What is Income Protection?
Income Protection is a type of life insurance policy that pays you money each month if you are ill or injured and can't work, until you are fit to return to work again. If an illness or injury stops you working, you need time to get better.
But you'll still need to be able to support yourself and your family financially. You might get sick pay from your employer or have some savings in the bank to fall back on. However, outlays such as your mortgage, bills and weekly food shop will still need to be paid.
What Does Income Protection Cover?
Income Protection gives you money each month if you are ill or injured and unable to do your job, until you can work again. You can use the money to pay your bills, or cover expenses you might build up around medical treatment - however you decide to use it, it's there to support you and your family so you can focus on getting better.
How does Income Protection work?
While you're healthy, you pay a premium every month, or each year if you prefer. If you fall ill or become injured and are unable to work during the term of your plan, you can make a claim and receive a monthly income until you're fit to return to work, or you reach the end of the plan. While you're getting your monthly income, you don't pay any premiums to us. When your illness ends and you return to work, you start paying premiums again.
Benefits of Income Protection
No limit to how many times you can claim.
Get the rehabilitation you need to get better. Income Protection from Avalon Broker is more than just a monthly income. We have access to a team of rehabilitation nurses who will meet you in your home and help put a plan in place to get you back to work. We can also fund the costs of treatment with a local physiotherapist, psychologist or counsellor, arranged in conjunction with your own GP.
Proportionate payment. This benefit may provide you with a partial benefit if you return to work on reduced earnings, whether in your current occupation or an alternative one.
Cover that fits around you. We've built our income protection in a way that lets you choose the cover you want today and change it when things in your life change - so if you get a pay rise or a bigger mortgage, you can increase your level of protection too (subject to certain limits).
Choose an Income Protection Plan
We have two plans for you to choose from, depending on whether you are taking out the plan or your employer is taking it out for you. Both plans work in broadly the same way, but there are some subtle differences that you should be aware of.
You will pay the premiums, but you can get tax relief at your marginal rate on the premiums you pay.
Claiming tax relief is really important, as it reduces the cost to you by the rate you pay tax at - either 20% or 40%. For example, if you are a higher rate tax payer, a monthly premium of €50 would effectively only cost you €30 because of tax relief at 40%.
If you need to claim, we will pay your income protection benefit directly to you, after tax, USC and any other relevant deductions.
Executive Income Protection
This is designed for employers who want to provide an income protection plan for employees. The premiums are paid for by the employer and qualify as business expenses that can be offset against corporation tax. The employer can also elect to have pension contributions covered under this plan.
If you need to claim, we will pay the income benefit to your employer, who passes it onto you as the employee through salary, making any relevant deductions such as tax and USC.
How Do I Make an Income Protection Claim?
When you first call to make a claim, we'll want to find out how you are. We'll send you a Claim Form to ask you about what's happened and how we can help you - not just with paying out your claim, but with everything else, like rehabilitation, too.
We may also arrange to have a nurse contact you by telephone to discuss the circumstances of your claim and identify how we can help with your recovery. You might prefer to speak to someone in person, so just ask and we'll send a nurse out to visit at a time that suits you, or we can do things via email and post if that's easier.
The next stage will be to obtain medical reports from your treating doctors, and we may ask you to attend a medical examination to assess your claim and to see what rehabilitation services we can offer you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Income Protection cover pre-existing conditions?
Yes, you can get income protection cover for a pre-existing condition. Depending on the condition you have, you may need to pay more for your premium or have an exclusion added to the policy.
Can I have two or more Income Protection policies?
You can have as many policies as you like, but the total cover cannot exceed 75% of your income.
What is a deferred period for Income Protection?
Not everyone needs their income to start as soon as they're out of work. If your employer pays you sick pay, you might only want your money to kick in after that. The time in between when you stop working and when we start paying you is called your deferred period. You can choose how long this is: 1, 2, 3, 6 or 12 months (4, 8, 13, 26 or 52 weeks). The longer you wait, the lower your premiums will be.
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Avalon Broker - Income Protection
We are insurance professionals with over 16 years of experience in this field. We specialise in creating and managing insurance products, providing our clients with reliable protection and peace of mind. Our experience spans both individual and corporate insurance, allowing us to offer a wide range of services tailored to the different needs of our clients.
Avalon Broker's experience and attention to detail have made us a trusted partner for many clients. We constantly improve our knowledge by monitoring new trends and changes in the legislative framework in the insurance industry. This allows us to offer relevant and effective solutions that meet modern requirements.
