As a dedicated father having life insurance protection in place is vital to ensure my child’s financial future. It is reassuring to know that if anything were to happen to me, she would still be properly provided for throughout her childhood and beyond.

But for those dads out there currently without life insurance in place where should you shop to secure the most cost-effective policy in 2023?

In this article we review Tom life insurance exploring the pros and cons of their specialist ‘life insurance for dads’ service…

Why do dads need life insurance?

As a dad, you probably need some form of life insurance to ensure that your family are financially protected should anything happen to you.

It’s a very sad fact that a child loses a parent every 22 minutes in the UK[1], yet 12% of dads still don’t have any form of life cover.

If your family were to lose you and your income, could they keep up with the following costs:

•       Mortgage or rental payments?

•       Household bills/utilities?

•       Childcare or education fees?

•       Outstanding debts in your name (credit cards, car finance or personal loans)

•       Funeral costs?

Life insurance can be taken out to help cover these costs and relieve financial worry for your loved ones during an already stressful time.

The proceeds could also be used as an inheritance in the future, helping your children or even grandchildren with university fees or getting on the property ladder.

Who are Tom life insurance?

Tom, also referred to tom.co.uk, are a life insurance broker that specialises in arranging life insurance for dads here in the UK.

They provide a completely free service that helps you to source life insurance quotes from a panel of FCA regulated providers.

Since forming in 2015, Tom has sold more than 50,000 policies to dads across the country.

Who owns Tom life insurance?

Tom.co.uk is owned and operated by Candid Insurance Service Ltd, an FCA regulated life insurance company based in Bristol.

Candid was established in 2013 and acquired the Tom and Polly brands in 2018 from AGT Media, growing these significantly since then.

In 2023, they launched their own life insurance and serious illness products aimed at mums and dads, which are underwritten by iptiQ.

Tom life insurance reviews

Is Tom life insurance any good?

At the time of writing this review, Tom life insurance has an average rating of ‘Excellent’ on Trustpilot from 2,301 customer reviews.

87% of reviews rated the company at 5 stars and only 6% rated 1 star. Suggesting that, according to their customers, Tom.co.uk is a very credible company.

Tom life insurance adverts

Tom.co.uk mainly uses influencer marketing to promote their service and raise awareness of life insurance to parents in the UK.

Maybe you have seen one of their ads on TV, social media or YouTube?

The company has worked with a long list of British celebrities including:

•       Tyson Fury

•       Ronan Keating

•       Joey Essex

•       Brian McFadden

•       Professor Green

•       Jeff Brazier

•       Duncan James

•       John Hartson

•       Neil Ruddock

How much is Tom Life Insurance?

The cost of Tom life insurance depends on your personal circumstances and the policy you choose (level term, decreasing term, joint cover or single policy).

Insurers will take into account the following details in order to calculate your monthly premium:

•       Age

•       Health and wellbeing

•       Medical history/family medical history

•       Whether you smoke

•       Weight/BMI

•       Occupation

•       Policy type

•       Cover amount

•       Cover length (term)

Life insurance premiums increase as you get older, so it’s important to take out a policy sooner rather than later to get the best deal.

The most effective way of finding the cheapest cover is to compare multiple quotes, as costs can vary wildly between providers.

You can do this for free through Tom or alternatively, you could use a non-advised FCA-regulated broker like Reassured.co.uk. They are the UK’s largest broker and have created this comprehensive Reassured: life insurance for dads article which may also be of interest.

How to buy Tom life insurance

This is how you can buy life insurance through Tom:

1.      Complete the free online quote form

2.      Get a call from an FCA authorised agent

3.      Discuss your requirements and the different policy types available

4.      Choose your policy with help from the agent

5.      Answer some questions about your health and lifestyle

6.      The agent will work out your monthly premium and provide quotes

It’s a similar process to buying life insurance through Reassured, except they can also offer you the option to buy life insurance online, without talking to an agent.

Tom life insurance contact number

If you need to contact Tom about your life insurance, then their contact details are as follows:

920 Hempton Court
Aztec West
West Almondsbury
Bristol
BS32 4SR

Contact number: 0808 175 2244

Email: [email protected]

Who are Polly life insurance?

