Shepherds Friendly Over 50s Life Insurance Review 2025

The Shepherds Friendly Society is one of the longest-running insurers in the world.

In 1826, they began by establishing themselves as a mutual organisation, and they remain the same today, despite having tens of thousands of members.

For over a century, The Shepherds Friendly Society has stuck to the same core principles.

When they started in 1826, there was no state money for the poor. Mutual aid organisations were established in communities by locals, with Shepherds Friendly being among the first in the UK to set up a mutual organisation. 

It was a local group of people who paid a small monthly fee to the mutual fund. The funds were to help those affected by illness and death to prevent them from falling into further financial hardship.

How Do Shepherds Friendly Plans Compare Against Other Life Insurance Companies – Quick Quote Form

Online review companies show very positive customer experiences with Shepherds Friendly

Review Platform	Review Quality And Number
Trustpilot	854 Reviews With An Overall Rating Of “Great”.
Reviews.io	2,963 Reviews, where 93% of customers recommend them. Overall 4.6 out of 5 rating.
SmartMoneyPeople	A Score Of 4.8 Out Of 5. Based on 1,467 Reviews. Overall rating of Excellent.
Fairer Finance	An overall value rating of 9 out of 10 stars.
Defaqto	For the third year running, they secured five top-three placements, including first place in three protection categories.

How the Shepherds Friendly Over 50s Plan Works

The plan is open to anyone between 50 and 75 years old. They offer a guaranteed acceptance to those in that age group.

There aren’t any medical or health questions to be answered. The other guarantee you have is that there will be a payout.

Save Money And Get A Quote Now. Protect Your Family Before It’s Too Late.

The Over 50s plan is a Whole of Life insurance policy, sometimes called an assurance policy. Whatever the sum your policy insures you for, that’s how much your family will receive after your death.

The Whole of Life term is only valid if your policy remains active. When you reach the age of 90, you stop paying premiums; however, you remain covered.

The guaranteed cash lump may not be for the entire insured amount. The first two years are sort of like a provisional period when you are covered but at the same time aren’t.

If you were to take the policy out and die within the first two years of the policy start date, your family would not receive the full amount of your cash value stated on your life insurance policy.

Instead of deaths occurring within the first two years of signing up, the family receives 150% of your premiums into the fund.

The Application Process

The application process is simple. It can be done online or over the telephone.

At the time of applying, you will be asked if you’re a smoker or non-smoker. The reason for this is that non-smokers get preferential quotes in the form of lower monthly premiums.

That’s just because smokers are at a higher risk of dying younger.

In any case, the Over 50s life plan from Shepherds Friendly will guarantee acceptance provided you’re in the age group 50 to 75 years old and are a UK resident.

Payments must be kept up to date as soon as your policy begins. If you miss your payments, Shepherds Friendly has the right to cancel your policy. All insurers do the same, so it’s important to think about your quote before you accept the offer.

About the premiums

Cover starts from £10 per month, which is slightly higher than others’. However, at the top end of the scale, the premium for Shepherds Friendly is £50 per month, which can be lower than the cost other insurers charge for similar plans. The premiums can be higher than £50 for those in poor health.

Free Funeral Benefit Option (that you may want to leave alone)

Working in association with Shepherds Friendly, Golden Charter is among the top funeral plan service providers in the UK.

When joining Shepherds Friendly, you’ll be asked if you’d like to include the free funeral benefit, which is £250 towards the funeral cost.

If you agree to this, it will be a funeral director from Golden Charter who receives payment, and they’ll be the company to organise the funeral.

The £250 does not go to your beneficiaries. The Funeral Director will take his or her fee from the insurance money paid by Shepherds Friendly.

If it’s short, your family will need to top it up. If the funeral costs less than what the insurance policy pays out, the funeral expenses will be paid first, and the remaining amount will be paid to your beneficiaries.

Tax advice is not included and should be sought

This is dependent on how much your insurance policy is worth. It should be considered in addition to the value of your estate.

If it’s over the threshold, your family may be liable to pay inheritance tax. Tax advisors can work with you to set up your estate in the most tax-efficient way.

What’s Different about the Shepherds Friendly Over 50s Life Plan?

