At a glance
- Income protection replaces part of your income, usually 50% to 65% of your pay before tax, if illness or injury stops you working.
- It pays monthly, for as long as you cannot work, up to the age you chose.
- The single most important choice is the wording of what counts as unable to work. Insist on own occupation: you cannot do your job.
- Set the waiting period to end when your employer’s sick pay ends.
- If you are self-employed, treat this as the first policy you buy, ahead of life cover.
→ What to look for in a life insurer in the UK
—
On this page
What income protection pays you
You choose a monthly amount to insure. If illness or injury stops you working, the insurer pays you that amount every month until you go back to work, reach the age you set when you applied, or the policy ends. Whichever comes first.
It is not a single lump sum, and it is not tied to a list of named illnesses. Any medical reason that keeps you off work can trigger a claim.
Good to know
Watch for one difference when you compare quotes. Some policies pay until your retirement age. Others, often much cheaper, stop after one or two years of payments. They are not the same product, and the price gap is the reason.
—
The three words that decide whether you get paid
Every policy defines what “unable to work” means. There are three versions, and the difference between them is the difference between a claim paid and a claim argued over.
Own occupation — the insurer pays if you cannot do your own job. A surgeon who develops a hand tremor is covered, even though she could still teach.
Suited occupation — the insurer pays only if you cannot do your job or any other job that fits your skills and qualifications. Who decides what is “suited”? That is the problem.
Any occupation — the insurer pays only if you cannot do any paid work at all. Very hard to claim on.
Own occupation is the one to buy, because it leaves least room for argument. Complaints about income protection are rising: the Financial Ombudsman Service received 246 between October and December 2025, up from 201 a year earlier, and upheld roughly a quarter of them (24%). The looser wordings are what give an insurer room to challenge a claim that own occupation would have paid without a question.
Watch out
Before you apply, ask the insurer to confirm in writing that the policy uses the own occupation definition for the whole term. Some policies switch to a looser definition once the waiting period ends.
—
How long you wait before money arrives
The waiting period — insurers call it the deferred period — is how long you must be off work before payments start. You pick it when you apply, anywhere from four weeks to a year. The longer you wait, the less the cover costs.
Match it to the end of your sick pay, not to the first day you are ill.
Exhibit 1
If you are employed on a typical contract, you may get full pay for three to six months, then half pay, then Statutory Sick Pay, the minimum your employer must pay by law: £123.25 a week, or 80% of your average weekly earnings if that is lower (GOV.UK, 2026/27), which is why the fall-off matters. Since 6 April 2026 it is paid from your first day off sick, whatever you earn (GOV.UK). A waiting period of 26 weeks usually lines up with the end of full pay, and costs far less than a four-week one. Check your contract: it is the only document that tells you the right number.
In practice
If your employer pays full salary for six months and half pay for a further three, choose a 26-week waiting period, so the policy starts paying the day your full pay ends. If half pay would cover your costs, a 39-week wait is cheaper.
If you are self-employed, there is no employer sick pay. Your income stops the day you stop. Four weeks is the sensible wait, and this cover is not optional.
One warning for the self-employed. Insurers look harder at these applications. Most want two to three years of accounts, and they base the benefit on your profit after expenses, not on your turnover. A broker who specialises in protection is worth the call here, not a comparison site.
—
What it costs
Income protection costs more than life insurance for the same person, and there is a simple reason: you are much more likely to spend a year off work than to die young.
Your premium turns on your job, the monthly amount you insure, how long you agree to wait before claiming, how long the cover runs, the wording of the incapacity definition, and your age and health.
Because those six factors interact, published averages mislead. A quote takes ten minutes and is the only figure worth acting on. As a rough sense of scale, an office worker in their thirties insuring a few thousand pounds a month, on own occupation to age 65 with a 26-week wait, is typically in the tens of pounds a month rather than the hundreds.
—
Who needs this most
If you are self-employed. No sick pay, no safety net beyond your savings. This is the group for whom income protection matters most.
If your household runs on one income. Life insurance covers the case where that earner dies. Income protection covers the more likely case, where they are alive and cannot work. A mortgage does not pause for either.
If your job depends on a specific ability. Surgeons, pilots, barristers, dentists. Lose the hand, the eyesight, the voice, and the career goes with it even though you are otherwise well. Own occupation cover protects exactly this.
If your employer’s sick pay is thin. Some contracts drop to statutory pay within weeks. Read yours before you assume otherwise.
And the honest other side: if you are single, renting, with savings that would cover a year and nobody depending on you, this can wait.
—
Questions people ask
Is this the same as critical illness cover?
No. Critical illness cover pays one lump sum if you are diagnosed with a condition on the insurer’s list. Income protection pays a monthly income for any condition that keeps you off work, whether or not it is on a list. For most people, income protection is the broader protection.
Does it cover redundancy?
No. Illness and injury only. Redundancy is excluded from standard policies.
Is the money taxed?
If you pay the premiums yourself, out of taxed income, the payments reach you tax-free (HMRC). If your employer pays for group cover, the premiums are not a taxable benefit for you, but the insurer pays your employer, who pays you through payroll, and that is taxed as income, usually with National Insurance too (HMRC). Cover through salary sacrifice is treated differently.
How much of my income can I insure?
Usually 50% to 65% of your pay before tax. Insurers cap it deliberately, so that going back to work always leaves you better off than claiming.
Can I get cover with a health condition already diagnosed?
Often yes. The insurer may exclude that condition, or charge more for it. This is the clearest case for using a broker rather than applying direct.
—
The verdict
Income protection replaces your income when illness or injury stops you earning. If you are self-employed it is the first policy to buy. If your household depends on one income, it is close behind.
The real decision is not whether to buy it. It is the wording. Own occupation, every time.