While Tom.co.uk is marketed to sell life insurance to UK dads, Polly.co.uk is marketed to sell life insurance mums. The service is effectively the same, however it is packaged to appeal specifically to mums.

Polly has also worked with an array of celebrities in order to promote their service, including Hollyoaks actress Jorgie Porter and Olympic swimmer Rebecca Adlington.

Since 2015, Polly.co.uk has sold over 750,000 policies and has more than 4,500 customer reviews on Trustpilot with an overall rating of ‘Excellent’.

Tom life insurance review summary

Tom.co.uk is a legitimate FCA regulated company and could help you compare life insurance quotes from a network of UK insurers.

Although, it’s not clear which insurers they work with or which policies they have available, except for the ones we’ve described above.

Regardless of how you secure your cover, it is imperative to shop around to compare quotes to identify the best available deal. This is especially true for so many families during these tough economic times.

Life insurance is there for a worst-case scenario and acts as a safety blanket. It is one of those things which many of us don’t think we will ever need; however, it could end up being the best investment you ever make.

If you are in early adulthood and healthy you could secure approximately £200,000 of cover for 20p a day.

So why not seize the day, secure your loved one’s future and get on with enjoying life safe in the knowledge that your finances are all in order?

[1] https://www.childbereavementuk.org/death-bereavement-statistics

Full disclosure: We were paid by Honest Mobile to provide a totally honest review of their mobile phone plan, warts and all. That’s exactly what we did.

If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you might remember our review of Smol laundry and dishwasher tablets from earlier this year. In that post, we took a deep dive into the latest sustainable offering to hit the market and assessed whether it was a case of ‘clothes washing’ or ‘green washing’.

See what I did there?

Well, Honest are the newcomers on the block in the mobile phone plan space, claiming that they’re ‘reinventing mobile for you and the planet’ as the only carbon negative mobile network. They reached out and sent me one of their sims to try.

Let’s get cracking.

Who are Honest Mobile?

I don’t know about you, but when challenger banks like ‘Starling Bank’ and ‘Monzo’ came along, I couldn’t have jumped ship from my old bank, which I’d been with since I was 11, quick enough. I’ve never looked back.

Over the last decade, the banking and energy industries respectively have gone through something of a transformation, bringing together technology with a more customer-focused approach – gone are the days of sitting for hours on hold on a poorly support telephone line.

We expect better.

What’s this got to do with a mobile phone company you ask? They claim to be doing the same for the mobile phone industry.

Taking a completely mobile-first approach to, well, mobile phone plan management, they aim to put control into the hands of their users. We’ll delive into that later.

Are Honest Mobile Environmentally Friendly?

Here’s a scary statistic for you: The tech industry makes up 3.7% of all greenhouse gases, a figure which is expected to double by 2025. They reckon state that ‘by 2040 communication technology will account for 14% of the global environmental footprint’.

In my day job, I’m the Head of Marketing for a sustainable energy company that harvests the sun’s energy through solar farms and redistributes that energy into electric car charging infrastructure across the UK.

I’m passionate about creating a sustainable future for my children. Last year I wrote last year about how my family were taking active steps to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

I love that Honest Mobile are taken active steps to help its members take an interest in their carbon footprint.

They do this by:

• Offseting and capturing CO2 through their investments in afforestation, biochar and direct air capture
• Tracking your phone’s carbon footprint so you can see the positive impact you’rehaving
• Donating 1% of your bill to reforestation projects as part of their mission to plant 1 million trees

Ordering your Honest Mobile SIM

The process of ordering your new SIM couldn’t be easier.

You can choose from either 30 day rolling plans or 12 month contracts which, at the time of writing this review, start from £12.15 per month.

Personally, I like the freedom of not being tied in to a contract and I use a lot of data because I share my hotspot plant with my daughter, Evie so she can stream on her iPad when we’re in the car for extended periods of time.

Once you’ve chosen your plan, you can order your free sim by dropping your email address and then some delivery information and payment details.

The process is all rather painless.

All I had to do next was download the app, which I’ll talk about later in this review.

