Scottish Widows has introduced beneficiary nomination for new personal single‑own‑life or life‑with‑critical‑illness policies.
It is available for advisers who apply directly with Scottish Widows or via the UnderwriteMe portal, it enables customers to nominate up to five beneficiaries during the application process.
The nomination can be added without signatures or separate trust forms, and must be in place before the policy goes on risk.
The insurer said it was doing so in a bid to help ensure money goes to the right people and to speed up payments to beneficiaries after a bereavement, without the need to wait for probate.
For applications with multiple eligible covers, advisers can choose different beneficiaries for each cover or apply the same nominations across all, supporting smoother claims handling and avoiding delays that can occur when trying to identify next of kin.
Unlike a trust, beneficiary nomination allows the policyholder to update their chosen beneficiaries at any time without additional approval or paperwork involving trustees, the insurer added.
Popular option
Providing the option has proven popular with customers and typically has much higher take-up than the traditional trust process, as Health & Protection’s Individual and Business Protection Report 2025 revealed.
In August 2025, The Exeter revealed that since introducing beneficiary nomination on its real life product in March it had seen six in 10 (60%) single life policies including a nominated beneficiary.
It added a further 10% of policies had used a trust form to safeguard future benefit payments.
In March 2024, Guardian said policies with its beneficiary nomination tool Payout Planner in place accounted for 68% of its life insurance book at year-end 2023 and 74% of its life insurance claims paid during 2023.
Practical tool
Paul Jenkin, head of protection change at Scottish Widows, (pictured) said: “Beneficiary nomination is a practical tool that helps advisers support clients and their beneficiaries when it matters most. It helps reduce delays and makes it easier for life cover to be paid as intended.
“Advisers can use it with confidence for straightforward needs, while trusts remain an option where more control is required. Overall, it gives advisers more flexibility to put the right protection in place at the right time.”
Ruth Gilbert, partner at Insuring Change added: “I’m delighted to see Scottish Widows join the ranks of those insurers making it simpler for advisers to ensure life cover can be paid in the way their clients expect.”