Enhanced annuity rates can be higher if your health, smoking, job or postcode suggest a shorter life. How much depends on you; quotes are how to see it.

Pension Wise, from MoneyHelper, gives free, backed-by-government guidance on taking a defined contribution pension, for people aged 50 or over. Rather have a person weigh up your health, pot and other income together? Asking costs nothing: the form on this page starts a call-back from an FCA-authorised adviser.

The honest answer to "how much more?" is that it depends on you and on the insurer. What follows covers what an enhanced annuity is, who may be offered one, what the questions involve and how to find out what you personally could be offered.

What an enhanced annuity is, and why there is no single "how much more"

An enhanced annuity, also called an impaired life annuity, is a pension annuity priced on more than your age. The insurer is estimating how long it will have to pay you, so if your health or lifestyle points to a shorter life, it may offer a higher yearly income for the same pot. MoneyHelper puts it this way:

You’ll be asked medical questions so annuity providers can estimate your life expectancy. This means you might be offered a higher income if you: have a medical condition – like diabetes, high blood pressure or cancer

— MoneyHelper, Take your pension as a guaranteed income: annuities explained, read via the Internet Archive, accessed 18 October 2026

Notice the wording: "might be offered". An enhanced annuity is not a different product bolted on; it is the same annuity, quoted on a fuller picture of you. GOV.UK frames every annuity this way: the payout turns on the insurer's view of your lifespan, and among the things it should weigh is "your health (sometimes)".

Why can nobody put a percentage on it? Three reasons, none of them a dodge:

  • The starting point moves. Rates rest on your age and health, where you plan to live, then the interest-rate and wider market backdrop, and MoneyHelper's comparison tool shows current offers because rates often change. An uplift measured against last year's standard rate tells you little about today's.
  • Insurers may judge differently. A provider might ask your doctor for more information or ask you to attend a medical examination, and comparing providers might lead you to one that pays a higher retirement income.
  • You are one person. A condition, its treatment, your age and your lifestyle combine. A general percentage for "diabetes" or "cancer" would describe nobody in particular.

If a website or a sales call quotes a percentage uplift, ask whose figure it is and what date it applies to; the number that counts is the one in your own quote. For how quoted rates have moved over time, see UK annuity rates through history; for what a pot of a given size might buy, see how much annuity income you would get.

What can lead to a higher offer

MoneyHelper lists four kinds of circumstance that "might" lead to a higher income:

  • A medical condition, with diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer given as examples.
  • Weight or smoking: "are overweight or smoke".
  • Your past work: "had certain jobs – like manual labour".
  • Where you live: "live in an area with low life expectancy".

That list is MoneyHelper's summary, not an exhaustive rulebook. Whether a particular condition, severity or treatment will count is for each provider to judge, so ask when you get quotes. Who qualifies for an enhanced annuity goes further into the conditions and lifestyle factors.

Note also that being offered a higher income is not the same as being given a better deal overall. A higher starting income that is paid on a worse set of options, say no protection for a partner, may suit one household and not another. Protections tend to reduce income, and a level annuity generally starts above an increasing one, so joint life annuities and inflation-linked annuities start lower, enhanced or not. A fixed-term annuity is a different shape again.

The medical questionnaire: what to expect

The questions are the underwriting: the enhanced figure is only as good as the answers behind it. At set-up, according to MoneyHelper, you will "usually be asked medical questions", and the provider "might ask your doctor for more information or for you to attend a medical examination", so it is worth asking each firm what that would involve before relying on a quote. What the questionnaire covers is the subject of its own guide: how to apply for an enhanced annuity and what the health questionnaire asks.

Once you go ahead, MoneyHelper says most annuities give you 30 days to cool off and cancel; after that, an annuity cannot be cancelled.

