Beware of Personal Accident Insurance

What Is Income Protection Insurance?

This is a form of protection that will provide you with a monthly income in the event of a successful claim should you be too ill or injured to work.

• Cover up to 65% of your gross income
• There are policies available which can start paying out after 1 week of illness
• You can be covered in your own occupation
• Opt for guaranteed premiums to lock in the price of your cover
• You are medically underwritten from the outset so you know exactly what you are covered
• Most insurers publish their claims statistics paying out well over 90% of claims

This is the most comprehensive for of Accident and Sickness Insurance and will provide you with a replacement income to meet your monthly financial commitments should you be unable to undertake your role and earn an income due to any illness or injury.

What Is The Difference Between Personal Accident Insurance And Income Protection?

Although the above descriptions may appear to suggest the two forms of cover are broadly similar, other than in their lump-sum versus monthly income payment approaches, in reality they are quite different:

Policy Underwriting
The first and most significant difference arises from the fact that the underwriting rules governing the two types of policy are fundamentally different.

Space doesn’t permit a full discussion of the technicalities but typically income protection policies are subject to much tighter and demanding rules surrounding their underwriting and that in turn makes it difficult or impossible for insurance providers to change things such as the policy’s terms, premiums or to cancel cover, once it is in place. By contrast, these things can typically be much more easily changed by insurance providers where personal accident policies are concerned.

Covering You In Your Own Occupation
The most important point with regards to traditional Income Protection is that it covers you in your own occupation. You have the peace of mind knowing that the policy will pay out based upon your inability to perform your normal occupation and is not limited by the type of illness or injury you have.

Paying Out Long Term
Typically, income protection policies may have a longer-term pay out options to cover on-going situations and inability to work. Some policies might be able to continue generating an income for you until your normal retirement date where personal accident insurance you receive a single lump sum and then you are on your own.

Which Type Of Policy Is Best?

This depends very much upon your personal circumstances and what you are looking for by way of cover.

If you have little or no insurance of this type in place, you may wish to think about the totality of the risks you face in terms of threats to your ability to earn income including redundancy and sickness.

The second thing to consider is whether you would wish to have a lump-sum payment or a continuous on-going monthly income. The latter might be more practical and easier to manage in terms of helping you to balance your monthly finances.

The third point is how long you would wish cover to continue and under what circumstances. Income protection policies may be more flexible in these respects – and it’s worth remembering that such policies might also be willing to accommodate some forms of existing conditions in their cover.

Keep in mind also that some accident policies might be subject to sudden change by the providers concerned.

How Much Do The Policies Cost?

It may be the case that income protection cover is moderately more expensive than a typical accident-only policy. Of course, this isn’t a meaningful comparison as they are providing significantly different forms of protection and there may be the tendency in insurance to get the degree of cover you pay for.

Remember that it might be possible to reduce the cost of an income policy by opting for shorter-term cover, i.e. a pay-out period of 12 or 24 months rather than one that would need to cover you until your retirement date.

Need Income Protection Advice

We would be very happy to discuss the differences of the two policy types further with you and you are welcome to speak to one of our independent advisers. You may find that would clear up any remaining uncertainties you might have.

Why Speak to Us…

We started Drewberry because we were tired of being treated like a number and not getting the service we all deserve when it comes to things as important as protecting our health and our finances. Below are just a few reasons why it makes sense to let us help.

• There is no fee for our service
• We are independent and impartial
  Drewberry isn’t tied to any insurance company, so we can provide completely impartial advice to make sure you get the most appropriate policy based solely on your needs.
• We’ve got bargaining power on our side
  This allows us to negotiate better premiums for you than you going direct yourself.
• You’ll speak to a dedicated expert from start to finish
  You will speak to a named expert with a direct telephone and email. No more automated machines and no more being sent from pillar to post – you’ll have someone to speak to who knows you.
• Benefit from our 5-star service
  We pride ourselves on providing a 5-star service, as can be seen from our 3900 and growing independent client reviews rating us at 4.92 / 5.
• Gain the protection of regulated advice
  You are protected. Where we provide a regulated advice service we are responsible for the policy we set-up for you. Doing it yourself or going direct to an insurer won’t provide this protection, so you won’t benefit from these securities.
• Claims support when you need it the most
  You have support should you need to make a claim. The most important thing when it comes to insurance is that claims are paid and quickly. We are here to support you during the claims process and make sure it’s as smooth and stress free as possible.