Individual Income Protection

Income protection insurance can provide you and your family with security and peace of mind should you be unable to continue working for an extended period due to illness or injury.

What is income protection insurance?

This type of insurance is designed to pay you a monthly benefit if you are unable to work for a period of time because of illness or injury.  Income protection insures you for a set level of income, often 75% of your pre-tax income, and will pay you until you can return to work or up to the maximum agreed period in the policy – whichever is sooner.

Do I need income protection?

If being unable to work due to illness or injury means you’d struggle to meet your regular monthly outgoings (such as your mortgage or rent) then it’s definitely worth considering having some sort of income protection. Having appropriate cover means you can concentrate on getting yourself back into work without worrying about the financial implications of losing your main source of income.

How long does a policy last?

Broadly speaking, income protection policies can be divided into:

Short-term policies which limit pay outs to a maximum period (for example 2 years), these are aimed at providing temporary cover until you can get back into work.  These policies are less expensive but your cover is more limited.

Long-term policies which provide cover if you become ill and cannot go back to work for a more protracted period, or if you can never be well enough to return to work.  These plans will give you an income until you recover and can return to work, or the policy term ends (which is usually set to coincide with your state retirement age) whichever comes first.  These policies are more expensive but offer wider protection of your income.

 

What are the benefits of income protection?

Income protection can provide you with genuine peace of mind knowing that you would still receive an income if you became ill, or were injured. Having a policy in place simply means you can concentrate on getting better without worrying about money.

There are also other types of insurance policies that can help provide support to you should certain events happen. A redundancy insurance will help provide you with a level of income for a limited period should you be made redundant to help you with your ongoing bills, mortgage or other loan repayments that you may still need to make, until you can find a replacement job.  There are also policies designed to pay out certain lump sums and/or monthly payments (for a limited period) should you have an accident or illness. Unlike ‘income protection’ these will typically not depend on whether or not you can still work.

Because these policies are designed to help you in different situations they are not mutually exclusive and so you may decide that you need more than one type of policy to meet your needs.

Want to find out more about life insurance and income protection insurance?

When it comes to life insurance and income protection (including the other types of insurance mentioned), there’s a lot to think about and it’s well worth considering all the options to ensure you find the right policy or policies that best meet your needs.

You’ll also need to think about what you expect in terms of levels of service. For example, some initially cheap life insurance deals could end up costing you more if you want to make any amendments to your policy, so find out what admin fees there are, what they’re charged for and what changes you can and cannot make to your policy should your circumstances change.

To help you do this, CLA Healthcare have partnered with Assured Futures to provide you with the advice and guidance you need, and their expertise also extends to offering Will writing services.

And should you take out a policy with our trusted partner, you will be entitled to either a single will worth £80 or a Couples Mirror Will worth £130 funded by and arranged through Assured Futures.

In addition to this complimentary Will offer, as a valued customer of Assured Futures, you’ll also have access to Health Assured, an award-winning wellbeing support service

Services available to you and anyone insured on your policy include:

  • 24/7 Confidential Support helpline
  • Online Health Portal

Some of the areas you can use these services for are:

  • Family issues
  • Financial information
  • Legal information
  • Tax Information
  • Bereavement
  • Housing concerns

Find out more

To find out more or to discuss your healthcare options in more detail, the expert team at CLA Healthcare are on hand to help.

Call 01274 717361 or email healthcare@cla.org.uk to find out more.

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