Income protection insurance is a policy that pays you a regular income if illness or injury stops you working, so that part of your earnings carries on while you cannot earn them. It works through four terms: the incapacity test that decides whether you can claim, the wait before the first payment, how much each payment is, and how long payments can last. Each is set out below, using Aviva's, Legal & General's, Scottish Widows' and Zurich's own documents.

Because terms and prices turn on your job, health and income, an FCA-authorised broker is the person to ask about your own case. Leave your details in the enquiry form here and one will call you back, free of charge.

What is income protection insurance?

MoneyHelper's guide (archived September 2026) calls it "a long-term insurance policy that makes sure you get a regular income until you retire or are able to return to work". Aviva's page for its Living Costs Protection plan (read October 2026) says it replaces some of your income when illness or injury stops you working, and Scottish Widows' policy summary (September 2025, on its adviser site) says its plan "aims to pay you a monthly income if you are unable to work because of illness or an injury".

It pays a stream of monthly payments, not a single sum, which is why critical illness cover is a separate product. It pays on the effect on your work, not on a named diagnosis. Aviva adds that its plan is not a savings plan and only pays out on a successful claim, and that if you cancel or stop paying, cover ends with nothing returned.

It does not replace all your pay either. Legal & General's terms (April 2025, from its adviser site) say: "It won’t cover 100% of the income you’d get from work, but it can help to protect your finances while you recover." How it sits beside life cover is in whether you need both, and how the three types of cover differ in what triggers a payout under each.

What triggers a payment?

A claim starts when illness or injury stops you working in the way your policy describes. Legal & General's terms put it in one sentence: "To make a claim, you must be incapacitated. This means you can’t work or do some activities because you’re ill or injured." Zurich's terms (April 2026, sold through advisers) describe a payment for someone who cannot perform their own occupation because of illness or injury.

What counts as unable is each policy's own test. MoneyHelper sorts tests into three levels. An own-occupation test asks whether you can do your own job; it is usually the most expensive, but a claim is more likely to succeed. A suited-occupation test asks whether you can do your own or a similar job that suits your qualifications and experience. An any-occupation test asks whether you can do any work at all; it is usually the cheapest, with a higher risk of not paying out.

The test can also depend on how much you were working. Legal & General applies its own-occupation definition to someone averaging at least 16 hours a week over the three months before incapacity, and a test based on daily activities to a houseperson or anyone working fewer hours. The exact incapacity clause of each insurer is quoted in our income protection comparison.

The trigger is illness or injury, not losing a job. Legal & General's terms say the policy does not pay because you are unemployed or made redundant, and income protection and redundancy covers other insurers. Stress and other mental health claims are dealt with in income protection and stress, and conditions you already have in pre-existing conditions. Aviva says you "must not already be off work due to illness or injury at the time you apply for cover".

How long is the wait before the first payment?

Most policies build in a wait, called the deferred period. Aviva's policy summary (October 2024, from its adviser document library) defines it as the time from when you get ill or injured to when it starts paying. MoneyHelper says the longer you wait, the lower the monthly premiums, and that the most common waits are 4, 13 and 26 weeks and a year.

The wait exists because other money may cover the start of an absence. GOV.UK's guide says Statutory Sick Pay is "£123.25 a week" or 80% of normal weekly earnings, "whichever is lower", for up to 28 weeks, and that you must "be classed as an employee"; the self-employed position is in income protection for the self-employed. MoneyHelper adds that "employees are usually moved onto Statutory Sick Pay within six months", and that very few employers support staff beyond a year. Income protection for NHS staff shows a worked case of lining a wait up with employer sick pay.

The wait is not always the end of the delay. Legal & General aims to send the first payment one month after the deferred period ends, because benefit is paid monthly in arrears, and says a payment may be delayed while evidence from third parties arrives. It asks you to tell it as soon as you cannot work if the illness or injury will probably outlast the deferred period, and premiums stay payable during the wait.

If you want a wait checked against the sick pay in your own contract, the broker you are introduced to through this page's form can go through it with you.

How much does income protection pay?

