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To help you to make the right choices for your income protection insurance, here is a selection of questions we are often asked by our customers:

1. What level of monthly benefit should I select?

Income protection insurance is designed to help you meet your monthly financial commitment, so you should choose a monthly benefit that you feel would satisfy the bills you get through the door, like the gas, electricity, water, phone and mobile phone bills as well as the rent.

2. Can anyone apply for income protection insurance?

Yes, most people are eligible for the cover, but you must meet these basic, minimum criteria:

• You must be over 18 and under 60 years of age
• You must be in full-time employment or be self-employed and have been so for at least 6 months
• You must be living in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, and working in one of these territories for a company that is paying UK income tax and National Insurance contributions.

3. Am I guaranteed to be covered?

No, your application will be subject to review by the underwriters. As long as you meet the basic criteria, the vast majority of applications are successful, and you will be accepted on-line and your documents will be e-mailed to you in addition to the hard copy you receive in the post.

4. Is there a limit on the monthly benefit I can choose?

Yes. You can cover up to £1,500 or 60% of your gross monthly salary (the amount you are paid before tax NOT your take-home pay), whichever is the lesser. These limits apply IN TOTAL across any and all such payment protection policies you might have.

5. Do I have to wait before I can make a claim?

Yes. There is either an excess period of 30, 60 or 90 days (whichever you choose when purchasing the policy), which means you have to wait that amount of time before you become eligible for any claim payment or, if you don't choose an excess period, a waiting period of 30 days, which means that you have to wait that long until you receive your first monthly benefit, providing you are still unable to work after 30 days. In addition, when you first buy a policy from us, there is an initial exclusion period for claims arising from involuntary unemployment (redundancy), which means that if you have purchased the Unemployment section of cover on your policy, you would have to wait 180 days before you become eligible to make a claim under the unemployment section.

6. How is my claim paid?

If you have chosen an excess period (which will either be 30, 60 or 90 days)you will be entitled to 1/30th of the monthly benefit you have selected, for each continuous day you are unable to work following the excess period. If you have chosen a waiting period, you will be entitled to claim 1/30th of the monthly benefit you have selected for each continuous day as soon as you are unable to work, but you have to wait 30 days to receive the payment, you have to have been unable to work for the entire 30 days, and still unable to work after 30 days. Payments are made monthly in arrears, so you would receive your first payment thirty days after becoming entitled to receiving the benefit.

7. How long can I claim for?

Providing you are unable to work continuously, payprotect pays your monthly benefit for up to 12 months.

8. Is there anything I won’t be covered for?

Like all insurance policies, payprotect contains some exclusions to cover, and the main ones are:

• a medical condition which you knew about at the time you first bought your payprotect policy from us
• any medical condition for which you sought or received advice, treatment or counselling from any doctor during the 2 years immediately before the start date of your payprotect policy
• backache or related conditions unless you have supporting medical evidence, which would be in the form of an MRI or CT scan or equivalent
• mental or nervous conditions including stress, anxiety or depression (unless the condition is certified by and under the continuing care of a consultant psychiatrist)
• normal pregnancy
• any self-inflicted injury

If you also chose the optional unemployment section of cover you will not be covered if:

• your work is seasonal, casual or temporary or unemployment is a regular feature of your work
• you knew you would become unemployed or you had reason to believe that you might become unemployed at the time you first purchased your payprotect policy from us
• you are made unemployed or are told that you will be made unemployed within 180 days of the start date
• you resign or you accept voluntary unemployment
• you lose your job because of your own misconduct, fraud, dishonesty or any act you carried out.

You should always make sure that you have read all the exclusions that apply to the cover, which can be found in the policy wording.

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