Compare & save on Group Income Protection

Income Protection Insurance policies aim to replace a portion of your income if you are unable to work due to sickness, illness or injury. The policy will provide a monthly income to help with financial commitments and essentials if you have an extended absence from work.

For most, having a busy life has become a normal thing to deal with. Thinking about or arranging financial protection can quite often be pushed to bottom of your employees lists.

Unless you are in that situation, you don’t usually think about how Long-term sickness can affect daily life. Employee’s may not be ready to deal with the emotional and physical challenges and potential financial issues, which could spiral out of control. benefits may be available when things go wrong, but these might not be as favourable or as comprehensive as we sometimes imagine.

That’s why as employers, it is important to offer that financial support so that your employees can focus on recovery in order to return to work sooner.

As long as employees are actively at work when the policy is set up, they will be covered in full up to their benefit limit.

If a successful claim is made, your insurance provider will pay an eligible employee using the PAYE system following a deferred period. It all depends on what terms you choose for your business. For example a benefit payment could be made after 13, 26 or even 52 weeks. This flexibility allows you to align the policy with your company’s sick pay arrangements.

With most group income providers you are able to set your own parameters.

Not all employees need to have the same level of cover, you can set up different categorises of employees, with each category having their own benefit structure.

People may choose to buy Income Protection Insurance for a number of reasons:

• To protect their financial commitments if they usually rely on their monthly income to meet these.
• If their occupation means they work in a high risk environment with higher rates of illness, injury or disability.
• To protect their family’s future if they do not receive an income if they cannot work.
• Need extra support in order to get back to work which is often provided by insurers.

Most people earn a regular monthly income and would struggle financially if they did not receive this. When looking into Income Protection Insurance you should consider the following:

• Does your employer provide any financial support if you are off due to illness or injury?
• Do you have any savings to help if you are unable to work, and would you want to use these?
• Can you cover your current regular outgoings if you do not receive a monthly income?
• Would you receive any support from the government if you could not work?

Providers will usually allow between 50% and 70% of your usual monthly income when you are working. 

Policies will have a deferment period of most commonly of 2 months which means you would have to be unable to work for 2 months or more in order to receive a pay-out.

You will receive the pay out each month for either a set period of time which you decided when setting up the policy, or until you pass away, the policy expires or you reach retirement age.

There are a number of different factors and variables which will affect the monthly premium:

• Your Age – the younger you are when you take out a policy the lower your premiums will be.
• Your Lifestyle – being a smoker or heavy drinker can increase premiums.
• Your Job – certain jobs carry greater risks which means you may be more likely to make a claim – premiums are likely to be higher in this case.
• Your Cover Level & Terms – the higher the percentage of your income you decide to cover the higher the premium will be, and likewise, the longer you want to be covered for will affect the premium
• Your Health – any pre existing conditions may affect the premium

As of 31st May 2023, the monthly premium for a 40 year old non-smoking male office worker is around £35.00 for £1,500 per month cover. (Source: Ipipeline Broker Quoting System).