Protection · Income Protection
Keep your income coming in, even if you can't work.
Income protection pays a regular, tax-free income — typically up to around 50-70% of your usual earnings — if you're unable to work due to illness or injury, for as long as you're off work (up to the end of the policy term). It's the protection most people underestimate needing.
Lockhart Murphy
Your income is your most important asset. Protect it.
Income protection keeps the mortgage paid and the bills covered if illness or injury stops you working — even for months or years.
What is income protection and why does it matter for a mortgage?
Unlike critical illness cover’s single lump sum, income protection pays a regular monthly income for as long as you’re unable to work due to illness or injury (subject to the policy’s definitions and deferred period), continuing until you return to work, the policy ends or in some cases retirement.
Statistically, people are far more likely to be off work for an extended period due to illness or injury than to die or be diagnosed with a critical illness during their mortgage term — yet income protection is consistently the least-taken-out of the three main protection types. For anyone whose employer sick pay is limited (or who is self-employed with none at all), a gap in income is often the single biggest threat to keeping up mortgage payments, not a lump-sum health event.
A common and cost-effective approach is choosing a deferred period that matches how long you could cover payments from savings or employer sick pay before the policy needs to start paying out — reducing the premium without leaving a real gap in cover.
Real outcome
Income protection — high-risk occupation, policy placed: income protection policy placed for a client in a manually classified high-risk occupation after being declined by standard providers. Specialist insurer used with occupation-specific underwriting rather than blanket exclusion.
Who this is for
- Self-employed people and contractors with no employer sick pay
- Anyone whose employer sick pay is limited or short-term
- Sole or primary household earners
- People with a mortgage and ongoing monthly commitments
- Those without significant savings to cover months off work
- Professionals in physically demanding or health-exposed roles
How it works
Tell us about your income and work
Employment status, existing sick pay and what you'd need to cover if you couldn't work.
Choose your terms
Deferred period (how long before payments start), benefit amount and how long cover runs.
Recommendation
A personalised recommendation, following a full advised process.
Policy in place
We handle the application through to your policy going live.
Common questions
- Income protection pays a regular, ongoing income if you are unable to work due to illness or injury — it replaces a proportion of your salary for as long as you are off work, up to the end of the policy term. Critical illness cover pays a one-off lump sum on diagnosis of specific serious conditions, regardless of whether you return to work. Both products are useful, but they serve different purposes. Income protection is particularly important for anyone with ongoing monthly commitments who could not maintain them on sick pay alone.
- Most income protection policies pay between 50% and 70% of your pre-illness gross income. The benefit is paid free of income tax. The level is capped to ensure there is still an incentive to return to work. The exact amount depends on your occupation, income and the insurer. For the self-employed, benefit is typically based on profit rather than drawings.
- The deferred period is the length of time you must be off work before the policy starts paying out. Common options are four weeks, eight weeks, thirteen weeks, twenty-six weeks or fifty-two weeks. A longer deferred period means a lower premium. Choosing a deferred period that aligns with how long your savings or employer sick pay would last means you pay for genuine cover without paying for cover you don't need.
- Yes — income protection is arguably more important for self-employed people than for employees, because there is no employer sick pay to fall back on. Benefit for the self-employed is typically based on your net profit from the previous year, evidenced by tax returns. Some insurers also offer own occupation definitions rather than any occupation, which means you can claim if you are unable to do your own job rather than any job — an important distinction for professionals.
- Standard income protection policies do not cover redundancy — they cover inability to work due to illness or injury only. Some policies include an optional accident, sickness and unemployment (ASU) add-on that covers redundancy for a limited period, typically twelve months. ASU cover is usually separate from, and not a substitute for, a long-term income protection policy.
What is the difference between income protection and critical illness cover?
How much of my income does income protection cover?
What is a deferred period and how does it affect my premium?
Can I get income protection if I am self-employed?
Does income protection cover redundancy?
Reviewed by Muhammad Asif · CeMAP qualified
21 August 2026