MoneyHelper says income protection typically pays between 50% and 65% of your income, so a payment is a share of earnings, not all of them. Each insurer sets its own ceiling. Legal & General's terms base the maximum monthly benefit you can choose on 60% of annual income up to £60,000 and 50% of any income above it. Aviva's Living Costs Protection instead lets you pick a monthly sum from £500 to £1,500, paid for up to 12 months per successful claim. Those are two plans' rules, not market limits.

The amount is worked out when you claim. Legal & General bases it on your income just before you became incapacitated, not your income when the policy started, pays it tax-free, and takes off what it calls continuing income, meaning other income you still receive while claiming. Zurich's terms likewise make a payment subject to a maximum benefit and deductions for continuing income. The tax side is in is income protection tax deductible.

Other insurers' limits are in the comparison, what moves the premium in what income protection costs, and how much cover to consider in how much income protection you need. Company directors insuring through their business use a different route, in how executive income protection works.

How long can payments last?

This is the benefit period, and it differs by policy. At the long end, MoneyHelper describes a policy paying until the earliest of four events: you can work again, you retire, you die, or the term ends. It adds that you can claim as many times as you need while the policy lasts, and Aviva says the same of its plan.

Some plans cap each claim. Aviva's summary says it could pay for a maximum of 12 months each time you are incapacitated. Legal & General offers a limited benefit period of 12 or 24 months as an option. Scottish Widows has two versions: its 2 years cover allows a maximum of 24 claim payments on a first claim, and its full term cover has no maximum number of payments before the policy ends.

A return to work can reset things. Legal & General says that once you are back at work you can claim again if a different illness or injury stops you. Aviva's summary says that after 12 payments you must be back at work for at least 16 hours a week for six consecutive months before it will pay a further claim.

What makes payments stop?

Legal & General's terms list the events: you are no longer incapacitated or no longer have a loss of income, the policy ends, you die, or a limited benefit period you chose runs out. Aviva's summary has a similar list, adding that payments stop once you have received 12 benefit payments.

Scottish Widows words the first event around the job: payments stop "when you return to your normal occupation, or are able to work again at your normal occupation so do not meet the definition of incapacity". Whether anything is paid on death is the subject of does income protection cover death. Part-time returns and lower-paid jobs can be handled by separate features: Zurich has a Return to Work Package, and Scottish Widows a rehabilitation income benefit.

Claims are also reviewed, and Legal & General says it may stop payments if you do not give the information it asks for. While you are paid, premiums need not be: Zurich's terms say "If you make a claim and we’re paying you a benefit, your premiums will be suspended", and on other plans waiver of premium does the same job. Outside a claim, cover depends on premiums being paid. Scottish Widows says "If you miss three premium payments in a row we may cancel your policy and you’ll get nothing back", and asks anyone unable to pay to get in touch.

This page gives the general picture. For terms and a price built on your own job, income and health, a free call-back from an FCA-authorised broker begins once you complete this page's enquiry form. Contractors will find more in income protection for contractors, and the wider set is in critical illness and income.

Frequently asked questions

How do I know if I already have income protection?

Look through your policy documents for the words "income protection" or "monthly benefit", and ask your employer whether it provides any cover. Your insurer can confirm what a policy you hold pays and when.

Is income protection the same as sick pay?

No. Sick pay comes from your employer or the state; on GOV.UK's figures Statutory Sick Pay lasts up to 28 weeks. Income protection is a policy you pay premiums for, and some versions can pay for far longer, depending on the policy.

Can you work while on income protection?

It depends on the policy. Legal & General deducts continuing income from a payment, and the return-to-work features named above are built for reduced hours or lower pay. Ask the insurer how a part-time return would be treated before relying on it.

Does it cover homemakers?

Some do. Legal & General judges someone at home, or in work of under 16 hours a week, on everyday activities rather than a job, and caps what such a claim pays each month. Aviva's plan, by contrast, is open only to applicants working 16 hours or more each week. Other insurers set their own rules, so ask each.

Does income protection pay a lump sum?

No, it pays monthly. A lump sum on a listed diagnosis is critical illness cover, covered in the difference between the two.

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