Protection
Personal protection relates to classes of insurance protection covering your person in one way or another. The most common form is life assurance, which pays out in the event of death, and comes in a number of different forms. Although personal protection in the sense that it provides cover against an unfortunate event happening against the person, in practice, this cover is taken out for the possible benefit of others, principally the spouse or partner, and any children, all of whom could be seriously financially disadvantaged in the event of death of one of the breadwinners.
As well as protecting against death, various other forms of cover are available, providing a lump sum, or an income in the event of serious illness or disability, with the intention of replacing income, or paying off a mortgage, perhaps funding house alterations or even moving home in the event of serious disability.
We have a dedicated protection cover website for online price comparison
and quotes, please go to coverplease.co.uk
Our Services
Part of the process of assessing needs for these and other types of cover is to review what is already available, for example from employers' death in service schemes, ill health pension arrangements, periods of extended sick pay, possible state benefits and existing policies, to ensure the correct balance is found between being underinsured and paying more than is necessary for additional cover which may not be required.
When this has been achieved we must consider what you can afford to do, and sometimes what you can't afford not to do, and strike a suitable balance between what you may like to do and what can realistically be afforded.
The final part of the process is to research suitable product providers, not only on the basis of cost, although this must always be a major factor, but on financial strength, reliability, and in some cases an insurance company's attitude to existing medical conditions and family medical history, where these factors are relevant to acceptance of the risk or in some cases to premium loadings.
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Term Assurance  Term assurance is the simplest and most basic form of life cover. The term referred to is the numbers of years the policy cover will be in force. For example a ten year term covers death within the policy period of ten years. Both the person insured and the insurance company hope it never pays out and on survival to the end of the term, the policy has no value and all you have paid for is the cost relating to the risk of dying within that time, so this can be a very cost effective form of cover.
Some typical uses of this type of policy would be to provide either a lump sum or an income to provide for dependent children. The term would be set at the number of years to go until the youngest child will be finished education, after which the cover should no longer be needed. Policies providing an income for this purpose are known as family income benefit policies.
Critical illness cover can also be taken on a term basis, paying out a lump sum in the event of serious illness or disability occurring during the policy term. These may also be taken out for family protection, or to pay off a mortgage, perhaps.
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Whole of Life Assurance Whole of life assurance provides life cover for the whole of your life, not just for a term of years. This means the policy will always pay out, provided you keep on paying the premiums, of course.
This type of policy has a place in providing protection for some of the same needs as term assurance and can have other uses, or at least additional reasons for using it. One consideration could be where there is a family history which may make it difficult to obtain life cover in later years, and possible future needs have been identified, putting whole of life cover in place when someone is at their healthiest, that is before any of the medical concerns have developed, guarantees cover for as long as it is required.
Although whole of life cover will provide cover for the whole of your life, there is no compulsion on you to keep it on, you can stop paying the premiums at any time and the cover will just lapse, in some cases with a cash payment representing any long term benefit which has accrued in the policy.
Whole of life policies are used for Inheritance Tax planning, to provide funds on death to enable the IHT bill to be settled without the need to realise other assets.
Investment bonds are whole of life policies, although their purpose is investment and income provision, rather than protecion.
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Mortgage Protection  Mortgage protection assurance is a type of term assurance, otherwise known as reducing or decreasing term assurance, which is used to provide a lump sum to pay off a capital and interest (repayment) mortgage in the event of death within the mortgage term. The cover, or sum assured, starts off at the amount of the mortgage advance, and reduces each year, as the mortage debt reduces with each year's payments.
This type of cover is cheaper than straight term cover, where the sum assured is paid out in full, even if death occurs in the last year of the policy. Although there is no point in paying for more cover than is required, it can be worth considering full term assurance, particularly if there is an intention to move house later, taking a further mortgage advance, as this ensures cover is already in place, irrespective of any intervening medical considerations.
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Income Protection Insurance Income protection insurance, sometimes known as permanent health insurance, or PHI cover, provides protection against being unable to work as a result of serious illness or disability. It is generally taken out to provide cover for the remainder of your working life.
It needn't
cost as much as you may imagine, as you have to take into account other income you may receive if you were unable to work, usually in the form of state benefits and employers arrangements, for payment of salary for a period, then perhaps a company pension scheme providing an ill health pension.
If a year's salary can be expected, the policy can have a waiting period of one year, during which time no benefits are payable, and this substantially reduces the premium. Also, you can deduct what you would expect to receive as an ill health pension, so you may not need as much cover as you thought.
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Private Medical Insurance The variety of private medical insurance (PMI) plans available has become quite wide, mainly in an effort to be able to provide cover at affordable rates of premium. Many people welcome the ability to be able to have greater choice over the time and place of their treatment and who carries it out, and to have full flexibility, it is necessary to have full PMI cover.
However, many of us are quite happy to rely on the services provided by the NHS, but sometimes worry about waiting times, and the risks associated with not being able to have treatment as early as possible. It was for these reasons that restricted policies were introduced, which provide cover only in the event of treatment not being available immediately on the NHS. |
General Insurance  We have been involved in personal and business insurances for many years and can provide the full range of covers, house buildings and contents, private car and commmercial vehicle, business premises insurance, public liability and employers liability, with various packages for different trades, as well as travel cover and private medical insurance where required. |
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