What happens if I can't afford to pay premiums for a while?

It is really important that you keep up to date with your premium payments or your policy will lapse, which means that you will no longer have insurance cover.

Most policies offer a short 'grace' period of at least 30 days, so if you miss a single premium payment you have a few weeks to catch up. Beyond that, if you fall behind with your payments your policy will expire and you will be uninsured. If this happens and you still want insurance you will have to apply for a new policy, with terms and premiums based on your health and circumstances at that time.

In rare cases, on some policies, insurers offer a one-time 'premium holiday' option. This allows you to take a break of an agreed period (up to a year) during which you will pay no premiums. After this time, you can reinstate the policy without having to provide new medical or financial data, simply by paying premiums again. You will generally only be able to do this once during the life of your policy.

It's important to note, though, that you will not have insurance cover during this break – so if anything happens while you are not paying premiums you will be unable to make a claim.