Frequently Asked Questions

Yes you can! Being self employed comes with a long list of benefits however, one of the downsides is that you don’t have financial security like employees such as statutory sick pay.

 As you wouldn’t receive statuary sick pay and are unable to work, this is where income protection can step in as a source of monthly income. 

Income protection isn’t limited to those who are self employed, those who are employed can also have income protection as statuary sick pay may not cover their mortgage payments and/or their monthly bills or don’t want a loss of income if they were off sick.

This is hard to say without speaking to you and learning more about yourself, your family, your employment and what you are looking to protect. 

There isn’t one type of policy that fits all, every policy is catered to individual needs. The thing to think about is what are you looking to protect or what you want from the policy – paying off your mortgage, a lump sum payment for house modifications in the event of a critical illness, help with the day to day bills, income to cover your monthly mortgage payments if you’re off work with sickness, receive a monthly income if you’re self employed and too ill or injured too.

Depending on what you are looking for protection will determine which type of policy you will need.

There is no legal limit and many people have multiple policies in place such as individual life insurance, joint life insurance and individual critical illness policies. It’s important to make sure you have the right level of cover as you don’t want to be over insured nor do you want to be underinsured.

Over insured: You’ll receive more than you need and as a result, you will be paying a higher premium each month.

Under insured: In the event that you need to make a claim, your pay out won’t cover everything that you need.

We work with a panel of insurers and it will depend on your personal circumstances – some providers may provide a standard level of cover if you have an existing medical condition. 

While on the other hand, there may be providers who have cover more critical illnesses, had the highest pay out in the last 12 months or have additional benefits such as 24/7 GP services. 

At Amplo Mortgages and Financial Solutions, we work with a large panel of providers and our aim is to find you the policy which is most suited to your requirements.

Life insurance: This type of policy will pay out in the event that you die and the lump sum that you will receive will depend on how much you are covered for. Quite a common life insurance policy is a ‘decreasing life insurance policy’ which is used to cover what you have remaining on your mortgage. 

Critical Illness: This type of policy will pay out if you are diagnosed with a critical illness. A critical illness can be a stroke, cardiac arrest or cancer but this varies between providers with some covering more illnesses than others. AIG cover 96 different critical illnesses. 

Income Protection: In the event that you’re too ill or injured to work, you can receive regular monthly payments until you go back to work or until the maximum claim period on your policy.

Income Protection isn’t necessarily an expensive protection policy, the cost per month will vary depending on how much you would like to cover and your deferral period.

For one example: One of our clients is 26 years old, non-smoker and wished to have income protection to cover their mortgage repayments of £495. We were able to arrange an income protection policy for them which costs them £7.61 per month with a 4 week deferred period and a 2 year claim period. 

Claim Period: The maximum length of time you can claim. However, if you return back to work after 2 years or before and need to make a claim again, you will have the same claim period again. Lengths of claim periods will vary between providers and will have their own set of terms.

Deferral period: The time before you receive your first payment. Many chose 4 weeks because they have 1 months of pay before however you can choose different periods such as 1 day, 1 week, 4 weeks, 8 weeks and 12 weeks but the choices will vary between insurers.

This isn’t always true; some providers will still offer life insurance but they will exclude your medical condition. 

What this means is that you wouldn’t be able to make a claim on your life insurance if it’s related to your medical condition.

Whilst some insurers will still cover your medical condition depending on what it is. Unfortunately, there is some medical conditions that insurers won’t cover at all.

To find out more about whether your medical condition is cover, speak with a protection consultant with a whole of market access as they will have access to a full range of cover options. 

 Most people who apply for life insurance don’t need to have a medical. However, if you’re applying for a large amount of cover or have a pre-existing medical condition, you may be asked to attend a medical screening. 

This is all different between lenders and every application will be looked at individually therefore, it will depend on your circumstances. 

Over 10 years, your personal circumstances may have changed. As an example, 10 years ago you may have been single with no children and renting your home. Fast forward to now, you could have a partner, children, a mortgage and in a better paid job or have gone self employed. 

Therefore, your policy from 10 years ago may not have the adequate cover that you need.

Reviewing your policy will ensure you have the right level of cover for your circumstances and the right policies in place to protect you and your family’s future.