Income Protection Insurance

For most of us considering our financial protection comes with a life changing event, whether it is a new house or bringing a new person into the world, the more responsibility we have the more important our financial protection becomes.

Income protection insurance can offer peace of mind knowing should you be unable to work due to illness or injury a significant proportion of you income is covered and available to meet your monthly financial obligations.

Finding an affordable income protection plan is like finding a great deal on any other insurance, you must utilise your resources and shop around to find the best deal.

The internet is a great place to start, gain an understanding of the insurers, their products and the cover provided. By asking a range of providers to quote you can ensure a competitive price and get exposure to the service provided.

Each insurer has their own methods of underwriting which means one provider may well look upon you more favourably than another and offer you better rates.

For information regarding the regulation of the insurance market visit the Financial Services Authority website.

The FSA also provide a site to help consumers with money and insurance matters, an overview of income protection insurance can be found in their insurance section.

Income protection cover can offer you the peace of mind knowing your monthly financial obligations are being looked after should you be unable to work to due to illness or injury.

Like many other insurance products income protection premiums are dependant on a number of personal factors and cover you choose. Personal factors which the insurers consider include your age, your occupation, whether you smoke and any pre-existing conditions.

Although with age we get the benefits of cheaper home and vehicle insurance we are not as fortunate with income protection insurance.

It will come as no surprise to you that as we age so our likelihood of needing a prolonged period off work increases. Insurers build this fact into their quotes and thus the older you are the higher your premiums will be.

If you have smoked in the past 12 months then most insurers will deem you a smoker and in turn quote you inflated premiums to account the additional risk.

As the cover is designed to cover your monthly income it should come as no surprise that your occupation is a risk factor for the insurer.

The more risky your occupation, whether it be stress or physical exertion the more likely your occupation could require prolonged periods off work the more expensive the policy cover.

Pre-existing conditions can affect the premiums quoted and the cover provided by the policy, failure to disclose a condition could result in your policy being void.

What would be the financial impact on you and your loved ones if you were to become seriously ill and unable to work?

Would their be enough income/savings to cover your financial obligations and avoid financial hardship?

Income protection can offer you peace of mind knowing it will pay out a tax-free monthly income directly to you if you are unable to work long term due to sickness or injury. 

An income protection policy is designed to cover long term sickness or injury. If you are looking for a policy to cover you in the short term i.e. 12-24 months then there are alternatives.

To protect a specific debt such as a mortgage in the short term, if you are not in work due to either accident, sickness or unemployment you should consider either an accident, sickness and unemployment policy as an alternative to the long term protection income protection insurance provides.

Income protection insurance can provide a tax free monthly income of between 50% and 65% of your taxable income, although some providers will offer up to 75%.

You can choose the length of cover your income protection policy provides an a monthly payment should you need to claim.

At the outset of your plan you will decide on the benefit period, the length of time for which you would be eligible to claim should you be unable to work. The period can range from as little as 2 years or 5 years or right up until retirement.

Choosing a benefit period of 5 years means if you need to make a claim the income protection policy will pay out for a maximum of 5 years if you do not return to work during this period.

Guaranteed premiums ensure the cost of your policy does not increase at any time during the term of the plan. A plan with reviewable premiums will have a premium rate review every 2 to 5 years.

As you would expect, at the outset the premium for a guaranteed policy is higher than a reviewable plan however over time guaranteed premiums tend to work out cheaper due to their fixed nature.

Income protection plans tend to be structured with a deferred period. It is the period of time from when you are intitially off work to point in time the policy will pay out if you are still off work.

Deferred periods can vary and a choice has to be made at the commencement of the plan, ranging from as little as 4 weeks up to 52 weeks. As expected the longer the deferred period, the cheaper the premiums.

Own occupation definition means that the plan will payout if you are unable to work in your own occupation due to sickness or injury.

Any or suited occupation definitions are only likely to pay out if you are unable to do any sort of paid work.

An additional option which ensures your income protection cover increases with inflation during the term of the policy.

The amount of income protection cover will increase in line with the retail price index(RPI).