Employer Sick Pay vs Private Income Protection

Map employer sick pay before buying income protection. Overlap wastes money; gaps waste security.

Read the staff handbook

Full pay for months, then half pay, then SSP is a common pattern — but not universal. Contractors may have nothing.

Align deferred periods

Set income protection to start when employer pay drops. Paying for week-one cover you will never claim on is optional, not mandatory.

Promotion and job change

Benefits packages change. Re-audit after each move.

Map the drop-off points

Draw a simple timeline: full pay weeks, half pay weeks, then statutory sick pay only. Align income protection’s deferred period with the week your household budget would actually break.

Ask HR whether sick pay differs for mental health, pregnancy-related absence, or long-term conditions. Handbooks sometimes hide those nuances in appendices.

• Note maximum continuous sick-pay weeks.
• Confirm whether death-in-service continues while off sick.
• Re-check after promotion or contract change.

Practical next steps

Treat this topic as a decision with paperwork attached. Write down the household facts that matter — who depends on income, which debts must clear, and which workplace benefits already exist — before you compare products. A clear brief stops glossy quotes from steering the plan.

When you speak to an insurer or adviser, ask for definitions and exclusions in writing, and keep PDFs of every illustration you rely on. Markets and underwriting change; your notes are the audit trail.

• Confirm what cover you already hold (personal and workplace).
• Size need against obligations, not round marketing numbers.
• Align wills, trusts, and nominations with the policy.
• Never cancel old cover until replacement is on risk.

Mistakes families make here

The common failure mode is optimising for the cheapest monthly figure while ignoring structure: joint versus single policies, accelerated versus additional benefits, and whether a trust exists at all. Another is letting group benefits create false confidence until a resignation removes them overnight.

Build a short annual review habit. An hour with schedules and nomination forms prevents most emergency weekends after a diagnosis or redundancy.