Preferential rates for non-smokers have a long-established history in the financial services sector. They relaunched the Over 50s plan in 2013, at which point many of the sums people were insured for through the policy were raised—not the premiums, the pay-outs.

Shepherds Friendly is an insurance provider that is worth getting a quote from and comparing it to what others are quoting.

They do have starting rates of a few pounds per month, which are more expensive than some other Over 50s plans provide, but they also offer a higher level of cover.

It’s a balancing act, best determined by the level of protection you need.

Keep in mind…

• The level of cover (cash sum amount) of your policy is fixed when your policy starts. The Shepherds Friendly Over 50s Life Plan is not index-linked. Therefore, it will not rise with inflation. If you live for another 25 years after taking out the policy, chances are it won’t be beneficial, in real terms, when it’s paid out.
• As the premiums are going to be paid until you’re 90 years old, there is a chance that you’ll pay more into the fund than your family will get back. This will mainly affect those who don’t keep in good health, who subsequently find their quotes high.
• If you’re quoted the high end of £50 per month, that’s £600 per year. £6,000 in ten years. By taking out the policy at 50 for a level of cover worth £4,500, you could have saved £50 for 7.5 years to achieve the same amount. If you invested it, you’d potentially have more. It is possible to pay into the fund more than the insurer will payout.
• You pay the premium until your 90th birthday, regardless of whether you’ve paid the total amount that the policy will pay your family. If that does happen, there’s no cash in value. If you stop paying your monthly premiums, the policy will be void, and you will forfeit any benefits.
• You won’t be able to get insured for large sums on a guaranteed Over 50s plan. The objective of this is to pay for funeral costs. If you need life insurance to cover outstanding debts, expenses, mortgage payments or car finance, it’s unlikely this type of plan will be sufficient.

Being Over 50 Does Not Exclude You from Regular Life Insurance of Any Type

The Over 50s term can be misleading. It does not mean that if you’re over 50, you need one of these plans. That would be age discrimination.

The Shepherds Friendly Over 50s Life Plan will provide preferential rates to non-smokers. However, being a non-smoker can indicate that you’re in good health, or at least in better health than a smoker would be.

If that is the case and you are in good health with no existing health conditions, you would be best served getting quotes for two types of life insurance, either term or whole of life (or both) and a quote for over the 50s.

You can find that the amount you can get covered for is significantly higher on a general life insurance policy than on an Over 50s plan.

Often, the case with these plans is that you’ll get enough cover to save your family from the funeral expenses. Once the insurer pays that, they get the leftover change.

For those without health concerns, there’s no reason not to check out what other types of coverage you can get. You could be cutting yourself short by not exploring all your options.

Shepherds Friendly Evolves into a Financial Services Firm

As the insurance industry has grown over the past century, so too has Shepherds Friendly.

They’ve expanded their insurance offerings into various sectors, and despite being highly successful, they’re one of the few that have not merged with another firm and brought on shareholders.

The company started similarly to the Credit Unions we see today, only focused on insurance rather than savings.

Today, they maintain the same type of trust they started 185 years ago.

Conclusion:

Death is a hard thing to think about, and it’s even harder to think about the financial implications it has on your loved ones.

No one likes to think about it, but if something happens to you, your loved ones will be left dealing with the financial aftermath.

This could mean bills that cannot be paid, debt that needs to be cleared, or simply being unable to maintain the same standard of living.

A life insurance policy provides peace of mind, knowing that you and your loved ones are financially protected in the event of an unexpected occurrence.

It’s important to find the right policy for your needs, and our helpful guide will ensure that you get the best deal for your family.

People often ask us what type of life insurance is best for them and why they should consider getting coverage.

If something happened to you and you didn’t have life insurance, your loved ones would have to bear the burden of funeral costs and other related expenses.

A life insurance policy can help alleviate some financial stress, allowing your family to focus on grieving.

Shepherds Friendly Life Insurance Further Information:

Registered Address:
Haw Bank House,
High Street,
Cheadle,
Cheshire, SK8 1AL

https://www.shepherdsfriendly.co.uk/plans/insurance/over-50-life-insurance

FS Registration Number: 109997

Telephone: 0371 454 4007

Further UK life insurance providers compared by the Insurance Hero team: