If you can't work because of an accident, a long illness, or something unexpected like being laid off, it could be hard to pay your bills if you don't have income protection.
If your situation is right for income protection insurance, it would replace up to a certain amount of your lost income each month. This would allow you to keep paying your essential bills without having to struggle to find the money.
Once you've been out of work for 30 days or more, the policy would kick in and you'd get a tax-free amount each month you were out of work for up to a year (and with some providers, for up to 24 months). You do, however, need to make sure that a policy fits your needs and that if you need to file a claim, you can do so without any trouble.
Make sure you get the right protection by reading the fine print to see if there are any exceptions and to find out exactly what the income protection insurance covers.
It can be hard and take time to find affordable income protection insurance if you don't go with a stand-alone provider. Compared to their counterparts on the high street, they can offer cheap income protection insurance.
In an uncertain world where layoffs and accidents are on the rise, you need to do everything you can to protect yourself against a loss of income. If you read the exclusions and fine print in a policy, income protection insurance can be a safety net, but you need to make sure it is the right product for you.