Yes, self-employed people can get income protection. Every insurer quoted here accepts self-employed applicants, and most work out a claim from business profit rather than a payslip. Aviva's page for its Living Costs Protection plan puts it simply: "Yes, you can. As long as you work 16 hours or more each week, you can take out a Living Costs Protection policy."

What differs is the paperwork, and the sums behind it. If you want your own accounts checked against several insurers' rules, complete the enquiry form on this page. It goes to an FCA-authorised broker, who can do that for you at no cost.

Can you get income protection if you are self-employed?

  • Aviva: the policy is open to people who "work at least 16 hours a week – whether self-employed or for an employer", and its list of conditions includes "have been working for the past 12 months" (Aviva's income protection page, read October 2026).
  • Zurich: you must be employed or self-employed, and doing 16 or more hours a week, at the start of the policy (terms and conditions, PWL850002003, April 2026, sold through advisers).
  • LV=: "When your policy starts, you'll need to be employed, self-employed, or a homemaker." (LV='s income protection page, read October 2026).

Royal London's plan details (July 2026, available through independent financial advisers) define self-employed as working alone, with others in partnership, or as a member of a limited liability partnership, among other conditions. Contractors' questions are answered on their own page, one of the critical illness and income guides.

What sick pay or state help is there if you are self-employed?

Statutory Sick Pay is not available: GOV.UK limits it to people "classed as an employee", and Aviva's page says plainly, "If you're self-employed, you're not eligible for this benefit."

New Style Employment and Support Allowance can be. GOV.UK's guidance (updated 29 June 2026) says "you usually need to have been working within the last 2 to 3 years, and have made (or been credited with) Class 1 or Class 2 National Insurance contributions", adding: "This can be through employment or self–employment." Your or your partner's savings do not affect how much is paid.

Universal Credit is means-tested. The Universal Credit guidance on the same site lists people "unable to work, for example because of a health condition" among those who may qualify, and says you must "have £16,000 or less in money, savings and investments".

How do insurers work out a self-employed person's income?

Where a plan pays a share of your earnings, its definition of earnings decides the claim. These documents all start from pre-tax business profit, but differ on the number of years.

Insurer and documentHow self-employed income is measured
Legal & General, Income Protection Benefit terms (QGI12745, April 2025, adviser site)"Your income will be your share of the business's yearly taxable profits." After three years in business it will "use your average yearly income for the three years before you became incapacitated"; with under three years, the average over the time you have traded.
Zurich, terms and conditions (April 2026, sold through advisers)"Your share of the annual pre-tax profits of your business as evidenced in your most recent Self-Assessment tax return, and profit and loss accounts." The 12 months before you stopped work are the starting point, but "If it better reflects your typical income, we may use an average of your last 36 months gross income", for example where a worsening condition cut your earnings, with medical evidence of the drop.
Scottish Widows, Protect summary (September 2025, adviser site)"If you are self-employed when you make a claim, your claim payment will be based on the total income you received from your business for the previous 36 months."
Royal London, plan details (July 2026, through advisers)"their total share of pre-tax profit from their trade, profession or vocation" for the 12 months before incapacity, with a three-year average of earnings where they "vary significantly from one year to another".
LV=, income protection pageUses your last 12 months' income, and may in some cases average it over a period of up to 36 months, which you have to request when you claim.

Aviva's Living Costs Protection is the exception: you choose a monthly benefit of £500 to £1,500, and its policy summary (AL19001, October 2024) says "We don't take into account how much you earn", though you must have been working at least 16 hours a week immediately before you became ill. More on that plan is in our Aviva income protection guide, and wider differences between insurers in how to compare income protection plans.

Royal London's consumer page says that "if you're self employed you can also include certain regular fixed overheads such as business rental costs". Its plan details attach conditions: a cost counts only if it is needed to keep the business running and has been paid for at least the last 12 months.

What if your income varies or you have only just become self-employed?

Vitality's adviser sales aid (VLB0022, September 2026) says: "If you're self-employed and provide proof of earnings within the first six months of your plan, we guarantee your full payments even if you have a temporary drop in income." That is adviser marketing; the plan's own terms apply.

Being newly self-employed has different effects on different plans. Aviva's web page lists 12 months of work among its conditions. Legal & General averages over whatever period you have been in business, but if you have been self-employed for less than 12 months when you claim, its terms cap the monthly benefit at 35% of your yearly earnings. How an insurer treats a salary from before you went self-employed is worth asking before you apply; the broker this page's form reaches can raise it with several insurers on your behalf.

What do company directors who pay themselves dividends need to know?

If you run a limited company, you may be paid partly in salary and partly in dividends, and the insurers below each set conditions for counting dividends as earnings.

  • Zurich counts dividends that "represent your share in the business" and "would stop following your inability to work", and where the dividend "doesn't exceed your share of the typical net profit over the earnings period used to assess your claim". For directors it may average the last 36 months' gross income where that better reflects typical income.
  • LV=: "If you own a limited company then your income can also include dividend income from your business. This is as long as the dividend income is clearly related to your work activities, and is paid from current year annual profits net of tax."
  • Royal London sets a narrower test: dividends from a private limited company in which the person covered and no more than three other shareholders are employed as full-time working directors, and the amount must represent a share of net trading profit, be consistent with the company's trading position and stop if the person is incapacitated.
  • Legal & General includes dividends "that represent your share of net profit and that you wouldn't receive if you were incapacitated".

What about CIS sub-contractors and other self-employed workers?

You register as a subcontractor under the Construction Industry Scheme "if you do construction work for a contractor", and the contractor takes deductions from your payments, which GOV.UK says "count as advance payments towards the subcontractor’s tax and National Insurance." Your income for an insurer is measured as in the table above; building trades more widely are covered in life insurance for construction workers.

Freelancers and gig workers face the same tests of hours and income evidence. For cover tied to a mortgage, see mortgage protection for the self-employed; for a payout on death, life insurance for the self-employed.

Frequently asked questions

How many hours a week do you need to work?

The documents here all use 16, but the wording differs. Aviva and Zurich say at least 16 hours, while Legal & General counts income from work of more than 16 hours a week. Zurich and LV= also use hours in their minimum benefit guarantees: at least 16 a week if you are self-employed, against 25 for an employee.

Is income protection for the self-employed tax deductible?

That depends on tax rules rather than policy terms, and whether income protection premiums are tax deductible covers it.

Do insurers ask for tax returns?

Legal & General's terms do: they ask for tax returns or business accounts. Scottish Widows, which looks back 36 months, says that if you do not have that information it will "discuss with you what other information we'll need". Our Legal & General guide covers that insurer's terms in full.

If you would like to know how insurers would read your own accounts and hours, use the form on this page. The FCA-authorised broker it reaches will take the question up, free of charge.

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