Protection

protection

Life Insurance

Life insurance is a type of insurance policy that can give protection to your dependants if you pass away. The cost of a policy depends on several factors including your age, health and lifestyle.

Life insurance gives you peace of mind that any financial commitments you have – including your mortgage, childcare costs or funeral expenses – are taken care of when you’re not around.

There are two main ways in which this cover is arranged:

A Level Term Assurance policy is where the amount of cover (also known as the “sum assured”) stays the same throughout the length of the policy. Both the sum assured and the term are set at the start of the policy. Level term assurance is often taken out to help pay off a mortgage and is most suited to interest only mortgages, where the amount owed does not decrease over time.

A Decreasing Term Assurance policy also pays out a cash lump sum in the event of death, however the amount paid out decreases over time. These policies are usually taken alongside a repayment mortgage so that the amount paid out is the same as the amount left on the mortgage. As the amount of cover decreases over time, the premiums for decreasing cover are typically cheaper than level term cover.

Critical Illness Insurance

Critical illness cover is a type of life insurance policy that offers protection in the event of a serious illness or injury. If a policyholder suffers from a specific illness or injury, a pay-out is made by an insurance provider in the form of a lump-sum, which can be tax-free.

There are two types of critical illness cover:

  • Additional cover policies can pay out more than once. It will pay out if you are diagnosed with a critical illness and in the event of death.
  • Combined cover policies pay out 100% of your chosen cover amount upon diagnosis of a critical illness or at death (not both).

A critical illness can include heart attacks, strokes and non-terminal cancer. Critical illness insurance can also cover you if you’ve suffered a physical disability following an injury, such as after a serious accident at work. Exactly what’s covered by critical illness insurance will depend on the specific details of the life insurance that you take out.

Income Protection

An Income Protection policy pays out a monthly income to replace a proportion of your salary in the event that you are unable to work as a result of an accident or sickness.

It will pay out after a set amount of time has passed (decided by you at the start of the policy) and will continue to pay until you are either well enough to return to work, you reach retirement age or the end of the policy term.

This means that you have the peace of mind of a regular on-going income to maintain your lifestyle should you fall ill, or have an accident and need to take time off work. Importantly, this income cannot be affected by state benefit cuts.

Family Income Benefit

Family Income Benefit is designed to pay out an amount of cover in the event of death, but instead of providing a one-off cash lump sum like standard life insurance, it pays a regular, tax-free income until the end of the policy term. This can be a suitable option for people who would rather that their dependants receive a regular income, rather than have to decide what to do with a one-off lump sum.

The term of the policy can be chosen to fit your family’s circumstances; for example to take your youngest child to age 18 or 21 and the amount of cover you choose can be linked to inflation to ensure that, in the event of a claim, the benefit keeps its real value and spending power. Family Income Benefit is a relatively affordable way of ensuring that your family can maintain the lifestyle you want them to have, whether you are around or not.

General Insurance

General insurance helps us protect ourselves and the things we value, such as our homes, our cars and our valuables, from the financial impact of risks, big and small – from fire, flood, storm and earthquake, to theft, car accidents, travel mishaps – and even from the costs of legal action against us.

Buildings Insurance

Buildings insurance could cover the cost of repairing or rebuilding the structure of your home if it’s damaged by an event you’re insured for – such as a fire, flood or storm. It also offers cover for any permanent fixtures and fittings like your kitchen and bathroom. Buildings insurance can also cover outside structures connected to your home such as fences, garages and pipes.

Contents Insurance

Contents insurance is a type of home insurance that could cover the cost of replacing your possessions in your home if they’re stolen, destroyed or damaged. It can be bought as a standalone policy or with buildings insurance, as a combined home insurance policy.