The list runs across the categories every serious CI policy covers, with L&G’s definitions deciding each claim. The heavyweights: cancer — but not all cancers, with less advanced cases excluded, which matters because two-thirds of L&G’s CI claims are cancer-related; heart attack and stroke of specified severity; then the wider list spanning organ and surgical conditions (aorta graft surgery requiring replacement, major organ transplant), neurological conditions (benign brain tumour resulting in surgical removal or permanent symptoms, bacterial meningitis with permanent symptoms), blood and systemic conditions (aplastic anaemia with permanent bone marrow failure) and more. Two honest readings of any such list: first, the phrase ‘permanent symptoms’ appears repeatedly — several conditions pay only when lasting effects are confirmed, not on diagnosis alone; second, the definition is the product — a claim pays when L&G’s written definition is met and confirmed by an appropriate UK consultant, so the authoritative source is always the current Guide to Critical Illness Cover and Policy Terms, not any summary including this one, and existing policyholders should read their own documents since covered lists change between policy generations. What’s never covered: mental health conditions like depression and anxiety (a specified-conditions product covers its list, nothing else — though having mental health history doesn’t stop you applying). Advisers can also access an ‘Extra’ tier with a longer list — one of several reasons whole-market comparison beats buying direct.

Yes — automatically, at no extra cost, and the children’s layer is one of the product’s genuine strengths once you know its real numbers. If a covered child is diagnosed with a listed critical illness, L&G pays the lower of 50% of your cover amount or £25,000 — and crucially, this comes as an additional payment: your own cover amount and premiums are untouched. The supporting benefits stack up meaningfully: £100 per night if the child is hospitalised in the three months after diagnosis (up to £1,000), a Childcare Benefit of up to £1,000 toward registered childcare if you claim on your own cover while a child under five is at home, and a £5,000 Child Accident Hospitalisation Benefit if a child spends 28+ consecutive days in hospital after an accident. The boundaries to know: cover runs per child with a maximum of two claims across the policy, conditions present at birth are excluded, children are covered from 30 days old, and the definition of ‘child’ is generous — natural, adopted, stepchildren and legal guardianship all count. Through advisers, a Children’s Critical Illness Extra tier lifts the ceiling to 50%/£40,000 with a longer condition list. For parents weighing whether a separate child policy adds anything, the honest starting point is that this built-in layer already does the core job.

The record says yes with caveats worth knowing. The scale case: L&G paid £291 million in critical illness claims in 2025, sits on the market’s biggest protection volumes, and structures the product with genuine strengths — automatic children’s cover, additional payments for carcinoma in situ of the breast (treated by surgery) and low-grade prostate cancer (requiring treatment) that pay the lower of 25%/£25,000 without reducing your main cover or premiums, no claim cut-off period, and options to increase cover later without fresh medical questions. The caveats: it’s an add-on to L&G life policies rather than a standalone product, so the payout is typically accelerated — one pot, and a CI claim ends the policy, leaving no life cover behind unless you rebuild it (the structural point most buyers miss); the conditions list, while solid, is the standard tier unless an adviser routes you to the Extra version; and the premium structure deserves scrutiny, because reviewable-premium quotes look cheaper today and get repriced later — the renewal-shock machine — so guaranteed premiums are almost always the better long-term buy despite the higher starting figure. Verdict shape: a heavyweight product from the market’s volume king, best bought through whole-market comparison where the Extra tier, rival insurers’ definitions and guaranteed-premium pricing can all be weighed in one pass.

Three genuinely different machines. L&G is the volume pragmatist: CI as an add-on to its market-leading life policies, a solid standard conditions list (richer Extra tier via advisers), automatic children’s cover with real supporting benefits, additional payments that protect the main sum for the early-stage cancers it specifies, and pricing that often wins for clean health — with the reviewable-versus-guaranteed premium choice being the trap to step around. Aviva brings the perk layer and its own respected definitions; its claims culture pays out at rates that lead the market on the life side, and its CI proposition competes hardest on the overall package for families already in the Aviva ecosystem. Vitality plays a different game entirely: its Serious Illness Cover replaces the binary claim/no-claim model with severity-based payments — smaller, earlier payouts for less severe diagnoses, scaling with seriousness — which can pay in situations where traditional CI (L&G’s included) pays nothing, at the price of complexity and smaller sums for early-stage claims. The honest comparison method: definitions beat brand names (the same tumour can claim differently under three insurers’ wordings), added-value differs more than price (children’s terms, additional payments, severity models), and the premium type decides the decade. No table settles it in advance — a whole-market quote pricing all three against your age and health is the only comparison that’s actually about you.