Shopping around: the way to see your own figure

The dependable way to learn how much more you could get is to collect quotes. GOV.UK confirms you can buy from an insurer other than the one holding your pension, and shopping around may turn up a provider offering more income. MoneyHelper's comparison tool covers rates from all providers, though some products may need a broker or financial adviser, and an adviser might reach better rates than you can directly. That is a possibility, not a promise, and an adviser's fee comes into it. How to compare annuity rates covers the routes, and annuity fees the costs.

If you are weighing the open market, three questions are worth taking to each provider: whether it would underwrite your health, whether its quote is the enhanced one or a standard one, and which features are included. Quotes are only comparable if age, pot, income type and protections match. A guaranteed annuity rate on an older policy is a separate thing to check before you move; annuity transfer rules cover switching once an annuity is running.

Free guidance, and where an adviser fits

MoneyHelper describes Pension Wise as free, impartial and backed by the government. For anyone with a UK-based defined contribution pension, Pension Wise appointments explain the ways of taking your money. They are open from age 50, and earlier for people retiring early because of poor health or who have inherited a pension. It is guidance rather than a recommendation; what Pension Wise is explains the appointment.

An adviser is a different service: someone authorised by the FCA who can recommend a product, normally for a fee. Free annuity advice sets out what you can get without paying. Neither route is compulsory, and we are not suggesting either is the only way to a good result.

What to weigh before you act on a quote

An enhanced quote is still an annuity, so the usual questions apply. The pension annuity guide covers them; the ones that bite hardest when health is part of the picture are these.

  • It is hard to undo. After the cooling-off period an annuity cannot be cancelled. If you are unwell, think about whether a lifetime income is what you want your pot to do. Is an annuity worth it weighs it against the alternatives.
  • Protection costs income. If leaving money behind, or an income for a partner, matters to you, enhanced quotes with and without that protection make its price visible.
  • Health can change. What you are offered reflects your health when you answer the questions. Whether a quote can be revisited if things change before you buy is something to ask the provider.
  • Tax and benefits. MoneyHelper says annuity income is counted for Income Tax and might affect benefits you are entitled to claim; how much is for your tax office and DWP to confirm.
  • Scams. Being approached out of the blue, by phone, at the door or by message, to buy an annuity is in MoneyHelper's words "likely a scam"; the FCA's pension scams page has more.

Suppose you have a health condition and want one person to read the quote alongside your other pensions and your family’s position. Requesting that contact with an FCA-authorised adviser means completing the form on this page, a minute or two of work that commits you to buying nothing.

Enhanced annuity questions people ask

Are there enhanced annuity rates for cancer or diabetes?

MoneyHelper names diabetes, high blood pressure and cancer among the conditions that might lead to a higher offer, and the provider may ask your doctor for more detail. What a given diagnosis earns turns on its details and on the insurer.

Do smokers get higher annuity rates?

They might. Smoking is not an illness, but MoneyHelper lists being overweight or smoking among the things that can lead to a higher income, because the insurer is estimating how long it will pay you.

Does where I live make a difference?

It can. MoneyHelper says living "in an area with low life expectancy" can lead to a higher offer, for the same life-expectancy reason, and it lists where you plan to live among the things an annuity rate is based on.

Is there an enhanced annuity calculator?

MoneyHelper has an annuity comparison tool that it says compares rates from all providers, and a calculator for a very quick estimate. Check what health questions a tool asks before treating its figure as an enhanced one.

Can I get an enhanced fixed-term annuity?

MoneyHelper says that when a fixed-term annuity ends, buying another "might mean you can get a higher paying annuity as it'll be based on an older age and health". Whether a provider underwrites health on the fixed-term annuity itself is a question for each one; see how a fixed-term annuity works.

Your next step

An enhanced annuity may pay more if your health or lifestyle point to a shorter life, and the dependable way to learn how much more is to have your own details priced by more than one provider. Start with Pension Wise if you want free guidance. Should you prefer to discuss it with an FCA-authorised adviser, our form on this page takes your details.

Sources: MoneyHelper, annuities explained, MoneyHelper, compare annuities and MoneyHelper, how to find the best deal (archived copies, accessed 18 October 2026); GOV.UK, Personal pensions.