Income Protection Insurance
Peace of mind if you're unable to work because of an accident or ill-health
Need Advice?
Life can be unpredictable, so we're here to help make sure you're prepared
If you're unable to work due to sickness or accident, Income Protection Insurance will pay you a regular income, whether you're employed or self-employed.
We've chosen to partner with LifeSearch to offer you independent advice on which protection products are right for you.
What's covered with our Income Protection Plan?
Here’s what we include with our Income Protection policies
- We'll pay an ongoing, regular income if you can't do your job because of an accident or sickness.
- Rehabilitation support services to help you return to full health as soon as possible.
- Own Occupation - this means the policy will pay out, after the waiting period you choose, if because of sickness or an accident, you are unable to do your usual occupation.
- Fracture cover is included at no extra cost (a lump sum payment of up to £2,200, depending on the type of bone fracture).
- A death benefit of up to £10,000. (We'll pay £5,000 if you die within four years of the policy start date, or £10,000 if you die four or more years after the policy starts).
- Premiums can be waived during involuntary unemployment for up to 6 months in total over the lifetime of your policy.
- Parent and child cover - we'll pay a lump sum if your child is diagnosed with specific illnesses, operations or medical procedures.*
- At LV=, we don't like the idea of you not getting what you paid for, which is why our Income Protection automatically includes a £1,500 benefit guarantee. We understand your income can fluctuate, especially if you're self-employed or rely heavily on commission and bonuses. And if your salary does drop, there's a risk your salary will no longer support the level of cover you originally took out.
- Back to work support and career break options.
- Teachers Sick Pay Guarantee.
- Access to member benefits.
*Exclusions apply. For more details on this and the 54 conditions covered, please see our Income Protection Policy Conditions.
Why Choose LV= for Income Protection
Here are just some of the great reasons to choose our Income Protection Insurance
Minimise the financial impact ill-health can have and help support you and your family's current lifestyle, and financial commitments while you’re unable to work
Pays an on-going, regular benefit of up to 60% of your income monthly before tax
Includes a number of special features such as benefit guarantees sick pay scheme matching for certain jobs at no extra cost
We also offer a Budget version which has all the same features as our standard Income Protection, aside from the fact it will pay out for a maximum of 12 or 24 months per claim, depending on the option chosen
Important information about our income protection insurance
Here’s the need-to-know info, so you have the full picture:
- If you inaccurately state your income we may reduce what we can pay you at claim stage (we cover up to 60% of your income before tax).
- If you've been unemployed for 31 days or more when you claim, we'll only pay out if you can't prepare a meal or do basic housework.
- Reviewable premiums do not change within the first 5 years of your policy, but after that, they could change every year, but we'll let you know before we make any changes.
- If you stop paying premiums, you won't get any money back and you'll no longer be covered.
- We'll only pay your claim if you've been unable to work throughout the whole of your chosen waiting period. You need to wait for the full length of your waiting period before your claim will start to be paid to you.
- The death benefit proceeds may form part of your estate which could be subject to inheritance tax.
- If you choose level cover please bear in mind that the amount you're covered for won't go up in the future, so you'll be able to buy less with it in the future, compared to today.
- We'll only pay for one fracture diagnosed within a 12-month period and certain fractures aren't covered.
- Both the fracture cover and death benefit payments are fixed and won't increase with inflation.
- When you come to claim, we'll base your claim on 60% of income in the 12 months before you claim, so it's important that you regularly check your cover especially if your income changes.
- In the event of a claim, we will deduct any continuing income and any payments from other accident and sickness cover type products from the maximum benefit payable.
Income protection insurance cover types
Every person and every situation is unique, so we offer a variety of cover types for your Income Protection policy.
Income Protection for renters
Looking for flexibility in cover when your rental arrangements change?
Our Income Protection Insurance can be used to protect your monthly rent and living expenses if you can't work because of a long-term illness or accident. This gives you the financial reassurance that you’ll be able to continue to make your rent and other monthly payments if you were unable to work.
But that's not all. We know that if you're renting then your situation can change suddenly and without warning. So we've included options to help you change your cover without you needing to give us more health or medical information. This could be helpful if your rent changes or you decide to buy your home.
There are some limits to these options, such as maximum increase amounts and maximum ages. You can find out more about these limits in our Policy Conditions.
Income Protection for self employed
Want to know what happens if your income fluctuates?
When working out your annual earned income, we’ll take into account the last 12 months income when working out the maximum benefit we can pay you.
However, we understand income can fluctuate, especially when you’re self-employed and as a result, there will be circumstances where we may consider averaging your income over a longer period of up to 36 months. This will need to be asked by you at the point of claim.
We'll check this when you claim and then take off other payments you may be getting, such as the payments from any other Income Protection Insurance, or accident and sickness policies that you may have. This is the maximum monthly claim amount we can pay you, although this is capped by the amount of cover you've chosen with your policy.
We talk about this in a bit more detail in our Policy Conditions.
Are you eligible for our income protection policies?
Is Income Protection Insurance right for you?
To be eligible you must have been permanently living in the UK and have been registered with a UK Doctor for at least 2 years before your policy starts.
You must be aged between 17 and 59
Consider how much cover you need and the length of time you need the cover for (your policy must last for at least 5 years).
When your policy starts, you'll need to be employed, self-employed, or a homemaker. If you're retired or unemployed (this includes claiming Jobseekers Allowance) we won't be able to offer you cover.
Financial Advice
Need advice?
We've chosen to partner with LifeSearch to offer you independent advice on which protection products are right for you.
Lines open: Mon to Thu - 8am - 8pm Fri 8am - 7pm
For Text Phone first dial 18001
Calls will be recorded and/or monitored for training and audit purposes.
Frequently asked questions about income protection insurance
Have a question about Income Protection cover? We may have already answered it below.
Do you cover average income over more than 12 months?
We understand that, especially for those who are self-employed, income can greatly fluctuate over 12 months.
There will be circumstances where we consider looking at income over a 36-month period. If you’re unsure of whether the cover amount you have is correct, then we recommend speaking to a financial adviser who can ensure you have the right cover for your needs.
What happens if my cover term has finished?
If your cover term has finished, then we will no longer be able to pay out in case of injury or illness.
If we were paying a claim when your cover term ended, then we will stop paying the claim.
Do you take dividends as income?
Dividends from your business can be counted as income as long as the dividends are clearly related to your work activities, the payments are of regular frequency and the dividends are paid from annual profits net of tax.
policy documents
A little extra info never hurt anyone, have a read of our policy documents
You can get this and other documents from us in Braille, large print or audio by contacting us