Income Protection

We all hope long term sickness will never happen to us, however, thousands of people are unexpectedly incapacitated and unable to work for weeks, months or in some cases unable to ever return to work. Unfortunately most never consider income protection and eventually the house and their lifestyle are at risk, the added stress of this situation only goes to exacerbate their already poor health. 

  • What would you do if you had to stop work due to illness or injury?,
  • How long would your employer be able to pay you?
  • Could you survive on the £75.40 (2008/2009) per week statutory sick pay? 
  • If you're self employed how long could your business continue to pay you an income?
  • How long will your savings support you? 

So what are the odds of it happening to me?

  • Over 1.65 million UK people will be off work at any one time through sickness and disability and will have been off work for at least 6 months*.

Income protection is there to provide a up to 65% of your provable income before you became incapacitated. There are also no restrictions on what you spend the money on and this income is not subject to income tax. 

Unlike accident and sickness policies where the benefits are only payable for short period's (12-24 months), income protection continues to pay until you are able to return to work or when the term of the policy expires. If you have selected a cover term until you retire at age 65 and the worst happens when you are age 30, the plan has the potential to pay you up to 65% of your income for a further 35 years. 

You can select for the benefits to become payable after as little as a week, or if cost is an issue you can lower costs by increasing the waiting time before benefits are payable (deferred period) up to 6 months or even a year. This increased deferred period is ideal if your employer gives you a specified sick pay period, as the income protection can cut in when your employer no longer provides for you.

Like life assurance, income protection premiums will ultimately be based on your age, sex, smoker status, health, level and type of cover you require.

If you are considering Income Protection, please feel free to contact us for Independent Income Protection Advice. We are able to provide home appointments across the whole of West Sussex - Brighton, Hove, Haywards Heath & Crawley, East Sussex, Surrey - Croydon Sutton, Reigate, Redhill,  South London - Wimbledon, Fulham, Chelsea and Hammersmith and Central London.

* Source: Department of Work & Pensions 2007

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