Travel insurance for children

Compare cheap quotes for under 18s travel insurance

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Small boy wearing swimming goggles smiling with his head popping out from the sand

Travel insurance options for your child

You can insure a child on a standard travel insurance policy. There are a few ways to go about doing this – it depends on whether your child is travelling alone, with friends or family.

  • When your child is travelling with relatives
    You can insure them on a family travel insurance policy
  • If your child is travelling with non-family members
    Get group travel insurance to cover everyone, or an individual travel insurance policy just for your child.
  • Children travelling solo
    Buy them their own travel insurance policy.

It’s fairly easy to get travel insurance for under 18s, but less insurers cover under 16s - the younger your child, the less choice you’ll have.

That doesn’t mean you can’t compare travel insurance to get good value for money.

Toddler at the beach peeking through his father's legs
Read through your chosen airline’s unaccompanied minor process online together so that you both understand what to expect
Penny Alexander - Parentshaped travel blog

What should travel insurance for under 18s cover?

Make sure the travel insurance you chose covers your child for:

  1. Medical expenses

    If your child has an accident or gets an illness abroad and needs medical treatment, travel insurance will cover the cost up to a set limit

  2. Repatriation

    Some illnesses or injuries are better off being treated at home, in which case your insurer will pay the costs of getting your child home again before their scheduled departure

  3. Cancellations or curtailment

    Get travel insurance as soon as your child’s trip's booked. That way, you’re covered for cancellation, delays and curtailment – make sure the cancellation amount is enough to cover the cost of the trip

  4. Theft, loss and damage to baggage and personal items

    Protect your child’s luggage and personal possessions while they’re away. You might want to consider additional cover for any expensive gadgets they’ll be taking too

  5. Activities and sports

    You’ll want to make sure your child is covered to participate in any adventurous activities that are planned during the trip, like skiing or canoeing

Travel insurance for school trips

School trips abroad are usually covered under an insurance policy organised by your child’s school.

A good school-trip insurance policy will cover cancellations, lost possessions or medication, and medical expenses, as well as any activities that are planned for the trip.

However, some policies only cover general liability – if your child accidentally bumps into someone, causing them to drop their phone and cracking the screen, for example.

Find out exactly what’s covered by their policy, especially if your child has a pre-existing medical condition, so you can decide whether you need to take out additional cover for your child.

Before the trip, it’s really important to talk to [your children] about what to do if things don’t go to plan, and to make sure that they know what to do and who to contact if there’s a problem
Gretta Schifano - Mums Do Travel blog

Tips for getting the right travel insurance for your child

Consider the following when comparing travel insurance for under 18s:

  1. Family cover

    If your child is going away with friends of family, it might be cheaper to buy a family or group holiday insurance policy than individual cover

  2. Single-trip

    If your child's only going away once this year, opt for a single-trip policy - it's cheaper

  3. Annual cover

    For multiple trips a year, compare single trip and annual to see which is best value for money

  4. Check your policy

    Check over the policy details so you know what your child is covered for – if you’re not sure about anything, give the insurer a call

  5. Documents

    Use a cloud storage service, like Dropbox or Google Docs, to upload scans of important travel documents such as insurance, passport, travel itinerary and visas online

  6. EHIC

    If your child will be travelling in Europe, make sure they have their EHIC

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