Income Protection
Coping with long term sickness can be an emotional time, particularly if you are worried about money. If you had an accident or illness or suffered from stress and couldn't work for months, even years, how would you manage financially?
Sick pay is a limited benefit that lasts for a relatively brief period. Once it stops, it's down to living on State benefits until you are well enough to return to work.
What are the odds? According to the Government, around 2.4 million are currently claiming state incapacity benefits or employment and support allowance. Of these, 1.49 million have been in receipt of these benefits for over 2 years.
Source: Department of Work and Pensions, May 2010
With Income Protection insurance you won't need to worry about providing for your family by using up your savings, or getting into debt. It can pay you a regular income - right up to your chosen retirement age if necessary.
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What is income protection?
Income protection (also known as permanent health insurance or PHI) pays you a regular monthly income if you are off sick through ill health, disability or an accident.
It is designed to help cover the gap between the sick pay and your actual earnings. At the outset you choose how much of your income you want to protect.
If you then make a claim, benefits will start several weeks or months after you first go sick - to coincide with the time when your sick pay or other benefits reduce or stop.
If you remain unfit for work, you can keep claiming income protection benefits right up to your chosen retirement age (or the end date for your policy if this is sooner). And you can claim more than once without an increase to your premiums - there is no limit to the number of times you can receive income protection benefits.
Teachers Assurance does not provide its own policy. Instead we have carefully selected plans from specialist providers, to make available to our customers. They are specially tailored to complement sick pay benefits. To find out more please contact us.
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As a teacher, am I covered with my job?
As a teacher you will be entitled to receive some sick pay - how much depends on your salary and how long benefits are paid depends on your length of service at the time you go sick.
As you can see below - the newer you are to teaching, the less sick pay you're likely to get. The chances are, this could be a time when you could be at your most vulnerable - with higher living expenses and a young family to support.
Examples of teachers' sick pay
| Length of service |
Full pay for working days |
Half pay for working days |
| Less than 4 months |
25 |
None |
| 4 months to 1 year |
25 |
50 |
| In year 2 |
50 |
50 |
| In year 3 |
75 |
75 |
| From year 4 onwards |
100 |
100 |
Our expert Financial Consultants can explain and help you to bridge the gap between sick pay and your actual income needs. To find out more go to Financial Advice for Teachers or please give us a call.
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I'm not a teacher - will I be insured by my employer?
Many employers offer some form of sick pay, but it may be quite limited. Some, but not many employers also include income protection in their employee benefits package - so please ask. Even if some cover is provided, make sure it is enough for your needs.
Our expert Financial Consultants can explain and help you to bridge the gap between sick pay and your actual income needs. To find out more go to Personal Financial Advice or please give us a call.
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How much income protection do I need?
Statutory Sick Pay is £81.60 a week - just 16% of the UK's average wage (2011/12)
How much income protection you need depends on things like:
- The extent to which you or your family rely on your income to maintain your lifestyle
- Whether or not you have existing savings set aside to tide you over, and how long these would last
- How much of an income gap you expect to have and how much of it you want the insurance to bridge
Our expert Financial Consultants can help you decide on a sensible amount of cover. To find out more go to Personal Financial Advice or please give us a call.
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Why choose Teachers Assurance?
Started in 1877 by teachers - for teachers.
15,000 teachers a year in 3,000 schools in England and Wales turn to us for financial direction. (And that's excluding other teachers who phone in or email us.)
No one understands the financial needs of teachers better than us.
As a mutual friendly society our business is built on helping teachers to:
- Protect themselves and their families
- Save for the future
- Invest efficiently
- Get the most suitable advice
- Make confident financial decisions
To find out more about how we treat our customers go to the following page:
- About us - See who we are and what you can expect from us.
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What if I need your help, advice or want to apply?
If you need our help or advice, please give us a call:
0800 056 0563
8.30am to 8pm Weekdays
9am to 1pm Saturdays
To help us continually improve customer service, calls may be recorded or monitored.
Ask us for advice
Our expert Financial Consultants can help you choose the most suitable products for your needs, you can ask for personal financial advice over the phone or face to face .
Ask us for a school visit - Money Talks!
Book a school visit for one of our Financial Consultants to hold a free financial planning session for teachers in your school.
Our Consultants are only able to advise on our own products and services and those of selected third parties.