One thing I really liked was how Honest asked me whether I’d like to transfer my phone number. Once I selected ‘Yes’, they let me easily choose when I’d like that switch to happen.

I chose to swap my number the day the SIM arrives.

Your SIM is sent first class and mine arrived a few days after I ordered it.

In fact, mine took longer than promised, but that’s because the Royal Mail deliveries in my area have been suffering a staff shortage recently due to COVID. When I checked in via the Help section of the Honest app, the response was immediate and they were super helpful…kudos.

The SIM packaging was lovely and definitely had a premium, well-thought-out feel to it.

I just popped out the SIM card and started the setup.

What’s the Honest Mobile App Like?

The Honest Mobile app is easy to find and, at the time of writing, has 4.6 out of 5 stars from 18 reviews.

Solid.

The app preview screen was clear and easy to follow, putting you immediately at ease when it comes to downloading it.

I downloaded the Honest app on Apple iOS and began the registration process. It started well, the process was easy to follow and they recognised that my email address had already been registered for an account.

As I hadn’t yet set a password, I clicked to request a new one…

The process fell down a little there and although Honest told me a new code had been sent, it didn’t tell me where: Email or phone.

After an hour and a half, I received the code and was able to register my account.

Top tip: If you don’t receive your email code right away, be patient…It will come through eventually.

What’s the Honest Mobile App Like?

Before you go any further, you’ll need to download the Honest Mobile app.

The links are here:
iOS
Android

The app is easy to find and, at the time of writing, has 4.6 out of 5 stars from 18 reviews.

Solid.

The app preview screen was clear and easy to follow, putting you immediately at ease when it comes to downloading it.

I downloaded the Honest app on Apple iOS and began the registration process. It started well, the process was easy to follow and they recognised that my email address had already been registered for an account.

As I hadn’t yet set a password, I clicked to request a new one…

The process fell down a little there and although Honest told me a new code had been sent, it didn’t tell me where: Email or phone.

After an hour and a half, I received the code and was able to register my account.

Top tip: If you don’t receive your email code right away, be patient…It will come through eventually.

How Easy is Setting Up My New Sim?

The setup is incredibly easy. Once you’ve fired up the app, you’ll be guided through a few questions on porting your number (if you so choose) and then you’re good to go!

How does Honest Mobile’s pricing compare to other plans on the market?

If you’re looking for the lowest price, Honest Mobile probably isn’t it. A quick Google search showed 30 day rolling contracts with unlimited data, the equivalent to what I received from Honest Mobile, starting at just £10.00 per month with Asda Mobile.

That said, you would be subject to download speed throttling. At a maximum speed of 2mbps, you’d be looking set for very basic activities like checking social media or browsing the web, but not much else.

As social media moves increasingly towards a video-first approach, you’ll find it cuts the mustard even less in 2022.

Smarty and Lebara also offered unlimited data 30 day contracts are around the £15-£16 mark too.

How do I Transfer My Phone Number?

Transferring your phone number to your new sim is super easy.

Honest talk about this on their website, but the process looks like this:

• Order your sim card
• Download the Honest App and transfer your number using your PAC code
• Activate your SIM

The switchover process took about two days in total, but was incredibly easy.

What’s Honest Mobile’s Data Signal like?

Honest Mobile sits on Three’s network. I’ve been on Three’s network with other providers in the past and have always found the pretty solid in the South of the UK.

There are a few ways you can double-check what the coverage is like in your area.

• Ofgem, the UK’s regulator for gas and electricity markets, have a free checker you can use here.
• You can check Three’s network coverage here if you’re not sure. I ran a test using this link and you can see that I get a good service in my area.

The Verdict

Honest Mobile claim to be the mobile network that is ‘helping you do your bit for the planet’. Although they definitely aren’t the cheapest provider on the market, their ethics, solid network coverage and easy-to-use app offer great value for money.

Something I felt really set these guys apart from the rest was the customer service support. Response times were blisteringly quick and, when I had trouble dealing with transferring my phone number over, they had all the answers straight away.

If you’ve never looked at Honest Mobile before, I strongly recommend you give them a try. Just head to https://honestmobile.co.uk/plans to get your sim.