection policies deliver fair value over time.
The partnership underlines the role of large retail brands as alternative distribution routes for protection, particularly to under-served or non-advised segments. It also reinforces critical illness as a growth area, with providers increasingly positioning it alongside life cover in simpler, combined propositions.
The integration of services such as DigiCare+ also highlights how value in protection is being framed not only around claims but also around day‑to‑day support and prevention.
Competitors will be watching closely to see whether supermarket‑led partnerships such as Tesco and Aviva’s can meaningfully lift awareness and take‑up of life and critical illness cover, and whether similar collaborations can help narrow the UK’s persistent protection gap.
