Additional and enhanced payments on income protection cover – 6 things you should read
Whilst the core purpose of income protection insurance is to provide the claimant with a replacement income should they be unable to work due to illness or injury, increasingly many insurers are providing a range of additional or enhanced payments, intended to provide further financial support. Whilst so called ‘added-value’ benefits, such as GP services, second medical opinion etc are commonly referred to, some of the extra financial benefits found on some income protection plans are not as well known about. These may include payments if the client is hospitalised, or if they have to take on caring responsibilities, as well as death benefits if they unfortunately pass away during the policy term. In this ‘6 things you should’ read, we bring you a round-up of all of our detailed coverage on income protection additional payments, highlighting which insurers offer what and how they compare.
Hospitalisation Benefit
Hospitalisation benefit will pay an additional daily amount during the defer period, if the client is hospitalised as a result of illnes or injury. Typically the client needs to be hospitalised for a certain number of days before the benefit kicks in, but this can provide vital financial support during the defer period.
Trauma benefit
Trauma benefit it offered by a small number of insurers and will pay a lump sum (a multiple of the monthly benefit), if the client suffers one of a number of traumatic injuries.
Fracture cover
Fracture cover is a popular benefit, provided in some cases automatically on an income protection plan, in other cases as an optional extra that can be bolted-on at cost. The benefit will pay a lump-sum if the client suffers one of a number of fractures.
death benefit
Death benefit, offered by a small number of insurers, will pay a lump-sum if the client unfortunately passed away during the term of the policy. Whilst not a replacement for life cover, this does provide a valuable additional benefit, that could be used to pay for funeral costs amongst other things.
carer benefit
Taking time out of work to care for a loved one can have major financial consequences, and is unfortunately something that most income protection plans don’t provide cover for. In this insight we highlight which insurers do offer carer benefits and how they compare.
child critical illness benefit
Children’s critical illness cover is traditionally only available as a benefit alongside adult critical illness cover, and whilst in recent years insurers have altered their approach to child CI, by offering more flexible options, this mostly remains the case. There are however a very small number of insurers to offer a child CI benefit within their income protection cover, or as an optional bolt-on.
