The income protection insurance waiting period, which most insurers call the deferred period, is the gap between the day you become unable to work and the day payments are due to begin. The insurers covered here offer fixed lengths, from about a month upwards, and several of their documents suggest lining the wait up with your employer's sick pay.

To work out which wait matches your contract and how it shifts a quote, an FCA-authorised broker will ring you, free, once you send the short form here.

When does the wait start, and when does the first payment arrive?

For Zurich (key features, April 2026) and Aviva (policy summary AL19001, October 2024), the clock starts when you become unable to work; for Royal London (plan details, July 2026), when you first meet its definition of incapacitated.

Legal & General's terms (QGI12745 04/25) word it two ways. One passage says "We’ll use the date you make your claim as the starting date for the deferred period"; the claims section says "We’ll start your deferred period from the date you became incapacitated. However, this can’t be more than four weeks before the date you contact us to make a claim." If you hold an L&G policy, ask which applies; under either, a late call can push the start back.

Money does not always arrive the day the wait ends. Aviva pays benefit a month in arrears after the deferred period, and L&G, also paying in arrears, aims to get the first payment to you a month after the wait. Zurich pays at the end of each month. With Royal London, LV= or Vitality, ask the insurer or a broker when a first payment would land.

LV= and L&G want the wait unbroken. LV= will "only pay your claim if you've been unable to work throughout the whole of your chosen waiting period" (web page read 20 October 2026), and under L&G's terms you "must not be working in any occupation at all during the deferred period". L&G adds that slow evidence from employers or the NHS can delay payment, more so on a short deferred period.

Which deferred periods do insurers offer?

Each insurer sets its own list; both Vitality sources are written for advisers, so check what is offered for your job.

Insurer and documentWait lengths statedOther wait features named
Aviva (Living Costs Protection, AL19001 10/2024)Weeks: 4, 8, 13 or 26, consecutiveNone named in the summary
Legal & General (QGI12745 04/25)Weeks: 4, 8, 13, 26 or 52Stepped Benefit, with two deferred periods
LV= (Guaranteed Premiums summary, April 2026)Months: 3, 6 or 12, and "1 or 2 months, depending on your job"Called a waiting period
Royal London (Personal Menu Plan, July 2026; adviser web page)Weeks: four, eight, 13, 26 or 52For NHS medical professionals, a 52-week wait can end sooner, when NHS sick pay reduces (see NHS staff)
Zurich (PWL850001003 and PWL850002003, 04/26)Weeks: 4, 8, 13, 26, 52 or 104; may be restricted for some higher risk occupationsSingle or dual deferred periods
Vitality (adviser web page; adviser sales aid VLB0022 09/26)Examples only: 1, 3 or 12 monthsA dual deferred period calculator for advisers

How do Statutory Sick Pay and your employer's sick pay fit around the wait?

Under GOV.UK's Statutory Sick Pay guide (read 20 October 2026) you can get "£123.25 a week" or 80% of your normal weekly earnings, whichever is lower, from your employer for up to 28 weeks, the 2026 to 2027 rate on GOV.UK's employer rates page (updated 1 September 2026). A company scheme may pay more, so check your contract. Because a claimant must "be classed as an employee", SSP does nothing for people working for themselves, which is the subject of income protection for the self-employed.

Two SSP rules changed on 6 April 2026. The Department for Business and Trade's timeline (updated 14 October 2026) lists "removing the Lower Earnings Limit (LEL) and waiting period" among measures in force from that date; that is SSP's own waiting period, separate from an insurer's deferred period. GOV.UK's SC2 guidance (updated 15 October 2026) now says you must be off sick for "at least one full working day", and the employer rates page has SSP paid from the first day of illness.

L&G's illustration pairs 26 weeks of employer sick pay with a 26-week wait, so benefit begins as that pay stops; Vitality's adviser sales aid (VLB0022 09/26) does the same with a fictional builder and three months. Zurich suggests weighing savings and other income too.

