Income protection insurance is a form of insurance that protects your income if you have a serious injury or illness and are unable to work.

You can insure up to 75% of your income and receive a monthly payment to meet your essential financial commitments when you need to claim. You can even claim tax relief on your monthly  premiums.

You may think that your sick pay entitlement or your savings would tide you over were you unable to work for a time, but what if you were out of work for months or even years due to a serious illness or an injury that lead to longer term disability?

Why choose income protection

Protect your income

If you are employed or self-employed and you have financial commitments, such as a mortgage or rent, to pay or you have a family or other dependents who rely on you financially then you should consider income protection insurance.

Here are the benefits of income protection:

Income protection insurance provides a monthly benefit to replace your income when you are ill or injured and unable to work. This can be up to 75% of your usual income.

You can choose how much of your earnings you wish to insure, based on your expenses such as your mortgage or rent, and the essential outgoings that you would need to maintain if you were not earning.

This monthly benefit will be paid until you are fit to return to work, or for the remainder of the policy term if you remain ill or unable to work.

Income protection offers flexible cover, depending on eligibility. When applying for income protection there are options to consider such as how much of your income you wish to insure, the waiting period before you receive payments (the deferred period), and how long you wish to be covered for.

This flexibility allows you to tailor your cover to suit your circumstances and needs, such as whether or not your job provides sick pay, and the term of your mortgage, for example.

If you choose income protection with guaranteed premiums, your premiums will be fixed for the term of the policy. 

This means that you will pay the same amount for your cover at the start of the policy until the term ends.

If you make changes to your policy, such as increasing your cover amount with a pay rise or mortgage increase, then this may slightly increase your monthly premiums.

Income protection monthly premiums are tax efficient as they qualify for tax relief at your highest rate of income tax. 

This can really reduce your monthly premium and makes income protection insurance much more affordable.

Many income protection insurers offer additional benefits that their customers can avail of beyond insuring their income. Some of these supports are available to help you to return to work while making a claim,but some are available even when you do not need to make a claim on the policy.

Depending on your insurer, benefits such as health and wellbeing supports, nurse on call, digital GP appointments, counselling, and physiotherapy may all be available to income insurance policyholders.

If you are ready to return to work, income protection insurance may still offer support. You may receive a back to work transitional full or partial payment for the first month you return to work, depending on your plan.

If you return to work in a different role or on a part time basis, your income protection insurance may offer a proportional payment to offset your reduced income.

benefits of income protection

Peace of mind

Protecting your income with income protection insurance gives you financial security and peace of mind. Times of illness or injury are stressful enough without having money worries on top of everything else you have to deal with.

If you are employed or self-employed and rely on your income, income protection is a really valuable safety net meaning that, if you are seriously injured or ill you will receive a regular monthly benefit to replace your income, rather than relying on State benefits or short term employer sick pay.

Having income protection cover in place can alleviate stress and anxiety and allow you to focus on your recovery.

Compare insurance online assessment

Take our online income protection assessment to see if you qualify for income protection insurance today.

Compare Insurance is Ireland’s leading insurance comparison website. We have loads of information and articles about income protection to give you the information you need.

You can compare income protection insurance quotes from Ireland’s leading insurers, saving you time and money, or speak to a Central bank regulated insurance advisor.

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