The Benefits of Income Protection: Protecting Your Financial Future
An Income Protection plan is designed to pay out a regular income in the event you are unable to work due to an accident or illness. These types of plans continue to pay out an income if you are unable to return to work up until the end date of the policy (typically your normal retirement age).
Sadly, sick pay, either from the government or from an employer, is typically very restricted, if it is available at all. And yet, the statistics in the UK around long-term absenteeism from work, are very telling, according to the government’s own Health and Safety reporting, around 1.7 million people were suffering from work-related illness in 2021. This does not include people who were suffering from non-work-related illness.
The numbers of workers who now suffer with long covid and mental illnesses, such as depression, have changed the patterns of why people may be unable to work, compared to previous times. The risk for any individual that needs to be assessed and managed, is how would any mediumterm absence from work – and therefore potentially a loss of household income – impact their ability to pay bills?
You should do this calculation yourself, and asses if you could afford your bills, of which your mortgage may well be the highest, and for how long? This is where income protection comes in because it represents an insurance that can pay out when your income dries up.
It will come into play after a set period (e.g., 13 weeks) and pay a monthly sum of a proportion of your salary and keep paying this until you go back to work or reach a set age (e.g. age 65).
If you would like to explore how you can build this insurance into your plans then simply contact us, we have the expertise to advise you. You can use the form below to contact us.