Pay still coming in once the wait is over can reduce a claim. Royal London warns of this, and L&G counts 60% of employer income such as sick pay against the benefit but not SSP. Sizing the amount is in how much income protection you need.

Can the wait be split into two stages?

Yes, at some insurers. L&G's Stepped Benefit is for income that falls without stopping altogether: you pick two deferred periods and two monthly amounts, the lower amount paying after the first wait and the higher after the second. In its worked example Jane has full sick pay for 6 months, then £1,500 a month for 6 more, and her second wait lines up with that pay ending at 12 months.

Zurich's version is the dual deferred period, pitched at company sick pay that tapers off: part of the benefit begins when the first wait ends, the rest when the second does.

To have a two-stage wait quoted around your own sick pay dates, put them in the form and the FCA-authorised adviser who calls can take it to insurers.

Do you wait again if you claim a second time?

Not always: each insurer sets its own window and conditions for skipping it.

Insurer and documentName and windowConditions stated
Aviva (AL19001 10/2024)No name given; the same illness or injury returns within 12 months of going back to work for 16 hours or more a weekNo new deferred period. Once 12 monthly payments have been made, six consecutive months back at work come first, then a fresh wait
Legal & General (QGI12745 04/25)Linked claim: within 12 months of returning to workSame or related illness or injury, meaning one you had symptoms of, sought advice for, received treatment for or were aware of, and that directly or indirectly contributed to the incapacity you claimed for before
LV= (Guaranteed Premiums summary, April 2026)Linked claim: within the first six months back at work, when LV= may restart payments straight awaySame reason, and still in your original occupation; otherwise the full waiting period applies
Royal London (plan details, July 2026)Connected claim: within 52 weeks of payments stoppingDid not go back to work against doctor's advice, same cause, same occupation
Zurich (PWL850002003 04/26)Linked claim: within 12 months of the previous claim endingSame or related condition, same occupation; on a 24-month limited term only if that claim paid for less than 24 months

If you go back part-way through the wait, Zurich may link a later absence from the same or a related condition so the count does not restart, where the incidents fall within 12 months. SSP has a separate rule, treating spells of sickness as linked when they are "8 weeks or less apart". For how long a repeat claim pays, see income protection benefit periods.

Do you keep paying premiums during the wait, and what does a longer wait do to the price?

At L&G, yes: premiums stay payable through the deferred period. Aviva takes over your premiums on a claim after 13 weeks or when the deferred period ends, whichever comes first. On Vitality's adviser page, a client who starts using its Recovery Benefit has premiums waived for up to three months of the wait. LV= collects premiums up to the month before the policy's end date "less your waiting period", so a three-month wait means the last one is four months before the end.

On price, Aviva, LV= and MoneyHelper (archived September 2026) agree that a longer wait means a lower premium, without putting a size on it. What else moves a quote is in what income protection costs, and waiver of premium has its own wait, explained in waiver of premium deferred periods.

Frequently asked questions

Is there income protection with no waiting period?

Vitality's adviser page says that for self-employed clients "payments could start straight away, depending on the deferred period they choose". Ask the insurer or a broker whether so short a wait is open to you and how it changes the premium.

When do you need to tell the insurer you cannot work?

L&G wants to hear within 2 weeks of incapacity if you picked the 4-week deferred period, otherwise within 4 weeks. Aviva asks to be told before you have been off for two months, or one month on a 4-week wait, warning that a late claim may be delayed or not paid.

Can you change your deferred period later?

You can ask. L&G may want a health questionnaire, LV= says the options turn on your health, job and its terms at the time, and Royal London gives a new job with different sick pay as one reason to change.

Does life insurance have a deferred period?

Life cover has its own start rules, covered in waiting periods for life insurance. The wider set of income cover is in critical illness and income.

Want a 4-week, 13-week or 26-week wait priced against your own sick pay? Fill in the form and an FCA-authorised broker will phone you back without charge.

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