Income insurance - advice please?

[Ari]

Having recently gone self employed, it dawns on me that if I get seriously ill or have an accident that stops me from working, I'm a bit buggered.

I've had a quick look on a couple of web sites this morning, and there seems to be accident insurance that pays out a lump sum, but it doesn't cover illness.

What I need is basically something that says, if I can't work for a month or more (could survive ok if laid up for a month) then it pays out an income (not after a lump sum, just a way of covering the bills and keeping going).

Any thoughts, advice or suggestions?

[a311]

Can't help specifically with you being self employed but what you want to look at is Income Protection Insurance. I had it years ago and claimed from it. No longer have it as I get pretty good sick pay.

You basically say how much you want to pay out in the event of a claim (usually linked to income) and after how long after be unable you want it to kick in. You can get it to pay out from day one or after a couple of months etc with the latter obviously attracting the cheaper premiums.

[Mr Pointy]

Such policies are available (Critical Illness is one such type) but the premium can depend on how long you can wait before claiming. If you want to claim after one month it will cost more than if you wait two months.

Caunce O'Hara have Sickness Benefit as an optional element of their Personal Accident, Sickness & Travel policy:

https://www.caunceohara.co.uk/quote/policies

Coulson Pritchard have a similar policy:
http://www.coulsonpritchard.com/personal-accident-...

You can generate a quote online. I assume you already have any other necessary insurances?

[Ari]

Excellent, thanks chaps. Knowing what it's called is a major help on its own!

Yup, covered for everything else, just need to know that if I'm unable to work for a length of time I'm covered.