Workplace protection
Group Income Protection
Replaces part of an employee’s income when long-term illness or injury stops them working, and funds the rehabilitation that gets them back if it can.
Dublin city centre
Who it is for
Employers wanting to manage long-term absence
What it does
- Benefit typically 50–75% of salary, with employer NIC and pension cover
- Deferred periods of 13, 26 or 52 weeks
- Early Intervention Service engaged from week four of absence
- Limited payment terms of 2, 3 or 5 years available
The product in full
Group income protection is often described as insurance against long-term absence. That is half of it. The other half — and on most schemes the more valuable half — is the rehabilitation work that stops an absence becoming long-term in the first place.
The Early Intervention Service is engaged from week four of an absence, long before any benefit could be payable under even the shortest deferred period. A vocational rehabilitation specialist works with the employee, the employer and the treating clinicians on what would actually make a return to work possible: a phased return, adjusted duties, equipment, or treatment the waiting list is delaying. Many of those cases never reach the deferred period, which is better for the employee than a benefit payment would have been.
When benefit is payable it replaces a proportion of salary — typically 50 to 75% — and can also cover the employer’s national insurance contributions and pension contributions, so an absent employee’s pension does not quietly stop accruing during the worst year of their life.
The deferred period is the main pricing lever and the main design decision. A 13-week deferral costs materially more than 52 weeks, and what the employer is really buying with the difference is the gap between when sick pay stops and when benefit starts. Sitting the deferred period against the employer’s own sick pay policy is the single most useful thing a broker can do on this product.
Literature
Product literature is issued to appointed intermediaries. Ask your underwriter, or request it through the enquiry form.
- Policy conditionsOn request
- Absence referral formOn request
- Scheme data templateOn request
How it works
What happens, in order
From the first enquiry to the point the cover, the contract or the facility is in place.
The benefit design is set against the sick pay policy
Percentage of salary, deferred period, payment term, and whether employer NIC and pension contributions are covered. The deferred period should end where sick pay ends.
The scheme is rated on its own data
Age profile, occupations, salaries and claims history.
Absence is referred from week four
Through the absence referral form. The Early Intervention Service engages before any benefit could be due.
Rehabilitation is attempted first
Phased return, adjusted duties, equipment, treatment. Many referrals close here.
Benefit is paid after the deferred period
To pension age, or for a limited term of two, three or five years, with proportionate benefit where a member returns part time.
The numbers
A worked example
Illustrative arithmetic, so the shape of the product is visible rather than described. Nothing here is a quotation or a projection.
One member on a £45,000 salary
A 60% benefit with NIC and pension cover, on a 26-week deferred period. Illustrative figures.
- Member salary
- £45,000
- Benefit at 60% of salary
- £27,000 a year
- Employer NIC cover
- £3,300 a year
- Employer pension contribution coverSo the member’s pension keeps accruing
- £2,250 a year
- Total insured benefit for this member
- £32,550 a year
- Deferred period
- 26 weeks
- Employer sick payDeliberately matched — no gap for the member to fall into
- 26 weeks
- Early Intervention engaged at
- Week 4
- Payment term
- To pension age
Illustrative. The premium is quoted on the whole scheme rather than per member, and depends on the age and occupational profile as well as the design. Aligning the deferred period with the sick pay policy is a matter for the employer and their advisers.
What the deferred period costs
Illustrative premium for the same scheme and the same benefit, at the three available deferred periods.
View these figures as a table
| Value | |
|---|---|
| 13 weeks — Benefit starts soonest, and costs most | 2.40% |
| 26 weeks | 1.80% |
| 52 weeks — Cheapest, and only right if sick pay runs a year | 1.20% |
Suitability
Where the Group Income Protection fits
The cases it answers, the cases it does not, and what an underwriter needs before quoting.
It is the right answer when
- Employers who want long-term absence managed as well as insured.
- Schemes where the deferred period can be aligned to an existing sick pay policy.
- Employers who want pension accrual to continue during absence.
Look at something else when
- A benefit paid on diagnosis regardless of absence — that is Group Critical Illness.
- A death benefit — that is Group Life Insurance.
What we need to quote
- 1.The scheme data template, and the current sick pay policy.
- 2.The benefit design: percentage, deferred period, payment term, NIC and pension cover.
- 3.Details of any absences currently open, and the claims history.
Questions
What brokers ask us about this product
Why refer at week four when the deferred period is 26 weeks?
Because rehabilitation works better early. By week 26 an absence has often set — the job has been reorganised, confidence has gone. Week four is when a phased return is still the obvious outcome.
What is a limited payment term?
Benefit for two, three or five years rather than to pension age. It reduces the premium substantially, and it means a member who does not recover has an income that stops. The employer should make that choice with their eyes open.
What if a member returns part time?
A proportionate benefit is payable, so a partial return is not financially punished. That matters, because a phased return is the commonest good outcome on this product.
Request information
Ask us about the Group Income Protection
The form reaches an underwriter in Dublin. If you are an intermediary, say so and we will route it to the broker desk.