You can cancel a policy at any time, but you probably won't get any money back.
The amount you may or may not get back depends on whether or not the contract you are canceling has ever had any investment element attached to it, (which may have resulted in a surrender value building up over the years you have been paying in to the plan) and when you cancel it.
If you have taken out a new plan, you can normally cancel it within the first 30 days of starting it and still expect to get any premiums paid back (unless you've already made a claim).Your cancellation rights are normally laid out in the literature provide when you set the plan up and in the policy documents you receive.
After 30 days you can still cancel the policy but you are unlikely to be entitled to a refund of any payments you've already made.
If your are looking in to the options of replacing an existing plan, you should leaver you existing plan in place at least until you have a new plan in place and any deferred period that must pass before your new plan provides cover (i.e. the plan must be in force for at least 3 months before cover starts) has passed. Leaving the cover in place whilst you are researching your options properly helps to ensure that you have continuous cover with no breaks.
To research your critical illness position further you can use our exclusive interactive research tool, the critical illness finance navigator.
