Income protection for sickness, etc

[SimpleSimon]

Hi all, 

I'm about to start doing some self employed work for an agricultural contractor, casual basis at first but hopefully increasing to overtake my "day job". 

If/when it becomes my primary income, I'll need to look into some sort of insurance to cover sickness, injury, etc. causing me to lose work. 

What do others have in place, what sort of cost, and is it an allowable expense for tax?

I'm new to self employment in general. 

[skyhuck]

Personally I only have "Critical illness" cover. This pays out a lump sum if I'm diagnosed with Cancer or the like.

 

I cover generally ill health out of my earnings, I have looked at income protection in the past, but there appeared to be lots of loopholes and the amount they payout is pretty poor.

 

I guess if I was had a prolonged none critical illness I guess I would sell some gear. 

[Squaredy]

If you are concerned about having no long term sickness benefit because you eventually will become self-employed the type of cover you are after is called Permanent Health Insurance (PHI).  This will pay out a fixed amount per month if you are unable to work and it will be paid until you are fit to return to work or until retirment.  Unless you are young and in good health it could prove costly, and if you never claim you will get nothing back from it.  Before considering this you should attempt to work out what help you would get from the state so you can evaluate what your actual shortfall would be.

 

Most self employed people have no such protection and simply have to deal with whatever life throws at them.  And for most it works, but of course it is possible you could be one of the unlucky ones who does have a serious accident or health issue and is off work for an extended time.

 

You should seek professional advice if you want prices and detailed guidance.  Even this advice of course will not be free!

 

I personally have no cover in place, but to an extent I could still run my business even from a wheelchair.  

[gobbypunk]

Hi I had no insurance in place when I fell off a ladder in my yard that was in January I am still not back at work properly my small savings are gone , there is no government help apart from claiming sick benefits and you could probably make more money doing car boot sales , so if you can get some insurance that would pay out go for it , as I am struggling at the mo .

[SimpleSimon]

1 hour ago, gobbypunk said:

Hi I had no insurance in place when I fell off a ladder in my yard that was in January I am still not back at work properly my small savings are gone , there is no government help apart from claiming sick benefits and you could probably make more money doing car boot sales , so if you can get some insurance that would pay out go for it , as I am struggling at the mo .

Sorry to hear that, this is exactly the type of thing I was hoping to insure against. Not as drastic as terminal illness, permanent disability, loss of limbs, etc but something that might cause me to be unable to work for a sustained period of time before I'm better. 

[woody paul]

If you are working for 1 agri contractor you should be an employee not self employed.

But do read all the small print on insurance you are thinking of going with.

[SimpleSimon]

3 hours ago, woody paul said:

If you are working for 1 agri contractor you should be an employee not self employed.

But do read all the small print on insurance you are thinking of going with.

I will be working primarily for one contractor, but he will not have exclusivity over me and I will dictate when I'm available and what I will or won't do. The HMRC interactive tool suggested that I should/could be self employed, which will suit me and my customer better. I was offered employment if I wanted it, but in this case it gives both of us flexibility and isn't in violation of any rules. 

[kkk2]

As part of our insurance package I have an insurance which pays out a weekly sum for the duration of any injury/illness, or a partial sum if able to do a few day per week only on convalesence. I broke my leg a few years ago and was really happy to have an income, What I got for that one time would more than cover the cost of insurance for a heap of years.

[nath]

I looked at income protection insurance.  A wise man would have it i guess but its just one more expenditure I don't need.  Plus to get an income that I could live on would have been in the region of £60 a month.  A smaller package for £30 or so would have given me around £800 a month, which would basically make me bankrupt within a few short months, so whats the point?

[wicklamulla]

i'm looking into sickness and accident cover too at the moment as my wife needs the reassurance!