By your side Income Protection for NHS medical professionals

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Life isn’t always plain sailing so you can’t afford to take your good health for granted.

We’re here to make sure you’re financially prepared for those times when life doesn’t go to plan.

If you can’t work because of sickness or injury, our flexible Income Protection could give you a monthly income - so you can keep paying the bills and focus on getting better.

And if you’re an NHS medical professional, we can offer you our specially tailored Income Protection.

Who is eligible for our Income Protection for NHS medical professionals?

This covers doctors, surgeons, nurses, midwives, dentists and other medical professionals on the same NHS pay structure. You’ll need to make sure you meet these criteria at the time of claim:

Work in a medical profession in the UK with a sick pay entitlement that exactly matches the NHS sick pay structure.

Registered, or provisionally registered, with the General Medical Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council or General Dental Council.

If you’re a doctor or a surgeon, you must have a licence to practice in the UK.

What does our Income Protection for NHS medical professionals include?

A special deferred period arrangement that pays out in line with NHS sick pay.

Over the first few years of working for the NHS your sick pay entitlement will change. It gradually increases with your length of service, starting with one month full pay and two months’ half pay in the first year, up to the maximum of six months’ full pay and six months’ half pay after five years of service.

What you get may be enough to cover you for any short-term illness but you should consider what you’d do if any period of illness went beyond this. Your savings might not last as long you’d think and state benefits could be less than you’d expect.

With the tiered NHS sick pay arrangement, it can be tricky to work out how much cover you need and when. We call the period of time from when you’re first unable to work to us paying a benefit a ‘deferred period.’ To make it easier for you, your adviser will set up a 52 week deferred period on your plan. We’ll take care of the calculations and start making your Income Protection payments as soon as your pay starts to reduce.

Up to 12 months’ sabbatical cover.

There may be times in your life when you want to take an extended break – to study, raise a family or to work overseas as a medical volunteer for example. We’ll keep you covered during this time as long as you continue to pay your premiums, you’ve been working for the NHS for 12 months and your cover has been in place for 12 months. Your employer must have approved this break and you need to have a job to come back to.

A higher minimum benefit amount for doctors and surgeons.

Doctors and surgeons will get a minimum benefit guarantee of £3,000 a month. All other professions will get £1,500 a month.

This can help you if your earnings go down after you take out cover. And means if you need to make a claim, we’ll pay the minimum benefit amount each month.

And we’re the only provider who doesn’t set a minimum number of hours you need to work to get this minimum benefit guarantee. But if you work less than 16 hours a week, we’ll assess you on serious illness or everyday tasks definitions rather than own occupation.

Why choose our Income Protection?

Reassurance

We'll cover up to 65% of the first £15,000 of your pre-tax earnings, plus up to 55% of the remainder, up to £250,000 a year.

Flexible cover

With 1, 2, 5 year and full term payment options, there’s something for different needs and budgets. You can also decide between level or increasing cover.

Cover for real needs

Modern life and working in high-pressured roles can be causes of stress, anxiety and depression. Your plan will cover you for mental health conditions like these (subject to underwriting).

Fracture cover and hospitalisation payments

We’ll pay up to £4,000 per fracture claim and up to two claims in 12 months. And if you’re hospitalised for over six consecutive nights we’ll pay £100 for each night after that, up to 90 nights during the term of your cover.

Back-to-work payment

We’ll give you a payment in the first and second months back at work to help you out while you’re settling back in. The amount you get depends on your cover payment period.

Help with recovery

Our Helping Hand service gives you access to practical and emotional support from the day your plan starts. This won’t cost you anything to use and a dedicated nurse will be on hand whenever you need. They can develop a personal support plan and offer services like counselling to help manage stress and depression, and physiotherapy to help with musculoskeletal problems.

Helping Hand is a package of support services, provided by third parties that aren’t regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. These services aren’t part of our terms and conditions, so can be amended or withdrawn at any time.

Dr Jones works as a partner in a GP practice.

with annual earnings of £40,000 and private consultancy work with annual earnings of £60,000. As a partner, he’s not employed by the NHS but he is covered by the same sick pay arrangement, and eligible for our special deferred period arrangement for his NHS earnings. He has no sick pay arrangement for his private practice earnings.

On our Income Protection, Dr Jones can have a maximum allowable income of £56,500 (£4,708.33 a month) and he splits this between two covers which he sets up on one Menu Plan:

• £23,500 to cover his NHS income, with a 52 week deferred period

• £33,000 to cover his private practice earnings, with a 4 week deferred period

Example - earnings from different sources

Here’s what he’d receive:

Total

net income

Royal London

4 week cover

Royal London

52 week cover

Total

income

Full sick pay from NHS only (months 1-6) £2,570 £2,138.33 £0 £4,708.33

Half sick pay from NHS only

(months 7-12) £1,436.67 £2,750 £521.66 £4,708.33

No sick pay (month 13 onwards) £0 £2,750 £1,958.33 £4,708.33

*These figures are based on our understanding of tax law in England and Wales for the tax year 2020/21. Final figures may be affected by individual circumstances.

Dr Grant is an NHS doctor and earns a salary of £40,000 a year. She chooses the maximum annual benefit of £23,500 a year, or £1,958.33 a month on her Income Protection (65% of £15,000 + 55% of £25,000 = £23,500/12 = £1,958.33).

She has to take some time off work because of back problems after working for the NHS for 18 months.

Under the NHS sick pay arrangement she'll receive two months of full pay and a further two months of half pay. We’ll start paying out £521.66 in month three (when her net pay reduces to £1436.67) to top her up to her monthly benefit amount of £1,958.33. From month five, when her pay stops altogether, we’ll start paying her full monthly benefit of £1,958.33.

Example - special deferred period

*These figures are based on our understanding of tax law in England and Wales for the tax year 2020/21. Final figures may be affected by individual circumstances.

To find out more about our Income Protection for NHS medical professionals speak to your financial adviser.

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April 2020 BRP8P10007