Income Protection Insurance is a form of financial security designed to safeguard you and your family in the event that you are unable to work due to illness, disability, injury, or an accident. If you find yourself in such a situation, this insurance policy will provide you with a regular monthly benefit, subject to a brief waiting period that you choose when setting up the policy. The benefit amount is paid weekly after a deferred period of 4, 8, 13, 26, or 52 weeks, which represents the time between the initial diagnosis of the illness and the commencement of the income benefit payments. These payments will continue until either you can return to work or until your selected retirement age (up to age 70), whichever comes first.

Your plan provides comprehensive coverage for your income, safeguarding you against?

Any illness

Any injury

Any disability Any accident

However, it’s essential to understand that an Income Protection Insurance Plan does not cover redundancy. Instead, it ensures replacement of income if you are unable to work due to certified ill health.

It ensures you can manage essential bills and maintain your lifestyle when illness, injury or disability prevents you from working. Without an alternative income source, how would you sustain the lifestyle you’re accustomed to? The State Illness Benefit may not be sufficient, offering just €9,776 per annum (€188 per week) for a single person and no benefit for the self-employed.

Yes, you can benefit from personal tax relief of up to 40% on income protection insurance premiums. If you’re a Company Director, you can pay for income protection through your business and offset the premium against corporation tax.

Yes, since income protection policies provide a replacement income, they are subject to the regular tax regime applicable to you.

No, income protection insurance plans do not cover redundancy. Instead, they ensure a replacement income when you cannot work due to certified ill health.

Income Protection Insurance will pay you a regular income until you can return to work or until the policy term ends.

You can submit claims as many times as necessary, receiving benefits until the end of the policy term.

This policy offers an automatic benefit that allows you to increase your cover by 20% of the original amount every three years without providing health evidence. You can also choose the Indexation Option, which increases your benefit by 3% and your premium by 3.5% annually to keep up with inflation and salary increases. If you don’t select these options, you can request an increase based on salary changes, but this will require evidence of health.

Note: The maximum benefit is 75% of your salary, minus the state disability benefit of

€10,556 per year for employees. This state benefit doesn’t apply to self-employed individuals.

At the start of your policy, you can choose escalating benefit in addition to or separately from indexation. This means your benefit increases by 3% annually while receiving payments.

When your claims stop, the benefit returns to the pre-claim level, and premiums remain constant.

No, you don’t need to pay premiums while receiving income from your policy. Premiums resume when your claim ends.

If you change jobs, there’s no need to notify us, and your premiums will remain unchanged. We will continue to provide cover regardless of the nature of your new job. If you experience redundancy, you can maintain your plan while searching for another job, but benefits cannot be claimed while you are unemployed.

Regarding working abroad, full cover is available within the EU. If you claim Income Protection benefit while outside the EU, we will pay your income for 13 weeks within any 52-week period, or a total of 39 weeks. Should you return to Ireland or the EU during this period, we will continue to pay your income protection benefit.