What does it cover?

Do you need it?

Yes, if you have children or have a joint mortgage. Basically if you have a partner or dependents it's advisable

• It pays your dependants a lump sum or regular payments if you die.

• If you're young and healthy, life insurance is very good value for money. If you are low risk - you get a low cost premium.
• It only covers death - it won't cover you if you can't work due to illness or disability.
• Existing medical conditions may not be covered and - if you have a serious health problem - you may not be able to get cover or the cost may go up.

At Constant we can use our in depth knowledge to advise you on the best provider.

Critical illness insurance

It's not as important as life insurance

• It pays a 'lump sum' (or some policies will pay an income) if you're diagnosed with a specific serious illness, for example:

heart attack

stroke

cancer

• Up to around 40 others (depending on provider)
• conditions such as multiple sclerosis*
• You can also add total permanent disability cover

*Please refer to individual providers for the exact definitions of illness's covered.

• If you couldn't support yourself and your dependants if you were too ill to work, then critical illness may be for you as long as you have the budget.
• You can combine this with a life policy.
• A payout can make a big difference when you need it most, for example you could use it to pay off your mortgage.
• Health problems you had before you took out the insurance are very unlikely to be covered and may be excluded.
• Not all policies are the same - check the amount and definitions of Critical illnesses

Income protection insurance

You should consider it if you can't rely on savings or employee benefits to see you through an illness

• Pays a percentage of your take-home pay if you can't work for a while because you're ill or disabled.
• It covers most illnesses that leave you unable to work.
• This is not unemployment cover

• You're most likely to need it if you're self-employed, or you don't have sick pay or savings to fall back on.
• This pays a monthly figure to cover the mortgage and living expenses
• You can claim as many times as you need to while the policy lasts.
• Get advice before buying as there are multiple options when choosing a policy. Not all policies provide the same cover.
• You might not get cover if you have existing health problems or a dangerous job.

Accident Sickness & Unemployment - otherwise known as mortgage protection insurance (MPPI)

You probably don't need it if:

• Covers your monthly mortgage, loan, and credit card repayments in case you:

have an accident

become ill and can't work, or

become unemployed

Payment protection insurance is optional. There are other providers of Payment Protection Insurance and other products designed to protect you against the loss of income. For information about insurance, please visit the website at www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/

• you could get by on your sick pay or would expect a large redundancy payout in the case of Unemployment
• you have enough savings to cover the mortgage and bills
• your partner earns enough to cover the bills
• you're young, single, in good health, and only have spare cash for basic insurance

It can ease your money problems if:

• you're made redundant and are likely to be out of work for a long time
• if you've little or no savings and quite a lot of debt

Other factors:

• Most policies have a 90 day exclusion period at the start
• This is short term cover - usually they will only pay out for 12 months