Health and protection news

Tesco insurance introduces free parent life cover in partnership with Aviva

A parent and older child lie together on a bed, affectionately cuddling and kissing a baby in a warm family home setting
  • Initiative aims to improve the financial resilience of more UK families
  • Free 12-month cover offers a simple, no-cost first step towards putting protection in place

Tesco Insurance and Money Services has today announced its ‘Free Parent Life Cover’ proposition in partnership with Aviva, designed to help families take their first step into life insurance and protect what matters most.

The initiative will provide each parent with £15,000 of free life cover for every child under the age of four, for a period of 12 months.

New research from Tesco Insurance and Money Services reveals that more than a third of young families remain unprotected, with only 62% of parents of under-fours having life insurance, leaving a significant proportion without cover should the worst happen.

The Free Parent Life Cover proposition for Tesco customers has been introduced to help address this gap, offering a simple and accessible solution that encourages more families to consider the role protection can play in supporting their financial futures.

Cost is perceived as a barrier to purchasing life insurance among UK parents, with three in 10 (30%) saying it has actively put them off taking out a policy. This proposition directly addresses this, offering Tesco shoppers and Clubcard members with young families a free and straightforward starting point, to encourage them to consider their long-term protection needs.

The proposition will be integrated across the Tesco ecosystem, reaching customers both in-store and online. With 3.4 million households with young children shopping regularly in Tesco stores each year, the initiative will feature prominently in baby and toddler categories, as well as through digital touchpoints.

Tesco will be putting in place a broader engagement strategy to help Free Parent Life Cover customers adjust to the practical and financial demands of new parenthood. This includes practical tools to help families understand their protection needs, personalised communications, and access to a range of Tesco benefits, Clubcard offers and partner content designed to support early parenthood.

Ban Mahsoub, Partnerships Director at Tesco Insurance and Money Services, said: “We know that becoming a parent is one of life’s most important milestones, but it can also bring new financial responsibilities that many families feel unprepared for.

“Free Parent Life Cover is designed to give parents a simple, no-cost way to start thinking about protection and their financial futures, while offering immediate peace of mind. We’ve made it as easy as possible for families to get started, with a quick sign-up process that takes less than two minutes and doesn’t require bank details or medical questionnaires.

Through our partnership with Tesco, our aim is to encourage more families get started with protection earlier and to support them in taking positive steps to build their financial resilience, so they can focus on what matters most.

“By removing barriers and meeting customers where they already shop with us, we can help more parents take those important first steps towards protecting what matters most; their loved ones. It forms part of our wider commitment to making insurance more accessible, relevant and rewarding for Tesco customers, supporting them through key life moments in a way that feels genuinely helpful.”

Daren Boys, Protection Distribution Director at Aviva, said: “This is a significant initiative by Tesco and Aviva to actively engage millions of families with protection insurance and supports our ambition to strengthen financial resilience across UK households by reaching customers through a diverse range of distribution channels.

“At Aviva, we see first-hand how starting a family can reshape priorities. Free Parent Life Cover is about meeting parents in that moment — offering protection in a way that’s simple and easy to take up. Through our partnership with Tesco, our aim is to encourage more families get started with protection earlier and to support them in taking positive steps to build their financial resilience, so they can focus on what matters most.”

Tesco’s Life Insurance proposition is provided in partnership with Aviva, combining Tesco’s strong brand presence and customer-centric focus with Aviva’s underwriting expertise and long-standing experience in the protection market. It offers customers a straightforward and reliable way to protect their loved ones, with five-star rated Defaqto cover, alongside exclusive Tesco benefits and rewards.

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Enquiries:

Melissa Loughran

Senior Media Relations Manager

Notes to editors:

  • We are the UK's only diversified insurer and we operate in the UK, Ireland and Canada. We also have international investments in India and China.
  • We help our 25.2 million customers make the most out of life, plan for the future, and have the confidence that if things go wrong we’ll be there to put it right.
  • We have been taking care of people for more than 325 years, in line with our purpose of being ‘with you today, for a better tomorrow’. In 2025, we paid £31.9 billion in claims and benefits to our customers. 
  • Aviva is a Living Wage, Living Pension and Living Hours employer and provides market-leading benefits for our people, including flexible working, paid carers leave and equal parental leave. Find out more at www.aviva.com/about-us/our-people/
  • As at 31 December 2025, total Group assets under management at Aviva Group were £454 billion and our estimated Solvency II shareholder capital surplus as at 31 March 2026 was £6.1 billion. Our shares are listed on the London Stock Exchange and we are a member of the FTSE 100 index.
  • For more details on what we do, our business and how we help our customers, visit www.aviva.com/about-us
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